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.

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.