Freeze Branding

It was drizzling a bit but the weather didn't stop us from branding the heifers at Batangas Dairy Cooperative (BADACO) in Lipa City. Rainier forgot the cordless hair clipper so he had to cut the coats short in preparing the animals for their baptism of fire (ice is more like it). We had this styro box and filled it halfway with liquid nitrogen. Dipped the branding irons to chill and drove the animals into the chute. The brand should be pressed squarely for thirty seconds applying about 20Kg pressure. BADACO has a three digit numbering system so we had to take turns. Edwin Sanchez, BADACO farm manager, did most of the animals.

There was some swelling on the skin after branding, like the instruction said, and will be gone within a week. In about a month the hair will shed off and new hair growth will appear in about two months without any pigment.

The goal is to have a discolored coat on the brand site by destroying the pigment follicle but sparing the hair follicle. Pressing for thirty seconds does the job, more than that and you'll reach the follicle for hair growth and you'll end up with a bald spot.

A new farm: Hapicows

Today is the inauguration of a new farm located in Tiaong, Quezon. It is managed by Mr. Ben Molina who is known in the local dairy industry as a follower of the New Zealand pastoral system. The farm sits on an 85 hectare lot and planted with Brachiaria ruziziensis [ not B. eruciformis as earlier posted, edit mine]. Mr. Molina imported the seeds from Thailand. The farm is also experimenting on the use of cassava leaves and Moringa oleifera which is a legume.






The occassion was attended by Cong. Procy Alcala who is an avid supporter of the agriculture sector, Tiaong Mayor Rene Umali, several dairy farmers, and Johnny Katigbak whose family owns the land. There was a short program wherein Johnny and Ben relayed the story of how their partnership came about. Mr. Molina needed a new pasture area to lease while Johnny needed a good supply of milk. Both men were able to get their acts together by looking at ways to complement each other's needs.







The Partners: Johnny Katigbak (left picture) and Ben Molina (right) taking turns talking about making money from dairy.

Soft Cheese

Filipinos are fond of the traditional food, those things that truly tell you that you are a Filipino once the food lands on your tongue. During breakfast, while bread came in late as a Filipino favorite, it is traditionally spread with white soft cheese. The cheese is traditionally from buffalo milk but there's no problem making it from cow's milk. Among the producers of soft cheese in the country is the Southern Tagalog dairy federation, the Katipunan ng mga Kooperatibang Maggagatas, Ink. (KKMI).

Called "kesong puti" in the vernacular, white soft cheese has a very high moisture content compared to cheeses produced in Europe. The cheese is usually salty because of the way the traditional cheese makers try to extend the life of the milk by adding salt to the milk while collecting as much buffalo milk as possible from producers. Vinegar is used to produce curd and transferred to wooden trays lined with thin canvass cloth. Excess moisture is allowed to drain. For unpasteurized milk the curing time would take about 60 days but we don't do that nowadays. After draining, cut the cheese into the desired marketable portions and pack it with banana leaves.

At KKMI, they use rennet instead of vinegar and the cheese is packed as soon as the moisture has drained away. They have this walk-in refrigeration unit where much of their dairy products are stored.

In some coffee shops, they serve toasted bread with soft cheese and, tomatoes and other condiments. I usually have a hot cup of black coffee and bread hot off the oven spread with this kind of white soft cheese. Makes you remember lazy childhood days.

JICA Mission

A few weeks ago we accompanied the JICA Mission as part of the concluding activities of our joint project. The Mission was composed of Mr. Ouye, Mr. Saito, and Ms. Shikiri. They visited all project areas. In the KKMI areas, they visited dairy plant managed by the federation and all primary cooperatives.
During their visit in SALBA Dairy Cooperative in San Pablo City, Laguna, they found that the movable type milking machine donated by JICA was installed in a milking parlor and actually used by several farmers. The concept of a communal milking parlor is something new to the Japanese that Mr. Saito admitted that it was the first time he learned of such a set-up and may be included in their report.
At the PALCON Cooperative, they were greeted by the construction site where the hammer mill will be installed. The hammer mill was originally donated to Malinao Cooperative. However, Malinao was short in resources to fully utilize the hammer mill, so the decision was made to transfer the machinery to Palcon.
The rest of the visit in Quezon was a treat from Cong. Alcala. You can find the story here.

PalCon Dairy Cooperative

Milk production in the Philippines is dominated by the dairy cooperatives. In the Southern Tagalog region, these cooperatives contribute roughly around 75% of cow’s milk production in the area. While there are already a number of medium scale dairy farms (50-500 cattle) present in the region, the sheer number of dairy cooperatives makes them the focus of efforts towards improvements in both quantity and quality. The PalCon Dairy Multi-purpose Cooperative is one such cooperative.

PalCon’s operation is primarily located in barangays Concepcion Palasan and Concepcion 1 in Sariaya, Quezon (126Km South of Manila). Its name is a combination of the first three letters of the former barangay’s name (Concepcion Palasan). The story goes that many objected to the name as it sounds like a lewd Tagalog word. So they decided to rearrange it to PalCon.

Currently, PalCon contributes the bulk of milk processed by its federation, the Katipunan ng mga Kooperatibang Maggagatas, Ink. (KKMI), making it the largest smallhold milk producing cooperative in the country (unconfirmed). The centralized milk collection system boasts of a 1,000 liter capacity chilling tank donated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Milk is collected delivered to the KKMI dairy plant in Calauan, Laguna (about 53Km away) every morning. There is a premium price scheme for milk providing the incentive for producing good quality milk.

The cooperative also have a store that offers a range of products, from cattle feed to rice and other day-to-day needs you can find in a variety store in the Philippines. It so happens that the fastest selling commodity you can buy from the store is the lambanog (coconut liquor, high alcohol content). Cooperative members can get their daily goods on credit, which the bookkeeper will simply deduct from the milk payroll.

Since there is a great requirement for fresh cow’s milk, the cooperative is now experiencing resurgence with new members coming in and investing heavily. Many have observed that most of the new members have already overtaken several old members in terms of number of dairy animals, positions taken in the cooperative (there are two members of the board of directors that are considered new members), and investments both in land and animals.

Dairy in San Vicente

The Dairy Project in San Vicente is the brainchild of Mayor Antonio Gonzales after paying Hacienda Macalauan a visit. He sought for the assistance of the National Dairy Authority (NDA) to source imported animals. We first met with the Mayor on October 2006 for the initial discussion regarding the project.

The project involves the acquisition of 50 heads of Holstein-Sahiwal crosses from New Zealand. With this herd they would require a large tract of developed pasture. They requested the DA Regional Field Unit IV-A to allow them to use part of the facilities of the Carabao Breeding and Development Center (CBDC) for dairy production. We surveyed the area during several visits and found it a good site for the project. CBDC has 80 ha of developed humidicola pasture.

While waiting for the arrival of the animals, three personnel from the municipal agriculture office were trained at the Molina Farm in Malvar, Batangas. Mayor Gonzales, being a farmer himself, also joined in the training.
The animals arrived in July 2007 with an additional 2 bulls that were procured from dairy cooperatives in Mindanao.

The dairy project was conceived as part of the municipality’s strategy of supplying the food requirement of the booming tourism industry in northern Palawan. The municipality is now supplying the food needs of El Nido.

First Milk in Capalonga

Capalonga is a fourth class municipality in the Province of Camarines Norte located 73km Northwest of Daet and 367km South of Manila. My first impression is that its seclusion from the national highway has limited its growth as a municipality. However, the town boasts of rich coastal and marine resources as well as fertile farmlands.

About four years ago, Dr. Hulsey Orit, then an agriculturist of the municipality, asked NDA for dairy cattle frozen semen. He was trained in artificial insemination and the town invested on a liquid nitrogen tank. There was no reason not to give him what he asked for. So Hulsey did artificial insemination with the purpose of upgrading the local stocks into dairy. This continued for sometime without much NDA supervision.

Last year, we were invited to conduct a dairy orientation seminar for those who are interested. We learned that the municipality has established a two-cow dairy farm making use of the upgraded animals. It was a surprise indeed.

By this time, Hulsey is now the municipal agriculturist, and have undergone training on dairy in the Netherlands. However, they were having problems with the performance of the animals. They could only get half a litter in every milking.

We tried to understand the problem by asking questions. Surely the animal is capable of producing more than half a litter since it was a product of crossing native cattle with dairy through artificial insemination.

We advised them to separate the calf from the dam every 4pm. This way, more milk can be taken from the animal. Hulsey and the rest of his staff hesitated. They feared that it would affect the calf’s growth. We simply said that if it’s a dairy animal then it would have more than enough milk for the calf.

The following day we visited the farm again and observed them milking. We pointed some things that they need to improve on in the milking routine. But the best part was that they were able to get about four liters from just one animal. Not bad for the first day. We later learned that the animals averaged about five liters.

As soon as we finished milking we taught Hulsey how to pasteurize and bottle the milk using only kitchen vessels and utensils. Hulsey, obviously proud, literally paraded the milk to the municipal hall and presented the milk to the Mayor.

St. Elmo's

We went to Nasugbu (about 76km from Manila) to visit St. Elmo's Farm. The owner, Elmer Rivera (at left with a few of his herd), has about 60 anglo nubian-saanen crosses. His highest producer, with marked saanen characteristics, produces about six liters a day.

If you want to learn about goats in general, go to Kambing (Goat) School. The site provides information about goats, breeds, and the goat business. I have yet to find Elmer's farm in their list.

His feeding consists mostly of napier and legumes from his one hectare land. He also gets additional grasses and legumes from nearby areas. He said legumes are his secret. Every time he has an order or when he anticipates an increase in demand, high legume feeding becomes the norm.

Feeding the animals means gathering enough grass and legumes to fill four of these feeding stands (above).
St. Elmo's is also the brand for the farm's finished products, which includes fresh and flavored milk, soft cheese, feta, and soap (yes, soap).

Milking is done by hand in their makeshift milking platform. As the picture shows, the platform is designed for the ease of the milker. A guillotine type head lock assures the goat will go nowhere.

A few months ago, the farm was troubled with mastitis. Elmer sought help from NDA which promptly provided advise.

Today, Elmer is concentrating on expanding his market and making alliances with other goat raisers.

I'll tell you more about Elmer in the coming months as I'm also inclined to go into the business myself.

My attempt

I'm a veterinarian with the Philippines' National Dairy Authority. NDA's mandate is to assure the accelerated growth of the dairy subsector. Unlike in traditional dairy producing countries, most of the local milk production comes from backyard raising of dairy crosses, similar to other South East Asian countries like Thailand and Indonesia.

If you need to look at hard figures, click here

I will be posting my thoughts about my work and the dairy industry. This is not to compete with NDA's website where the dairy industry is presented through facts and figures. I will present the local industry as I see it.