Showing posts with label Success Stories. Show all posts
Crossbreeding Has Improved My Cattle Farm
Posted by Unknown in Africa, Breeding and Pregnancy, Cattle and Livestock, Cross Breeding, Success Stories, Uganda on Tuesday, 14 May 2013
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| A farm hand tends some of the cattle on Titus Buatre 's farm. Photo by Felix Warom Okello. |
When I
started with four goats, one of them a Boer goat for cross-breeding
purposes, I did not even imagine that this farming activity would expand
to enable me meet most of my needs.
I am in
position to pay school fees for my children—three at university and
three still in secondary school, afford a good diet at home, and even
look after other dependents, among others.
Meat and milk
I am Titus
Buatre, 55 years old, an animal farmer, from Andewa Village, Riki Parish
in Oluko Sub-county, six kilometres east of Arua Town. By the end of
last year, I had 120 goats and 50 heads of cattle, from where I get meat
and milk.
I sell the milk
in 10-litre jerrycans, each at Shs35,000. So, in a day, I earn
Shs70,000. Though most of my herd is made up of dairy cows, I
occasionally sell off some cattle.
Depending on
the size, the price ranges from Shs500,000 to Shs800,000. Last year, I
sold four cows. For the goats, the lowest price is from Shs70,000 to
Shs80,000. However, I also sell to NGOs that have programmes that
distribute the goats to farmers.
In this case, I will sell each goat at Shs130,000.
To acquire my
first cattle, I took a salary loan that was repayable in two years. On
top of that I added some money from crop farming to buy seven heads of
cattle.
From that
number, there are now 50 heads of cattle, from which I am able to get 15
to 20 litres of milk daily. I am able to buy medicines to treat them. I
have four types-Ankole, Zebu, Boran and Friesian crossbreeds.
Economic value
Among these,
there is a 250-kilogramme bull, which I use for cross breeding. I
attribute my successes in growing my herd to that bull.
The process of cross-breeding has enabled the animals to be of a good quality, which is marketable, and multiply in numbers.
I am using
cross breeding in order to get economic value because the local animals
are smaller in size and poorer in quality. Thus, they cannot attract
good money and produce a sizeable amount of milk.
In the past,
producers have thought of crossbreeding as simply replacing bulls every
two to three years with whatever breeds were popular at the time. This
has led to problems with uniformity of the resulting product.
Work ethic
Good quality
cattle need to be selected in order for crossbred cattle to outperform
straight-bred cattle and produce the type of product that is in demand
by the consumer.
However, it
should be noted that mere crossbreeding will not overcome poor genetics.
It has been patience and hard work, which has paid off for me. One
could possibly say this work ethic comes from my having a military
background at one time.
Yes, I was in
the military since the days of Idi Amin up until 1985. Since then, I
have continued driving as my occupation though I was no longer in the
army. After this, I got other driving jobs before my current one as a
driver at the district Naads office in Arua.
Trainings
I attend to the
animals as my main economic activity especially after work. I feel
happy to see my cows and goats return from grazing.
My farm covers six acres and comprises land that I inherited from my father though most of it was bought from my own earnings.
I have also
benefitted from several trainings in agriculture given by Naads and I
now use it to increase production such as the use of a tractor.
I use a tractor
to till the land on which I grow improved cassava. The neighbouring
communities buy the new variety cassava stems from me.
Retiring
I also employ
other people. There are two youths who look after the cattle and goats.
The one who rears cattle is paid Shs45,000 monthly and the one
responsible for the goats is paid Shs30,000 monthly. The two are only
assisted by my children when they return for holiday from school.
The rearing of
cattle is central to my farming business and as such I attend to them
closely. From the earnings, I am able to live a meaningful life. I look
forward to retiring from driving to become a full-fledged animal farmer.
features@ug.nationmedia.com
How to make the perfect compost: A master composter shows how to cook up some power food for your soil
Posted by Unknown in Manure and Composting, Organic Farming, Success Stories on Saturday, 23 March 2013
sunset.com
Ned Conwell pauses in front of his straw-covered compost pile at Blue House Farm.
Healthy gardens start with healthy soil. And there's no better ingredient than compost, whether you till it into beds or use it as mulch.
Ned Conwell is up to his elbows in the stuff, both as a farmer and as a teacher: He uses as much as he can make at Blue House Farm, a produce and flower farm he co-owns in Pescadero, California, and he also teaches composting at the Regenerative Design Institute, located up the coast in Bolinas.
"Once it's in the soil, compost increases fertility; adds both micro- and macronutrients; buffers pH; and improves soil structure," Conwell says. Below is his foolproof method for making compost.
COMPOST DOS AND DON'TS
Do compost
Nearly any plant material, including the following:
Brown matter
Dried leaves, hay, straw, sawdust, wood chips, and shrub and tree prunings. Ned Conwell collects his brown matter, but you can also use straw from a feed store. He puts branches and anything thorny in a separate slow-roast pile in the corner, where it breaks down over a much longer period of time. To hasten composting, chop or mow prunings into pieces 2 inches or smaller.
Green matter
Green weeds, fruit and vegetable scraps, cover-crop remains, and fresh grass clippings. Also coffee grounds, tea bags, and uncomposted manure from cows, goats, horses, or poultry. Pine needles take longer to break down, while compounds in black walnut and eucalyptus leaves can inhibit growth in other plants; compost those greens only if you combine them with lots of other vegetative waste.
Don't compost
Animal products (bones, meat scraps, dairy products); plants with fungal diseases such as fire blight or verticillium; or seedy or rhizomatous weeds like purslane, Bermuda grass, or bindweed.
Do turn the pile often
Let the pile heat up for 10 to 14 days. When the temperature inside reaches 140° or 150° f, pull off the straw cap and turn the pile by pushing it over and dividing it. Then reassemble it, but not in layers, and put the straw cap back on. When the temperature climbs back to 130° or 140° f, turn the pile again. In all, Conwell turns his pile three times in 4 to 6 months, adding water if it starts to dry out. After the first two temperature-based turns, the more often you turn your pile, the quicker it will break down into compost.
Do heat it upsuc
The smaller the pieces, the faster they'll compost. (Run the lawn mower over big, leathery leaves before adding them to the pile.) To check the pile's temperature, Conwell uses a 20-inch-long compost thermometer, available at some nurseries and garden centers and from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply (from $12; 888/784-1722).
The man who made a forest
Posted by Unknown in Forest, India, Success Stories
TNN
Way back in 1953, French author Jean Giono wrote the epic tale The Man Who Planted Trees. It seemed so real that readers thought the central character, Elzeard Bouffier , was a living individual until the author clarified he had created the person only to make his readers fall in love with trees.
Assam's Jadav Payeng has never heard of Giono's book. But he could be Bouffier. He has single-handedly grown a sprawling forest on a 550-hectare sandbar in the middle of the Brahmaputra. It now has many endangered animals, including at least five tigers, one of which bore two cubs recently.
The place lies in Jorhat, some 350 km from Guwahati by road, and it wasn't easy for Sunday Times to access him. At one point on the stretch, a smaller road has to be taken for some 30 km to reach the riverbank. There, if one is lucky, boatmen will ferry you across to the north bank. A trek of another 7 km will then land you near Payeng's door. Locals call the place 'Molai Kathoni' (Molai's woods) after Payeng's pet name, Molai.
It all started way back in 1979 when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng , only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. That was the turning point of his life.
"The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage . I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested," says Payeng, now 47.
Leaving his education and home, he started living on the sandbar. Unlike Robinson Crusoe, Payeng willingly accepted a life of isolation. And no, he had no Man Friday. He watered the plants morning and evening and pruned them. After a few years, the sandbar was transformed into a bamboo thicket. "I then decided to grow proper trees. I collected and planted them. I also transported red ants from my village, and was stung many times. Red ants change the soil's properties . That was an experience," Payeng says, laughing.
Soon, there were a variety of flora and fauna which burst in the sandbar, including endangered animals like the one-horned rhino and Royal Bengal tiger. "After 12 years, we've seen vultures. Migratory birds, too, have started flocking here. Deer and cattle have attracted predators," claims Payeng . He says locals recently killed a rhino which was seen in his forest at another forest in Sibsagar district.
Payeng talks like a trained conservationist. "Nature has made a food chain; why can't we stick to it? Who would protect these animals if we, as superior beings, start hunting them?"
The Assam state forest department learnt about Payeng's forest only in 2008 when a herd of some 100 wild elephants strayed into it after a marauding spree in villages nearby. They also destroyed Payeng's hutment . It was then that assistant conservator of forests Gunin Saikia met Payeng for the first time.
"We were surprised to find such a dense forest on the sandbar. Locals, whose homes had been destroyed by the pachyderms, wanted to cut down the forest, but Payeng dared them to kill him instead. He treats the trees and animals like his own children. Seeing this, we, too, decided to pitch in," says Saikia. "We're amazed at Payeng. He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero."
Help from the government wasn't forthcoming, though. It was only last year that the social forestry division took up plantation work on a 200-hectare plot.
Meanwhile, Congress MP from Jorhat, Bijoy Krishna Handique, took interest and said he would moot a proposal to the Centre to declare the area a conservation reserve under provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Payeng would be happy.
Nothing Sheepish About A 12 Year British Farm Boy With Big Ideas
Posted by Unknown in Layer Poultry, Sheep Farming, Success Stories, United Kingdom (UK) on Sunday, 27 January 2013
By Chris Benfield
(Yorkshire Post) He’s still just a slip of a lad but schoolboy farmer William Watson is already thinking big in business.
Farmers
at a pedigree sheep event last week were surprised to find themselves
outbid for the prize-winners of the day by the 12-year-old.
And
it was no stunt. William was spending his own money, saved from the egg
business he has been running since he was 10, with 130 genuinely
free-range layers producing about 100 eggs a day.
He
goes out at 7am daily to let them out of their shed, locks them up
before going to bed at night and mucks out every weekend. And he and his
mother, Julie, deliver the eggs locally at £2.50 a dozen.
He
is now moving into sheep breeding and he took his cheque book to the
Northern Texel Sheep Show and Sale of pedigree females at Skipton on
Saturday, December 3.
The
judge. David Burkill, who runs the Beechtree Texel flock at Driffield,
awarded first prize to a shearling ewe from the Beautry flock of Stuart
Currie at Rathmell, near Settle, and second prize to another young ewe
from Angela Nairey’s Meinspride flock, based at Liusey, near Blackburn.
And
William agreed on the judgment. Bidding in the old English currency,
which is still traditional at pedigree sales, he paid 1,440 guineas
(£1,512) for the first animal and 1,150gns (£1,207) for the other – the
top prices of the day.
He also bought two cheaper ewes, at 550gns and 280gns, taking his total spend on the day to nearly £3,500.
For
the benefit of younger generations who do not bid at livestock markets,
a guinea means 21 old shillings, or 105p. The name refers back to the
first machine-minted English coin, which was made of gold from the
Guinea region of West Africa.
William took his new stock home to Hellifield, near Skipton, where his father, Paul, deals in stone.
Mr
Watson is also a buyer for Dunbia, a big meat processor, and well known
around the auction markets. And he runs a few commercial cross-breed
cattle and sheep on their home smallholding.
But
the Texel flock is William’s own project and he did his own research on
what was interesting in the sale catalogue and what he might expect to
pay.
He consulted neighbours John and Linda Mellin at Hull House, Hellifield, who already have a name in Texel circles.
It
was seeing and admiring their flock that set him off on his new venture
and he bought six from them a few weeks before heading for the Skipton
sale – making his total investment so far about £6,000.
William
does not yet have a ram but the two prize animals he bought at Skipton
are already in lamb to top-quality sires and one is carrying twins. All
the others he has bought in lamb and should start delivering in
February.
From
routine scanning, he knows in most cases whether he is expecting twins
or singles. But he does not know of which sex. A bid for a pregnant
sheep is basically a bet.
But sometimes that bet can pay off in fine style.
“I think it spurred him on,” said his father yesterday, “when our neighbour sold a tup lamb at Carlisle for 36,000 guineas.”
William is a pupil at Settle Middle School, where he has friends like him who are already planning a career in farming.
“That’s what I want,” he said.
“I did used to say I wanted to be a racing driver but that was when I was very young.
“I help my dad out with his sheep and I just like the look of Texels. They are just nice big strong-looking animals.”
Most
of his new flock are about twice his size, in fact, but he is learning
to hold them, with an eye on exhibiting at Gargrave Show next summer.
Texels are a burly breed, originally from the Continent, which have won themselves an important role in the UK meat industry.
In the mood for festive Moo-sic
It
may sound udderly ridiculous, but a government quango set up to promote
dairy farming has released a collection of Christmas songs put together
from North Yorkshire cows’ moos.
DairyCo,
an organisation funded by a levy on farmgate milk prices, got the cow
noises from Easby Grange, Stokesley, near Middlesbrough, where farmer
John Chapman recorded them on his smartphone.
Then
DairyCo got the digitalised sounds chopped up and re-assembled into
tunes including Silent Night, Jingle Bells and other compositions which
might appeal for ringtones, message alerts and alarms.
Indian Children Turn Wasteland into Veg Field
Posted by Unknown in India, Success Stories, Vegetable on Saturday, 26 January 2013
Children in South Mumbai transform unused land into vegetable patch
In a corner of
the Umerkhadi Observation Home in south Mumbai, a group of children are
busy transforming an unused piece of land into a vegetable patch. As
they sow seeds, tend to young plants and harvest seasonal vegetables,
they are in the process of an inner healing.
Begun
as a rehabilitation initiative in the Umerkhadi and Bhiwandi children’s
homes last year, the Urban Garden Project is the brainchild of the
Aangan Trust, an NGO that works with destitute children in Mumbai’s
slums and observation homes.
“The idea is to
offer children practical vocational skills along with important life
lessons. It is a process that will help break the cycles of crime,
violence and risky behaviour,” said Shailja Mehta, executive director of
Aangan.
The project has
been made possible by the active support of SA Jadhav, the
superintendent of the Umerkhadi home. It involves more than 500 children
accused of crime, exploited by drug peddlers or employers, and often
abandoned by their families.
“The students
set achievable educational and vocational goals for themselves and take
steps towards a responsible new life after their release from the
observation home,” Mehta said.
Once a week,
the garden is also used as a space to conduct group discussions on anger
management, peer pressure, and other issues relevant for children
exposed to violence and exploitation.
“These sessions
are designed to make them reflect on the risks they are exposed to, the
decisions they can make, and their abilities to cope with difficult
situations,” she adds.
The combined
therapeutic effect of gardening and group discussions has helped the
children develop positive attitudes towards personal growth, while
instilling self-confidence in them.
“It’s the one time in the day I feel hopeful. Maybe something will change when I go back out,” said a young gardener.
Another feels
proud that the vegetables they grow are consumed by other children in
the home. “Our garden is the best part about this place. We feel free
here, and can lose ourselves without any fear,” he said.
Riding herd on goats
Posted by Unknown in Cheese, Cheese Making, Dairy, Dairy Products, Goat, Success Stories, USA on Monday, 10 September 2012
Leslie Cooperband, a Boston native who holds a Ph.D. in soil science, had a secret passion.
And it didn't have anything to do with soil.
She wanted to be a cheesemaker.
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| Wes Jarrell pulls down a brance of a maple tree so the goats can get the leaves. |
After Cooperband and her husband, Wes Jarrell, bought a home and farmland in rural Champaign, they said, "Let's do goats," Cooperband recalled.
About a year and a half after deciding to go ahead with the project – buying the goats, modifying a barn according to state regulations, installing a milk parlor and commercial facility for making the cheese and being certified Grade A by the USDA – they are now selling the soft cheese to area restaurants and direct to consumers at Urbana's Market on the Square.
"A lot of people told me I was crazy to do this," said Cooperband on a recent morning while adding sea salt to a batch of fresh cheese.
But she's taken with the goats and they are obviously crazy about her and Jarrell.
After they stepped outside into the yard to say hello to the goats, the does ran over, pushing their heads up for a rub behind the ears or a scratch under their chins. Jarrell and Cooperband were happy to oblige.
"I love goats. They're so friendly," Cooperband said. When Jarrell pulled down a branch from a Norway maple tree, the goats zoomed over to him, standing on their hind legs to get at the leaves.
East Central Illinois – all of Illinois for that matter – is not exactly a hub for dairy goat operations, let alone cheesemaking.
Most people in the state who own dairy goats have them for their own use or for shows, said Saybrook resident Richard Hudson, secretary and treasurer of the Illinois Dairy Goat Association.
The larger commercial operations tend to be in dairy states like Wisconsin and California.
But there are a growing number of goats around.
According to the most recent Census of Agriculture in 2002, Illinois had 425 farms with dairy goats for a total of 5,685 goats in the state. That's up from 369 farms and 3,728 dairy goats in 1997.
And Illinois is not the only state where the goat population seems to be increasing. From 1997 to 2002, the inventory of dairy goats in the entire U.S. increased from 190,000 to 290,000, also according to the Census of Agriculture.
That increase may be due to rising demand for goat's milk and cheese and the growing movement to buy locally produced food.
Or it may also be because the government is now able to find the farms with goats and the records are more accurate, said Penny Gioja, who raises dairy goats with her family near Bondville.
The Giojas have been raising goats for 10 years and got into the whole thing because they wanted a fresh supply of milk for their family to drink, Gioja said. They have about 10 goats in the winter and 30 in the spring. When the Giojas sell their milk, it is directly off the farm to customers, rather than at farmers' markets or elsewhere.
Goat's milk is white and high in butter fat, plus it contains vitamin B-6, A, potassium, niacin and other minerals. Many people who are allergic to cow's milk can drink goat's milk, Cooperband said.
"It's much easier to digest and if you properly cool and preserve goat's milk, it's delicious," Hudson said.
Goat's milk is naturally homogenized so you can't make butter and cream as easily as from cow's milk, Gioja said.
But you can, and the Giojas have, made soft and hard cheese, yogurt, ice cream and kefir (a creamy drink) out of it.
"There are a lot of uses for the milk," Gioja said.
Cooperband and Jarrell have 22 dairy goats, including one male, a buck. Eventually they would like to add more goats.
A goat's lactation cycle is between 275 and 300 days, from around March to late November or early December.
During those months, Cooperband and Jarrell begin each day by milking the goats at 6:30 a.m. They milk six at a time and the whole process takes an hour.
"They're usually waiting and while you're with the first batch, the next batch is poking their heads around the corner waiting for their turn," Cooperband said.
The next milking is at 6 p.m.
"I like the routine of milking. It's a time when you see how they're doing. I like it more than I thought I would," Cooperband said.
After they milk the goats, the milk is transferred to a holding tank, where it is chilled and stored for three to five days. The milk is then pumped via pipeline to another room where it is sent to a tank and pasteurized.
"The system was set up so there's no exposure to air and potential for contamination," Jarrell said.
About 21 to 22 gallons of milk will make 40 pounds of cheese.
After pasteurization, they will scoop out the cheese, measure the acidity and place the cheese into muslin cheese cloths. Then they put the cheese in plastic shopping carts where they drain up to 12 hours.
Afterward, they take out the cheese and add sea salt. After the salt is mixed in, Cooperband tastes the cheese.
"That's where the art comes in," Jarrell said.
Some of the cheese is mixed with herbs de Provence (thyme, rosemary and other herbs). Other cheese is placed into French molds and covered with parchment.
In between raising the goats and making cheese, Jarrell and Cooperband also have planted about 350 fruit trees and 800 berry bushes. They plan to transition the land to organic.
And in between those activities, both work at the University of Illinois. Jarrell, also a soil scientist, is head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. Cooperband is a UI Extension specialist in sustainable agriculture.
Christine Des Garennes
