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.
