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 the beginning….
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.
Introducing Village Champions
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.
Hope for the Future
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.
Still doing the things we do best!
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 can't fix everything overnight!
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!
2020 Mekong Experience Showcases Finalist
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.
Tourism in Need
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.
