Over the previous three blog posts, we have shared with you the story of how we got to where we are today! I think you will agree it has been quite an adventure and, indeed, continues to be so. So today, we thought it made sense to take you on a virtual tour of our mini-farm. We would much rather be able to share the tour in person however, unless you are already in Laos (in which case come and say Hi!), then this is definitely the next best thing :0)
This week’s blog post is a continuation of chef Rachel sharing our story as we tell it on the farm tour. For part 1 click here. For part 2 click here.
Three days before our six-week trial was due to end, we managed to bring in a single cow milking machine from China. This machine ran on either electricity or petrol, which is important to note, as Mr. Eh didn’t have electricity near the field at the time. The machine arrived flat packed in the early evening, and Steven and Mr. Thon, our trusty tuk tuk driver, boldly took on the chore of trying to set it up in the failing light. With the instructions translated from Chinese, loosely into English, this was no easy task. Luckily, the instructions also kind of looked like IKEA instructions with lots of pictures to guide them.
Here at the Dairy, we love nothing better than to be involved in innovative ideas that help us meet our aim to improve the rural prosperity, welfare, nutrition, and health of the local population, with a focus on buffalo farming, and childhood nutrition. So, today we welcome you to the wonderful world of AgCoTech, https://www.agcotechglobal.com/ and their unique medicated mineral block technology. The technology was developed and tested in partnership with the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT), the Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) and The University of Sydney. These mineral blocks for livestock help reduce greenhouse gases and reduce poverty in smallholder farms in countries such as Laos.
Singapore volunteers help teach English at Laos Buffalo Dairy over Zoom during the pandemic.
For about 8 weeks in January - February, Laos Buffalo Dairy was the lucky recipient of some wonderful volunteers from Singapore that had been with us to help teach English online. That’s right! They helped teach English online to our team and to the local school children.
We had 7 team members, 5 youth teachers and 10 school children join the classes.
“In Vietnam they plant the rice, in Cambodia they tend to the rice, but in Laos they listen to the rice grow.”
Peter “driving” a tuk tuk.
This quote is attributed to the French colonists of Indochina, and at the time probably wasn’t too complementary. Nonetheless, after independence there still remains a noticeable French influence in the country as well as increasing numbers of recent ex-pats. The once slightly condescending “but in Lao they listen to the rice grow” remains, but it’s meaning - by a modern day, a bit more enlightened developed world - probably serves as more of a reflection of Buddhism in Laos: heightened awareness, and the ability to be in the here and now.
Peter teaching a team class.
I arrived in Luang Prabang on Halloween (October 31st) of 2016. At the time, the Buffalo Dairy was just getting started. As I remember, the site for its existence had recently changed and there was yet to be any permanent buildings. I had been graciously accepted by Susie and Rachel to work as a volunteer at their guesthouse which was located on the left bank of the Nam Kham River just a few kilometers - a good walking distance - not just from the Old Quarter, but to many other not so heavily visited parts of Luang Prabang as well.
More so than I envisioned, work at the guesthouse suited me extremely well. For the most part, I was the only native English speaker there, partnered with a Lao/Khmu/Hmong staff of 4-7 others. My duties included, but were not limited to: cooking and serving breakfast, taking reservations and checking guests in and out, and assisting when needed with housekeeping. By far and away the best part of all was working with the local staff. From the beginning I was amazed with how much patience they had with me. When I would make mistakes I would be corrected with a smile and a “bor bpen yang” (it doesn’t matter). A lot of my complaints about the U.S. (and a big chunk of the rest of the world) - the sometimes gruff mannered I-don’t-have-time-to-be-pleasant-with-you, just doesn’t seem to happen much in Laos.
Just before leaving LPB, Peter went and had lunch with Twee -right - (our maiban from the guesthouse) and her family.
Susie was often around the guesthouse (her office was upstairs) but she was inundated - I should say, beyond well inundated - with what seemed to me to be the completely crazy task of setting up the first of its kind Buffalo Dairy in this third world country! At the time I had a private joke running in my head that went something like this: God had specifically put Susie on earth in case his plans for the Second Coming, or Armageddon, or whatever you want to call it were to go awry, he would then at least be assured of having some on-the-ground reliable backup. I’m glad that hasn’t come to pass...yet.
In February of 2017, Susie, Rachel, and Steven felt that they were well on their way to putting a full time effort into the dairy, so they passed proprietorship of the guesthouse back to the original owner. By this time I was living at Rachel’s house with her family and commuting by tuk-tuk to the farm. My new task there was completely different from my work at the guesthouse. I was now setting up an English class for approximately 8-12 dairy employees. This work I found to be a bit more challenging (the students were not all at the same level) than that of what I was doing at the guesthouse. I also found that the Lao students, with their ever present politeness, were less inclined than their guesthouse counterparts to give me feedback on what was and wasn’t working for them. Even though having 20 years experience teaching high school history and science in California, I found that serving in a somewhat equal role at the guesthouse suited me better than that of being an “expert” (of which I wasn’t) at the new school. Nonetheless, I feel that I did a more than adequate job in setting things up. When it came time for me to return home I was able to have a full week with my replacement volunteer, Alfredo. It was satisfying to see that he was in tune with the program I had set up, and was already incorporating some of his own ideas to make improvements.
All in all, I’m really happy with the experiences I had at the guesthouse and on the farm. It’s great to see online just how far Susie, Rachel, and Steven have progressed in these four past years. Perhaps someday I will return for a second go around!
Peter’s last day at English classes, handing over to Alfredo.
HAVE YOU SEEN OUR SOCIAL MEDIA THIS WEEK?
If not, pop on over to facebook/laosbuffalodairy or instagram/laosbuffalodairy to see what we have been up to!
Over the previous three blog posts, we have shared with you the story of how we got to where we are today! I think you will agree it has been quite an adventure and, indeed, continues to be so. So today, we thought it made sense to take you on a virtual tour of our mini-farm. We would much rather be able to share the tour in person however, unless you are already in Laos (in which case come and say Hi!), then this is definitely the next best thing :0)
Three days before our six-week trial was due to end, we managed to bring in a single cow milking machine from China. This machine ran on either electricity or petrol, which is important to note, as Mr. Eh didn’t have electricity near the field at the time. The machine arrived flat packed in the early evening, and Steven and Mr. Thon, our trusty tuk tuk driver, boldly took on the chore of trying to set it up in the failing light. With the instructions translated from Chinese, loosely into English, this was no easy task. Luckily, the instructions also kind of looked like IKEA instructions with lots of pictures to guide them.
If you have been to the farm or you follow us on social media, you know that we have two cats called Cracker and Lily. Today’s story is all about Lily so, don’t tell Cracker or he will get jealous 😊.
Lily was a rescue(d) cat! It all started back in June 2018, during the rainy season when after some serious rains and flooding, we were on our way home from the farm in the tuk tuk one day when we saw something in the middle of the road. Khamla swerved around “it” and we realized it was a little kitten. We pulled up to a stop, with Susie saying, “No, no no!” the whole time as we already had quite a few cats a home. As the tuk tuk stopped and we got out to go at least move her off the road, she looked at us over her shoulder and turned to come running at us. As I reached down to pick her up, she cuddled up onto my shoulder and purred like crazy.
We walked around the edge of the road and looked to see if we could find a mother cat nearby or other kittens thinking maybe she had just strayed away from them, but we found nothing. She was such a tiny little thing that we couldn’t in good conscious just leave her there. So, we took her with us. I stuffed her inside my coat to keep her warm, as it was quite chilly from the rain, and she cuddled right in. She must have known that her life was about to change for a better that she could never imagine.
Lily came home with us that night and got a bath – she desperately needed it as she was very dirty. She was fed some milk and food, and came to bed with me. From her size, we estimated she was only about 7 weeks old. Way too little to be away from her mother, so I guess we were mum now.
We luckily had Nicola, a vet, who was here in Laos working with Sydney University on a project, coming to the farm in the next few days, so we asked if she could have a look a Lily and make sure she looked ok and also confirm our thoughts on her age. Nicola confirmed her age for us as approximately 7 weeks old and told us that her fat little belly was probably full of worms. Not an issue! A worming tablet was given and all would be right with the world.
At the time, we had another cat at the farm as well – Kiara. Kiara was also a rescue cat, but she had been found in our chicken coop (also at about 7 weeks old). Kiara, now being about a year old, decided to take on the roll of mother cat and started to teach Lily how to act.
Lily flourished under the tutelage of Kiara and became cat extraordinaire. She learned how to hunt and play and be a smooch for affection.
Fast forward to now, and every morning when we arrive at the farm, Lily comes for her morning snuggles and purry cuddles. She helps to keep the mouse, rat and small snake population on the farm down to a minimum. And she walks the farm checking on the other animals to make sure all is good. On occasion you can find Lily following along with the guests on a tour. If we ever leave Laos, she has most certainly earned herself a passport out with us.
As you can see from some of the pictures, Lily’s favorite place to hang out in is in the office. Lately, with the lack of tourists coming to pay attention to her and Cracker, she has taken to “getting in the way”. Lily decides when the work day is done, but placing herself squarely in the file box or across the keyboard as I try and work.
Lily and Cracker are making do with seeking attention from us, but they’d really like to see you come back to play with them.
COVID-19 has badly affected tourism and visits to the farm. In order to mitigate some of the effects of the loss of income this has meant for the dairy, we have teamed up with the Tourism in Need initiative that supports responsible tourism organizations affected by the pandemic. Through this initiative, travelers can support the dairy through the Give Today, Go Tomorrow fundraising scheme. Click here to find out more and to make a contribution to help us to pay farmers and team members, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
If not, pop on over to facebook/laosbuffalodairy or instagram/laosbuffalodairy to see what we have been up to!
Coming to Luang Prabang sometime soon? Need suggestions on what to do? Pop on over to our Suggested Itineraries page and make a plan.
Here at the Dairy, we love nothing better than to be involved in innovative ideas that help us meet our aim to improve the rural prosperity, welfare, nutrition, and health of the local population, with a focus on buffalo farming, and childhood nutrition. So, today we welcome you to the wonderful world of AgCoTech, https://www.agcotechglobal.com/ and their unique medicated mineral block technology. The technology was developed and tested in partnership with the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT), the Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) and The University of Sydney. These mineral blocks for livestock help reduce greenhouse gases and reduce poverty in smallholder farms in countries such as Laos.
Nutrition Clinic
At 7am on the 29 August, five of us set off in the truck heading to Ban Ngiew on the ferry across the Mekong. The ferry is bustling, 7am might be early in many countries but not in Laos, where the bells chime at 4.30am in the many Wats, for the monks to rise and start collecting alms, and farmers are heading out to the rice paddies to try and beat the heat. At 7am, it’s already a balmy 26 degrees.
As part of our Business Partnership Platform (BPP) project we are working with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT), Provincial Health Department (PHD) and Northern Agricultural College (NAC). There are two objectives;
to improve breeding & animal husbandry of buffalo
to have healthy buffalo capable of producing milk for the children & families in the village.
Until recently, buffalo milk was an untapped source of protein, calcium & energy!
The BPP programme has allowed the set up of a proof of concept in 5 villages in Northern Laos, three of which are in Chomphet District. As the crow flies, the village is only 11kms from Luang Prabang (LP), by road, it is officially 22kms, and yet the drive takes over an hour because of the poor road condition, and that’s with no rain! In the rainy season add an hour or wait until 2-5 days with no rain, for the chance to get through.
The PHD had notified us they would be carrying out a quarterly health check in the clinic at Ban Ngiew. 1 in 3 children under the age of 5 are chronically malnourished leading to both physical and developmental issues, and the PHD visits villages, to weigh and measure all the children in each village plus conduct education clinics on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH). With many people attending the clinic, they invited us to conduct a cooking demonstration using buffalo milk.
Cooking Time
Milk has not been a large part of the diet in Laos or Southeast Asia generally. However, buffalo have been ploughing the rice fields and sold for meat for millennia. We met the Village Chief Mr. Khampheng, Mr. Heung and Mrs Pien, a teacher at the local school, who all attended training at Laos Buffalo Dairy in March, just before lockdown restrictions were implemented due to COVID-19. Five months later, they would now have the opportunity to demonstrate part of what they had learnt at the farm on how to cook and prepare the milk. Today Laos Buffalo Dairy (LBD) provided the milk, but soon it will be available in the village! The team decided to keep the recipe pretty simple and cook the milk with the purple rice, with just a pinch of salt and topped with chopped banana. Rice is a major component of the diet but is very limited in nutritional value.
First things first though, a fire had to be lit, bowls and spoons washed, and bananas sliced. We may have cheated a little to keep everyone happy during the clinic. Let’s say that not everyone was enjoying the chance to be weighed and measured. It can seem a little bit scary with so many new faces. However, with the Head Nurse’s permission ☺, a piece of delicious ricotta cake can be a welcome distraction and demonstrate other ways to use the milk.
Once the rice was ready, out it went and after a few hesitant mouthfuls and mothers watching reactions, it all quickly disappeared! Plus seconds for many or take-away to any family and friends unable to attend.
Video Viewing
Any event, such as the Quarterly MNCH clinic, brings out quite a lot of participants and bystanders, all happily mingling and watching the proceedings. On the day there were 39 children with parents and 24 farmers in attendance.
While the rice was cooking and the children measured and weighed, it was a chance to show all the people two videos produced with the World Bank. The first video was to explain the benefits of milk and help dispel a few concerns. For instance, if someone is referred to as a buffalo as a jibe for being a bit slow, there was a niggle, that some people might think drinking buffalo milk may make you slow. We also needed to ensure that all milk collected was boiled correctly before being used. The second video was on some more of the technical components of raising buffalo covering a range of subjects such as breeding, feed, vaccinations and the process of milking.
Mineral Blocks
The video also spoke about mineral and medicated blocks for cattle. The blocks serve several purposes:
An easy way to distribute much needed additional vitamins and minerals particularly during the dry season
Reducing the incidence of liver fluke and;
Having the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions!
Each block weighs 20 kilos and will last one buffalo about three months. As part of a fantastic new business venture born from another BPP initiative, AgCoTech Laos will be producing and distributing mineral blocks for free to local farmers in exchange for carbon credits that they can sell to support the business. Many of the farmers had returned from a morning in the fields to attend the clinic. They were happy to receive mineral blocks for their animals. There is a protocol to follow to ensure that the blocks are all used by the recipients. So, there was a fun hour of taking photos and form filling with much good-natured laughter. This was the first time our team had completed the paperwork, and as the occasional person forgot their mobile number, they had to be reminded by friends and family.
Milking Area
As the last mineral block disappeared into the fields by foot, bicycle or motorbike it was now time for us to walk to the other end of the village. The walk to reach the area, that has been fenced and planted with super Napier grass provided by LBD, was good exercise. At the same site, are ongoing preparations for the space to be used for milking. To get there meant first crossing the stream which due to the rain overnight was above my knees. I am reasonably tall, so for the Laos team it was more like thigh height, but no one blinked twice as this was the way to the rice fields where everyone goes every day plus the water was wonderfully cool, it was a shame we couldn’t stop for a swim! Then, through the rice fields to an area cleared, ready for construction to start. Honestly, the buffalo have the most scenic spot; rice paddies, rolling hills and a stream babbling in the background. There has been a bit of rain, and the Napier grass is coming along well. However, so are the weeds, so all the 25 families participating in the program will convene in a few days to cut them back. After the first harvest, the weeds won’t be as much of an issue.
More conversation followed on what building materials will be required and when to start building. The chief Mr. Khampeng proposes September is the best time as the rice will be harvested in October so everyone will be pretty busy. The timing all fits together well as in Laos there is a peak calving period with many buffalo being born in the dry season which starts in November.
With the dates and to-do list discussed, we headed back to the village and into the truck back to the farm.
Late Lunch
After a full day of working and walking, everyone was ready for a late lunch at a little roadside restaurant near the ferry crossing, which is famous for having delicious pho, a local soup. Everyone tucked in and as usual, Songkham puts in too much chilli and is happily crying as he eats his hot hot soup as the temperature registers at 41 degrees celsius. Of course, once back in range for a mobile everyone has a soup spoon in one hand and mobile phone in the other. Some things are the same the world over!
We are proud of the care we provide for the buffalo who stay with us here on the farm. So, this week we have done something a little different and bring you a blog post about how we imagine one of our buffalo experiences living on the farm! We hope you enjoy this unusual perspective as you discover some in-depth insight into our work and gain a unique behind the scenes look at Laos Buffalo Dairy.
On our farm, we run a free English programme for local students. They can come here Tuesday to Friday to study English with our native English speaking teacher. We wanted all our team and their children to have the opportunity to learn English, and now we have 50 students coming to the farm every day to study.
In Laos, learning English can be an avenue to a better future. It can lift children out of their village experience and into higher-paying jobs in the city. However, for students outside of the big cities it can be almost impossible to study English because village schools can only offer 4 hours of English study per week. The classes are often taught by teachers who themselves have a low level of English skills. The free classes at our farm allow students to study and expand their English levels.
Two of our students made us especially proud recently, as they taught their first class! So how did they go from being students to teachers? We recently started a brand new lesson for students from the local villages who can speak no English. The idea was to create a clean slate post-Covid lockdown and restart the curriculum to give more opportunities for learning than ever before. This beginner’s class quickly grew from 2 to 20 children in a matter of days as word spread.
On the third day of teaching the class, Tom, our on-site English teacher, invited one of our more advanced students, Phoukham, to help teach the lesson. From the off, he thrived as a teacher being eloquent, patient and showing his excellent grasp of English. So, we had an idea. Let him teach!
To help build teaching skills, we partnered him with another of our students. Together we taught them how to plan lessons and how best to teach in front of a class. They learnt quickly, and after a few days they were ready to go.
Seeing them stand in front of the class was a real pleasure. Tom has taught those two students for two years, since they were 14 years old, and watched them grow not only in their grasp of the English language but also as young men. These new teaching responsibilities would have been too much for them two years ago, but they have now matured into thoughtful adults who can help younger students in their villages.
It is fantastic to have them teaching for numerous reasons, but none more so than the brilliant role models they have now become for the other kids in their village! For them to stand at the front of the class speaking English, to such a high level, gives all those young students aspirations to do the same. It shows everyone that even a non-native speaker of English can attain a high level of English skills.
For the students to see people from their village work hard and achieve their goals and learn English is incredibly motivating and feeds the desire to learn. Some students may even be inspired to go on to become teachers.
Well done to all of our students on the farm. And a big Thank You! to Phoukham and John for their dedication and motivation as both students and teachers.
In case you missed our post on Tuesday, we’re thrilled to announce that Laos Buffalo Dairy is the winner of the Experience Mekong Showcases 2020 for Laos - we are incredibly proud of our fantastic team! It was already a wonderful achievement for us to have been nominated, alongside the other amazing finalists as a responsible travel business that creates a significant social impact and provides authentically local experiences. To win is - WOW! Thank you to all our supporters and friends who voted for us. We are so happy to know how much you care!
COVID-19 has badly affected tourism and visits to the farm. In order to mitigate some of the effects of the loss of income this has meant for the dairy, we have teamed up with the Tourism in Need initiative that supports responsible tourism organizations affected by the pandemic. Through this initiative, travelers can support the dairy through the Give Today, Go Tomorrow fundraising scheme. Click here to find out more and to make a contribution to help us to pay farmers and team members, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
We talk a lot in our blogs about the work we do with the local community here in Laos, but this week our story is much closer to home. This time, we wanted to share some exciting news about Nin and Somchit who are a husband and wife working with us here at the dairy. Somchit is our Deputy Farm Manager, and Nin works tirelessly every day taking care of our buffalo, including being a talented administer of vaccinations. They have a 3-year old son, who lives with Nin’s parents in Luang Prabang, who they go and visit every Wednesday on their day off. When speaking with each of them, it is clear that what drives their dedication, motivation and hard work at the farm is a desire to support their son and give him opportunities in life that they didn’t have.
Nin and Somchit met while studying at high school and continued studying together at the Northern Agriculture and Forestry College, where they learnt the skills needed to work on our farm. In Laos, after having a baby, it is usual for the mother to stay at home and look after the child while the father goes to work. For the Laos women staying at home, this usually has the effect of ending their career prospects. However, Nin is different and hasn’t followed the crowd in this case. Being a smart couple, they saw the opportunity that both of them going to work, collecting two salaries and achieving a higher economic standing would mean for their family’s future.
The years of hard work paid off last month when Nin and Somchit invested in three buffalo on our farm: one mum aged 9 years old and two of her calves, aged almost 2 years and 4 months, now have two proud new owners. We know Nin and Somchit are looking to save as much money as they can for their son’s future. So, why decide to invest their hard-earned money in three buffalo on our farm? Here are the reasons they invested:
Buffalo Care - On our farm, we provide the highest level of care for buffalo in all of Laos. We have a team of experts, many of whom have received expert training to enhance their skills further both here in Laos and Thailand.
We feed our buffalo approximately 30 kilos of food every day, they are never tied up, and the mum and the baby can spend all day together. Our buffalo go out to pasture every morning, and we even do their nails once a month! We are; part buffalo dairy, part buffalo spa.
Buffalo Health - Any buffalo that stay on our farm spend one month in quarantine, where they are tested and vaccinated against all the most common diseases here in Laos. We keep strict records for our buffalo so we know when they are due for more vaccinations. We also keep track of dads; buffalo on our farm that leave pregnant have records of who the expectant father is so we can help to avoid the inbreeding that has long been a problem here in Laos. Buffalo are checked for pregnancy and closely monitored for any abnormalities that could cause them problems in the future.
Buffalo rental - The core of our business model is to rent buffalo from local farmers, providing them with a brand new source of income. In this case, those local farmers are Nin and Somchit. While their buffalo are on the farm, we are paying to feed, care for and milk them. The buffalo stay with us because their home village is too far away. Eventually, the sale of the male buffalo will provide extra income, which supports their family’s future.
Nin and Somchit saw an opportunity by investing in our farm, and they’ve worked here long enough to understand the importance of the work we do for the local community. They know that the female buffalo they bought will be strong and healthy and that her two calves will have the best chance to reach adulthood. In the villages, 45% of calves die in their first six months, while on our farm the figure is less than 5%. Calves on our farm are much more likely to be strong and healthy compared to those in the villages. The investment Nin and Somchit have made means that when their son is older and wants to go to school, Nin and Somchit will have at least three, if not more, fully grown healthy buffalo. They can sell one of these to support their son’s education.
We are incredibly proud of how hard Nin and Somchit have worked to get where they are today, and for the trust put in our farm as a way to invest in their family’s future.
Saturday was the final day of voting for the Mekong Collective 2020. We want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who voted for our farm! The whole team appreciates that during these difficult times, you took the time to support us here at the dairy. Watch out for our update about the results!
Almost 10,000 people voted! The winners will be announced live at the Virtual Destination Mekong Summit on 25 August.
If you would like to participate in this, you can register for free at https://www.destinationmekong.com/dms2020/. You can learn all about the Mekong Tourism COVID updates and see about the future of tourism here in SouthEast Asia.
COVID-19 has badly affected tourism and visits to the farm. In order to mitigate some of the effects of the loss of income this has meant for the dairy, we have teamed up with the Tourism in Need initiative that supports responsible tourism organizations affected by the pandemic. Through this initiative, travelers can support the dairy through the Give Today, Go Tomorrow fundraising scheme. Click here to find out more and to make a contribution to help us to pay farmers and team members, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
Our dairy welcomed some new friends last month, as our first cows joined us and are settling in nicely to their new home. The cows are a Yellow Asian Cow and are common in villages right across Laos.
We had been planning to expand to include cows in our nutrition programme for a while now, so Rabbi Sholom, kindly donating two cows to the farm was perfect. For Rabbi Sholom, this was also an opportunity to have fresh milk for his family that he knew and trusted to be Kosher. The Rabbi also knows this farm is a safe place for the cows to live, as we have an expert team to care for, feed and vaccinate the animals. The cows will receive 24/7 care!
Similarly to buffalo, farmers don’t usually milk cows in Laos. Farmers tend to raise them for meat. So, right now we don’t know how much milk a Yellow Asian Cow can produce - our best guess is about 2 litres, whereas a dairy cow in Europe or the US produces 30-70 litres every day. Although not a huge amount, it can be invaluable additional nutrition for a family who cannot provide regular nutritious meals for their children. Farmers, who attend our nutrition programme, learn how to milk their cows and then cook their sticky rice in the milk to add in nutrition to these meals. It makes sense to use resources the farmers already have as it provides a sustainable way forward!
The World Bank nutrition programme has been planning to expand into cows. The Rabbi’s kind donation has given us a head start as we can now monitor and test the milk production and plan how to develop the project over time.
Currently, we only work with farmers who own buffalo, providing them with a new income stream and teaching them about how to look after their animals. However, along with the World Bank, we want to help even more farmers. So a natural thought was, what about cows? Farmers who own cows in Laos are traditionally not as wealthy as those who own buffalo. Cows cost about half the price and are smaller in size, which means when they sell the meat, they receive less income.
At the moment, due to the impacts of COVID-19, we are seeing more and more villagers investing in cows. The jobs many people relied on in Luang Prabang have now dried up, and many people have moved back to their villages. The money they were once saving up to buy land in the cities they are investing in livestock and in particular, cows.
The concern is that a large number of people are investing their hard-earned savings in cows, with little or no agricultural experience. There is an opportunity here for the farm to offer training that helps these farmers make the best of their investment. For examples, something as simple as a worming tablet, which costs 8000 Kip or about 80 cents, can increase the life expectancy of a cow. As with buffalo, we are using an asset a farmer currently has and helping them learn how to take better care of it.
In the future, we also plan to explore the potential benefits of goats because the poorest farmers in Laos will have goats. Stay tuned as a future blog will highlight the arrival of the goats at our dairy and cute pics of the kids are sure to follow!
So we say a big Thank You! to Rabbi Sholom. His kind donation has helped kick start this next stage of development for our work here in Laos.
Lola, our show girl, had her beautiful baby!! This little guy was born on the evening of Saturday, 8 August. We joke and say little, but…..he was a whopping 39 kilo!!! That’s big for a buffalo. On our farm, in the beginning, swamp babies were about 20 or less kilo when they were born. Now they are more likely to be 25+ kilo, thanks to the better health and nutrition here at our farm.
This new baby is a cross breed - Swamp and Murrah. We need your help to name him! He needs an “L” boys name to go along with his mum, Lola, and big sister, Lisa. Comment with your suggestions!
In case you missed this fantastic announcement last time, we are one of the finalists in the 2020 Mekong Experience Showcases. According to the members of the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group, we fit the bill for 3 main principles:
To make a significant social impact in our community.
To provide an authentic local experience for tourism.
To have an innovative and sustainable concept in our business model.
We are so excited to have been singled out as one of the responsible small businesses to do this. But, it isn't over quite yet! There is still another round of voting to go through.
From 7 July to 15 August we are asking that you please go to http://www.destinationmekong.com/ems2020/ and vote for us. The winner will be announced on 25 August 2020.
COVID-19 has badly affected tourism and visits to the farm. In order to mitigate some of the effects of the loss of income this has meant for the dairy, we have teamed up with the Tourism in Need initiative that supports responsible tourism organizations affected by the pandemic. Through this initiative, travellers can support the dairy through the Give Today, Go Tomorrow fundraising scheme. Click here to find out more and to make a contribution to help us to pay farmers and staff, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
Two common questions from some visitors to our farm, before they take a look around, is why would I want to look around a buffalo farm? What’s the point? Well, when they take a tour and hear about our story, they realise we are so much more than simply a buffalo dairy! They understand that we work with the local community to educate local farmers about their animals; we educate about vaccinations, animal husbandry, animal care, and we also teach English to local children for free!
In December 2018, we were approached by the American/Laos Nutrition Institute in Vientiane to make protein powder for the doctors at the hospitals to give to their patients. Approximately 44% of Laos children are chronically malnourished before the age of 2 years. At that time, we said we would be happy to do what we could but that we didn't have the funds to buy any additional equipment to make the powder. Through conversations, we started working to see what it was that we could do to make this happen. From their end, the Institute needed to find a grad student and the funding needed to test the nutritional composition of our milk and to help progress the project. Well, it would clearly take quite a while to make this happen, so we started thinking about other avenues and how to achieve the same goal.
Susie, our fearless CEO, came up with the thought that we had the possibility of creating a nutrition program to help BEFORE the children got to the point where there was a desperate need, and they were possibly hospitalized. All we needed to do was teach the farmers to use a resource they already had at their fingertips - buffalo! We started applying for grants to get help, as we knew we would be hard-pressed to do it on our own.
In 2019, we started a partnership with BPP (Business Partnerships Platform), The Northern Agricultural and Forestry College, The Provincial Health Department and The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that would allow us to reach out to villages and start teaching! This group was brought together by one common goal; to fight poverty and malnutrition in Laos. Being a part of this partnership allows us to access where the neediest people in our area are. We are all learning together how we can make this program a success and eventually roll it out on a broader scale through Laos. Eventually, our goal is to expand our work into other countries in the region that can use a similar program to help their local communities, not only with nutrition and buffalo health but also with a farmer’s livelihood.
Our main focus initially was to combat the malnutrition rates in Laos, but it has branched out from there to include promoting regeneration in herds and an increase in rural health and wealth. The two main activities of the project are:
to influence dietary practices by introducing protein, fat and micro nutrient rich buffalo milk as a dietary supplement among rural households; and
to improve the genetic health of the stock of buffalo through good breeding practices, thus increasing the sale price of a buffalo for rural households, allowing them to make more money.
The remarkable and exciting aspect of this project is its organic sustainability. We don’t need to give the farmers anything they don’t already have. We are taking the buffalo they already own helping the buffalo to become bigger and stronger; all the while improving the genetics so that they are a better asset for the farmer. These healthier buffalo can then have healthier calves and thus, this sustainable cycle continues for generations.
At the farm we have put this into practice, cross breeding buffalo to improve the genetic diversity and increase milk yield per buffalo. On our farm we have two types of buffalo – Laos Swamp buffalo (native to Laos) and Indian Murrah. Both breeds are water buffalo and native to the region we live in. We bring their non-pregnant buffalo to the farm, vaccinate them and then help them with better stock for the next generation of buffalo to be born.
In addition to this work with the buffalo, we are raising the awareness of the benefits of buffalo milk. This involves increasing the acceptance of buffalo milk which is still a new phenomenon here in Laos. Plus, we are educating farmers and their families on how to use buffalo milk. For more information on buffalo milk, see click here.
We are now working with 6 villages implementing the programme and it’s going well. Last month a group of 30 farmers from a village in Chompet came out to visit our farm. They received a complete tour of the farm from our resident expert, Songkham. The farmers learned about keeping, feeding and milking the buffalo and were also treated to an ice cream so they could taste the milk in action, so to speak! This visit was their introduction to the farm and the programme and how they would play a part in it. We are invested in these communities to help them long term. We are not giving repeatedly and then leaving, as is so often the model for projects like this. We are giving in a sustainable, controlled, long term way. Like the proverb says, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”
One example from the programme is that we give Napier grass to the villages which they can grow to feed their buffalo. The Napier is 14% protein and grows to be 2m tall in about two months. We teach the farmers how to grow the grass, how to regenerate it and keep it effectively. We supply fencing and teach the farmers how to build separate enclosures and the best way to keep their buffalo to give them the best possible chance of survival. After their house and family, a buffalo is a farmer’s best asset, so keeping them strong and healthy is crucial.
And there’s more! We introduced the idea of village champions! We choose 5 or 6 people from each village to come to our farm for intense training. We include both men and women, which is important, as the farm is always striving to promote gender equality in the
community. The champions visit our farm for one week of training. While with us, we teach them
everything about buffalo care; vaccinations, pregnancy checks, feeding, husbandry, how to make a mineral block, how to treat basic injuries and intensive milking knowledge, and then we teach them about nutrition and how to cook the milk.
The cooking lessons start by giving them some rice cooked in the milk, as we know that rice is the main staple in Laos, but rice doesn’t have much nutritional value. By cooking the milk in the rice cook pots, they effectively pasteurize the milk and the nutrition from the milk are absorbed into the rice and then eaten as a nutritious supplement for their entire family. It only takes about 500ml of milk in the pots to get better nutrition happening! We teach them how to use the milk to feed their children. This approach is how the farm is using nutrition to combat the 44% malnutrition rate mentioned earlier. By coming to the farm to learn from us, the villagers get to ask the questions about adding different ingredients to the milk mixture and how it will taste. Well, of course, our answer is always, try everything. You never know what you might like. However, we also know that trying new things can be scary and sometimes costly. So, we went out and bought some of those ingredients for them to make the rice/milk mixture to test the flavours and without costing them anything. We teach a new dish everyday while they are with us for training. Examples of meals include combining pumpkin and milk or a buffalo milk porridge. All the recipes are high in nutrition and incredibly good for children.
If you want to see more information about the farmer training, watch this video.
The hope with the village champions is that when these farmers leave our dairy they have the ability to not only give their own buffalo fantastic care but also can go back and teach other villagers how to care for their own buffalo.
Long term we will give these villages one of our Murrah bulls, for free, to live in the village
and expand the gene pool! The plan is to swap out bulls every 3 years or so to increase the
genetics and ensure we avoid a return to an inbreeding culture. Progress is underway and so far the signs are good.
So, in summary, this is what’s happening right now! Our dream for the future is healthier buffalo, which incidentally also means healthier farmers. The people who live in the villages already have access to buffalo. Our work takes those buffalo and makes them healthier and sturdier. Achieving this improves the farmer’s health and economic situation. The effect can be a generational change! A farmer having healthier buffalo has access to more money, which means maybe now they can send their children to a school in the city instead of the village, which will offer a higher quality of education. The children that can grasp that opportunity can use this better education to increase the possibilities for their own children.
We aren’t giving a quick fix. That doesn’t work here in Laos. We have seen many examples of
others coming to Laos, with good intentions, trying to quickly solve a problem, and it doesn’t work. We are giving families in Laos new opportunities for the long term.
We’ll keep you posted with the developments of our programme!
In case you missed this fantastic announcement last time, we are one of the finalists in the 2020 Mekong Experience Showcases. According to the members of the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group, we fit the bill for 3 main principles:
To make a significant social impact in our community.
To provide an authentic local experience for tourism.
To have an innovative and sustainable concept in our business model.
We are so excited to have been singled out as one of the responsible small businesses to do this. But, it isn't over quite yet! There is still another round of voting to go through.
From 7 July to 15 August we are asking that you please go to http://www.destinationmekong.com/ems2020/ and vote for us. The winner will be announced on 25 August 2020.
COVID-19 has badly affected tourism and visits to the farm. In order to mitigate some of the effects of the loss of income this has meant for the dairy, we have teamed up with the Tourism in Need initiative that supports responsible tourism organizations affected by the pandemic. Through this initiative, travellers can support the dairy through the Give Today, Go Tomorrow fundraising scheme. Click here to find out more and to make a contribution to help us to pay farmers and staff, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
As part of the education side of Laos Buffalo Dairy we offer free English classes to all of our staff as well as to the children and young adults from the local primary and high schools. This is incredibly important as having a good level of English is a great way to widen their future career opportunities.
Why Buffalo Milk?
One of the questions we are asked the most at the farm is what is the difference between buffalo milk and cow’s milk. Well, we think it’s about time we gave you the definitive answer and explained the benefits of adding buffalo milk to your diet. Buffalo are the second largest (after cows) source of milk in the world.
In Southeast Asia, an estimated 90% of people are lactose intolerant. There is an absence of dairy in the diet of most of the population. When the founders of our farm arrived in Laos, on a mission to create a brand new industry, they saw thousands of buffalo and inquired about purchasing milk to make cheese. This inquiry was met with udder confusion because, in Laos, they do not milk their buffalo. Buffalo here traditionally have two main roles - to work on the farm or as meat for sale. Ask Lao people where milk comes from, and a buffalo doesn’t even rank in the top five answers! The number one answer is coconuts.
Some parts of Asia have harnessed this dairy resource with India and Pakistan accounting for 80% of all buffalo milk production globally. China, Egypt and Nepal have more buffalo dairies than cow dairies, while Sri Lanka has some of the most famous buffalo yoghurt in the world.
The buffalo yoghurt from Sri Lanka, or buffalo curd as the called it, is what attracted the founders to this idea in Laos. Having tasted the rich, creamy goodness while holidaying in Sri Lanka, it was never far from their thoughts on how to get more.
Buffalo milk has 50% more protein than cows milk, 40% more energy in calories, nearly 40% more calcium and has high levels of antioxidants. Buffalo milk has a higher fat content which makes it perfect for making cheese and ice cream. It is world-renowned for being delicious!
Our farm prides itself on having the most delicious cheese in Laos which is available in many of the hotels and restaurants in Luang Prabang and Vientiane. If you want to try our cheese fresh from the dairy, you can come and try mozzarella, feta, ricotta, blue cheese, burrata as well as ice creams, cakes and yoghurts! Yum.
In case you missed this fantastic announcement last time, we are one of the finalists in the 2020 Mekong Experience Showcases. According to the members of the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group, we fit the bill for 3 main principles:
To make a significant social impact in our community.
To provide an authentic local experience for tourism.
To have an innovative and sustainable concept in our business model.
We are so excited to have been singled out as one of the responsible small businesses to do this. But, it isn't over quite yet! There is still another round of voting to go through.
From 7 July to 15 August we are asking that you please go to http://www.destinationmekong.com/ems2020/ and vote for us. The winner will be announced on 25 August 2020.
COVID-19 has badly affected tourism and visits to the farm. In order to mitigate some of the effects of the loss of income this has meant for the dairy, we have teamed up with the Tourism in Need initiative that supports responsible tourism organizations affected by the pandemic. Through this initiative, travellers can support the dairy through the Give Today, Go Tomorrow fundraising scheme. Click here to find out more and to make a contribution to help us to pay farmers and staff, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
As we head into rainy season, we decided to reflect back on the dry season this year and rainy season last year. Rainy season normally runs from May until October but unfortunately last year we saw a very dry rainy season. This has had huge ramifications for our farm and the rest of the community who are often so reliant on rice farming.
The villages usually do 2 rice harvests per year. But this last year saw so little rain that most villages were lucky to get just one harvest. This lack of growing and harvesting has created a rice shortage which means that more rice has had to be imported from Thailand, increasing the prices.
On our farm we have about 100 buffalo staying with us at the moment. They are quite greedy house guests as one buffalo can eat 30 kilos of food every single day (or about 10% of its body weight)! This means we need to provide a lot of grass for all of the buffalo which becomes more challenging when the water supplies are unreliable and depleted.
Now we come to the heroes of our story.
One of our co-founders, Steven, along with two incredibly hard working German volunteers, Tim and Frauke, and some of our farm staff carried the 50 kilo pump 200 metres down to the mighty Mekong river. This was back breaking work and they faced many setbacks along the way.
We had to have electricity run across the main road at the farm, all the way down to the water line in order to use said pump. That was no easy feat as it had to be run through the woods after being hooked up to our transformer, across the road. We needed the electricity company to come out to do this for us, after hiring day workers to help Tim dig holes for the poles so we could make sure the line went exactly where we needed it.
Steven unwittingly donated blood during this enterprise, which ended up in 3 stitches with no anesthetic. We feel your pain Steven! Due to ingenious engineering and dedication there was celebration on our farm as the much needed water began to flow down the 350 metre long pipe and onto our farm into the pond at the cafe! From there it was diverted with more pipes and smaller pumps to lead out either directly onto the fields of grass or into other ponds to be used further away from the Mekong. Well done guys!
We wish this was the least of our problems now!
As a socially responsible, sustainable business we are proud of the opportunities that we create in the local communities.
60% of the staff who work on our farm are female! Yep, from our CEO and Head Chef through all the roles covered by staff on the farm and in the kitchen we are a predominantly female enterprise.”
And of course, the dairy itself was set up to create families with a regular income stream from an underutilised resource, namely female buffalo; male buffalo being sold for meat. The facility for milking buffalo and keeping them well-fed, healthy and safe and the cheese-making production facility to process the milk provide employment opportunities for our staff.
We also provide Internships in the production facility for local women in order to help them acquire skills and work experience and to give them access to the tourism job market.
The women who work on our farm know that they will always be supported because strong women are represented in senior management. They have gone out of their way to lift up and promote women to work on the farm. Women working on our farm are given an opportunity to earn money and make a life for themselves. Often in Laos women will marry young and they will then be expected to stay at home which may or may not match their original aspirations. On the farm the women who work here are given free accommodation, allowing them to stay safely on the farm, save some money and ultimately make their own life choices without outside pressures.
Saisamone is a constant smiling face on our farm. Whether she is taking tours or working with the buffalo she is always a ray of sunshine. She is incredibly smart, graduating from the Northern Agriculture and Forestry College in 2016, having studied livestock and fishery for 3 years. She can also speak fluent English! She knows everything there is to know about buffalo and if you’re lucky enough to have her take you on a tour of the farm in the future you will see first hand how knowledgeable she truly is!
With the effects of COVID-19, for a while, the tours stopped. However, with the dairy open again, Saisamone looks forward to once again welcoming visitors curious to learn about the farm and keen to taste our delicious products!
Oudone was driving past the farm one day and was intrigued. She decided to come in and apply for a job on the farm but she’s scared of buffalo, so she found her home in the kitchen. Before working on the farm she hadn’t eaten cheese before let alone made it. So with the expert guidance of our head chef, she is now brilliant at making all of the cheeses you can see on our menu. She also worked for months on our farm with her cousin without having any idea they were cousins! There was much rejoicing when Oudone’s sister came to visit and informed them both of the family connection. She works incredibly hard and is as diligent a person as you will ever meet. She also sends a large portion of her wages back to her family to support them.
Mone has worked on the farm for the past 4 years. She came to the farm at 20 years old with a daughter and a marriage that wasn’t working out. The farm offered her free accommodation and a stable income. She supports her daughter to go to school and study visiting her every day if she can while she stays with them in her village. Mone comes from a background of limited education but she’s incredibly smart and she has been given the opportunity to move through the ranks and is spoken of someone who could move into a senior position on the farm side of the dairy.
Bounmee has been working with us on the farm since the very beginning. She started with us a day worker, but it became apparent very quickly that she was dedicated to her job and we hired her full time. She has worked in the kitchen and on the buffalo side of the farm. Bounmee has an infectious laugh and is referred to by the staff as “Mum Mee” because of her caring nature. She cannot read or write so for her to work on the farm during the pandemic has been a great opportunity for her family as she can continue to work to earn money for an enterprise that actively supports women.
COVID-19 has badly affected tourism and visits to the farm. In order to mitigate some of the effects of the loss of income this has meant for the dairy, we have teamed up with the Tourism in Need initiative, that supports responsible tourism organisations affected by the pandemic. Through this initiative, travellers can support the dairy through the Give today, go tomorrow fundraising scheme. Click here to find out more and to make a contribution to help us to pay farmers and staff, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
2020 Experience Mekong Showcases
We have some fantastic news that we are just bursting at the seams to get out to you!
On Monday night we found out that we are one of the finalists in the 2020 Mekong Experience Showcases. According to the members of the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group, we fit the bill for the 3 main principles:
1. To make a significant social impact in our community.
2. To provide an authentic local experience for tourism.
3. To have an innovative and sustainable concept in our business model.
We are so excited to have been singled out as one of the responsible small businesses to do this. But it isn't over quite yet! There is still another round of voting to go through.
From 7 July to 15 August we are asking that you please go to www.destinationmekong.com/ems2020/ and vote for us.
The winner will be announced on 25 August.
