Tag Archives: Cows

Irish Heifers Meet Their New Romanian Families

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Speaking of Bóthar… Remember when they shipped 70 heifers from Ireland to Romania as part of a Heifer project?

Irish heifers arrive in their new Romanian village.
The crowd eagerly awaits the distribution of the heifers.

We’ve just learned that earlier today, 42 of those heifers and one male calf reached their new farmer families in Rasca commune. Heifer Romania held an original livestock placement ceremony near the town hall in Rasca. The heifers waited patiently until the lottery draw was finished and their new owners could take them home. 

These heifers will soon supply milk for farm families and
orphan children. Holstein Frisian cows produce twice as
much milk as the local cattle breeds.

Over the past week, the community has waited excitedly for the announcement for the coming cattle. There were more than 100 requests to become project participants and receive the gift. The applications were sorted and future beneficiaries chosen according to project criteria (poor farmer families, the unemployed, families with children, possibility and capacity to properly feed and house the livestock, willingness to Pass on the Gift).

Families receiving heifers today sign contracts
that include the commitment to Pass on the Gift of
their heifers’ first female offspring.

The number of people attending the ceremony exceeded expectations. All families who applied for the project came to see the animals and were impressed by the high quality of the heifers. Villagers were enthusiastic and said they never believed the animals would be in such an excellent condition. Families not selected for original placement will eagerly await the first Pass on the Gift ceremony.

Dorina smiles over her new calf.

Suspense filled the crowd, as everyone was wondering who would pick the ticket for the cow with the calf. Applause burst when the ticket number drawn by Mrs. Nistor Dorina brought her the mother cow and male calf. She was excited and, while covering the calf with a blanket said, “God bless the Irish families that made this possible. Such happiness is rarely felt! Thank you very much.”

Rasca commune is about 56 miles from Cluj. About 60 percent of the families here do not have consistent incomes. They are trying to establish small-scale private farming in order to earn a living. Through this Heifer project, the families will improve their nutrition and increase their income by breeding Holstein Frisian cows, well known for their high milk production and rapid adaptability to various climate conditions. These families will also pass on the first female offspring of their dairy cows to another impoverished family, and they will donate 79 gallons of milk to orphan children.

These heifers are ready to settle in!



The heifers must be glad to be home after traveling for three hours from the quarantine farm where they spent the last month. Their new farm families are certainly glad to have them.

Information provided by Laura Manciu, communications and public relations coordinator for Heifer International’s Romania Country Program.

Says Goat: Are We There Yet?

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Heifer believes that we can achieve more together by working with communities, local governments, organizations, and other partners. Heifer has several longstanding relationships with organizations that share in the mission of Heifer International and our belief that we can end hunger and poverty. One of these organizations is our global partner, Bóthar, based in Limerick, Ireland.


For the past several years, Bóthar has run a series of adorable commercials encouraging donations of livestock to help poor farmers around the world. This year, they’ve allowed us to Americanize and Heiferize their commercials to share with you. Take a look:

We began working together in 1991 with a project in Uganda. Bóthar then was a newly formed organization of Irish farmers who had a grand idea to send as many Irish dairy heifers as possible to Africa. The first airlift of 20 in-calf dairy heifers left Shannon Airport for Uganda that year, and this simple and powerful idea of sending livestock to support families in developing countries rapidly gained widespread support. Twenty years later, Bóthar’s work has expanded to include working with more than 16 different animal species in more than 35 countries, together with training in animal husbandry and sustainable farming.
Bóthar has airlifted more than 4,550 Irish dairy heifers to communities around the world, each transforming the lives of recipient families. Because each family Passes on Gift of the first female calf to another family, Bóthar estimates that a further 15,000 “pass-on” heifers have enriched the lives of families formerly living in poverty.
Through partners like Bóthar, individual supporters and others, Heifer is able to scale up our impact, reach more communities and families, and move forward in getting there.  
To learn more about Bóthar and their work, visit Bóthar’s site at www.bothar.ie. Or follow them on Twitter at @bothar or on Facebook.

Information provided by Meredith Rolf, international resource development manager at Heifer International.

Ugandan Family Moves From IDP Camp to Self-Reliance

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Story and photos by Dan Bazira


While many families in northern Uganda are still traumatized after 20 years of brutality by the Lord’s Resistance Army, Fred and Florence Otem have overcome this harrowing situation.

The couple lives in Coopee village, Bungatira Sub County in Gulu District in Uganda. They have three children: Atimango Winnie (10), Omony Phillip (8) and Ogik Simple (6). All of the children attend St. Martin Primary School in Lukome.

On life in the camp for internally displaced people (IDP)

Life was difficult during the war. I lost my relatives while young and dropped out of school since I had to be a caretaker for my five siblings. One day, I witnessed my relatives being scythed to death by the rebels. After being frustrated with my life, I decided to get a wife at the age of 17 years; this was to be a source for comfort,” Otema said. 

But to his surprise, this added more burden to him in terms of sustaining the two independent families: his and the one of his late father.

Being jobless and living in an IDP camp, his children were not going to school since he had no money to pay for their school materials.

We would eat one meal a day. Paying for hospital bills and clothing for the family was not easy. I had no hope of getting any monthly paying job. I tried to work on a per-day wage job as a potter at house construction sites, but the payment could not meet my family needs.

On the journey to self-reliance

Upon our return from the IDP camp in 2009, I developed an interest in a local women’s group that had established links with Heifer International in Uganda. I started going for training and preparing to receive an animal along with my wife. We had hope in this project in terms of changing our livelihood. 

Indeed God answered our prayer. We received a cow in March 2010, which had a calf and started milking. The cow gives us 22 liters (5.8 gallons) of milk per day. Today we are proud that we are no longer beggars of food and basic requirements, but we are donors within our community.

Thanks to Heifer, we earn $240 per month from milk sales. Imagine a poorly educated man like me earning that much per month! Today, our children go to better schools. We eat a very good and balanced diet. This job is easy to do, and we do it as a family.

My wife is an inspiration. 
Describing her husband, Florence said:

He is an understanding, loving and caring husband. He will never make decisions without involving us as a family, and with trainings received from Heifer Project International on family planning, we resolved to only have three children and provide for them up to university level. We currently opened up a joint savings account as a family, an indication of unity.

Living beyond the borders
To date, the family has more than 1,500 pine trees, 100 budded oranges and other varieties of fruit trees like avocado, jackfruit, tangerines and lemons. They also have harvested a lot of onions, which they expect to sell and earn more than $800 this year. The kitchen gardens around the home are a source of vegetables throughout the year, including selling in the local market and donating to those in need.

Florence said:

The use of energy saving stoves now saves my time because I no longer waste a lot of time looking for firewood. My husband now even helps in cooking food. Before it was difficult to convince him to cook food because he would complain of a lot of smoke from the traditional three stone cook stove. 

We suffered in the camp, entirely depending on relief aid, but today we move around the village mobilizing and training youths at no cost on sustainable agriculture practices because we do not want them suffer, too.

Looking forward

The future for this family is bright; they have already secured iron sheets to construct a permanent house and graduate from a semi-permanent house. They also intend to construct a domestic biogas plant for lighting and cooking after the permanent house construction. The family further intends to open up more land to grow vegetables and also increase their dairy herd. Many times when donations are given, it may appear to be meager, but the impact they bring to the families in terms of rebuilding their lives will never be regretted.

The family is grateful to Heifer International for the support. The Otema family is a living testimony of how Heifer ends hunger and poverty and cares for the Earth through sustainable approaches. “We thank Heifer International for having provided unto us this animal and the psycho-social support that has helped us forget the past and focus upon the future,” concluded Otema. 

Don’t BE a Heifer, GIVE a Heifer

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When a family receives a heifer, they receive much more than an animal. It’s a gift that provides all of what Heifer calls the seven Ms: Milk, Manure, Muscle, Meat, Money, Materials and Motivation. And those seven things turn into health, houses, education and nutrition.

Orphans at the Prison Fellowship
Romania Center share a meal.

Maria Moraru (above) is involved in a project called Farmers Feed the Children in Romania. In return for a heifer, 150 project families agreed to not only Pass on the Gift to another family in need, but to also donate a portion of the milk to feed local children. Milk is distributed among 12 children’s hospitals and orphanages. So far, more than 22,000 gallons of milk have been delivered, and more than 5,000 children per year are benefiting from this project. Maria’s cow Americana has produced a total of seven offspring and produces eight to nine gallons of milk a day–plenty to drink, sell and donate.


Milk
A cow can produce several gallons of milk a day. That milk provides needed protein for undernourished children or adults sick with diseases like HIV/AIDS. Milk also contains vitamins A, C and D, which help eyesight and bone strength.

Manure
Families are taught how to use cow manure as a fertilizer for gardens or crops. Cow manure can add significant amounts of organic material to the soil, improving the overall health of the Earth and producing healthy, vigorous plants.

Money
With gallons of milk a day, families have more than enough to drink. Often, the leftover milk is sold at market to provide extra income for the family, which can pay for food, health care, home improvements and school fees so children get an education.

This holiday season, consider giving the gift of a heifer in honor of your childhood babysitter, who always fixed you chocolate milk before bed. And read more blog posts about how cows have changed the lives of our project participants all over the world.

Photos by David Snyder

Know Your Animals: A Heifer Livestock Primer

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The López-Durán family of Bolivia with their sheep.
Photo by Christian DeVries

As the holiday season approaches, you might find yourself debating which Heifer gift will be the best for Aunt Franny or the Boss. Well stress no more! Over the next few weeks, I’ll dive into the wide spectrum of livestock and other agricultural items we put to use in our projects all over the world. Look forward to learning more about:

Goats
Heifers
Sheep
Llamas
Chicks, ducks and geese
Tree seedlings
Honeybees
Water buffalo
Pigs
Rabbits
Camels

Heifer Project Brings Prosperity and Peace to Malawi

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While preparing to receive dairy cattle, Heifer project participants were made fun of by doubting neighbors. Two years later, these successful farmers foster peace and share knowledge with those who mocked them.

Read All About It

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The story of Dan West is a special one to all of us at Heifer headquarters. Without him, we wouldn’t be here. But West’s vision and his original gift cows mean more to many of our beneficiaries—often more than we comprehend. One example is Humphrey and Mercy Mwananyanda who were so inspired that they named their daughter Hope after one of the first heifers shipped overseas to help struggling families.
The Mwananyandas are just one of the many families Heifer is helping in Zambia, through a partnership with Elanco. That story is the main feature in the Holiday edition of World Ark magazine, coming soon to a mailbox near you.
You can also read about coffee’s long journey farms in Mexico to your morning mug, or the article about two young Heifer donors on a quest to raise enough money to buy a camel this year. 
The story of Ryan Bell and his younger sister Meghan is one that I find particularly inspring, and I hope you take a minute to read about the siblings from Connecticut on a quest to raise $5,000 for Heifer no matter how long it takes.
You’ll also find TheMost Important Gift Catalog in the World in this edition, too! Once you’ve picked out the Heifer gifts you’ll be giving this year, please pass it on to friends and neighbors so they can do the same. 

Happy Birthday, Heifer Ranch

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This past Saturday we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Heifer Ranch.

A Brief History of Heifer Ranch

Abu, a 5-year-old male camel, was presented to
Heifer Ranch as a birthday gift from Overlook Farm
in Rutland, Massachusetts.

Heifer International dates back to 1944, with an inaugural shipment of 17 pregnant heifers to Puerto Rico. In 1971, Heifer was offered 1,100 acres near Perryville, Arkansas, to raise and house animals being shipped overseas to those in need. The model of shipping animals fromt he United States, however, turned out to be very costly and inefficient and was later discontinued in favor of purchasing livestock from within the project countries. Through the years, Heifer Ranch has evolved into an education and research center, a model farm and ranch, a conference center and a volunteer experience. The farm is now home to water buffalo, camels, pigs and goats, as well as gardens that help feed volunteers and the public. School groups, youth groups, families and individuals have come to the Ranch to experience what it really means to live in a poverty-stricken village with scarce resources. Visitors are introduced to Heifer’s sustainable solutions and learn more about what they can do to help.

The Celebration
Friday night held a Homecoming Tour and Reception for Past Ranchers (staff and volunteers). Three of the past Ranch directors were on hand to help celebrate. It was great to see old friends, but hard to see how the landscape has changed since the tornado this spring.

Jacob Sheatsley leads a drum circle in the Global Village

Saturday was an all-day party. There were crafts and activities for the kids, demonstrations along the Global Village trail, a picnic lunch, hayride tours, birthday cake and a special gift from Overlook Farm, one of Heifer’s other Learning Centers. Visitors had the opportunity to meet some of Heifer’s country directors, who have been in town for meetings.



My Brief History at Heifer Ranch
Heifer Ranch is how I first came to know and love Heifer International. I participated in the Global Village program (now called Global Gateway) when I was 14 years old. Growing up in Little Rock and attending college in Conway, Arkansas, I went to the Ranch several more times as a participant before deciding to become a volunteer. During college summers and after graduating, I spent a total of about 12 months as a live-in volunteer. I became impassioned with Heifer’s mission of ending hunger and poverty and caring for the Earth as I led field trips, facilitated group team-building activities, milked goats, taught cheese classes and became a part of the Ranch community. I met my husband and a great many of my friends at Heifer Ranch.

A volunteer shows how farming on terraced slopes
 helps prevent erosion

Heifer Ranch holds a special place in my heart, so I was excited to take my daughter to Perryville this past weekend to join in the celebrations. She loved the animals, of course. Petting the pigs, lambs and goats in the showbarn was certainly a highlight. But it’s Abu the camel she’ll go on talking about. And the cupcakes and candy (she is a kid, after all). I’m so glad my daughter will grow up learning about Heifer’s work in the world and knowing that she has a place in making the world a better place for everyone to live. And I’m thankful we have Heifer Ranch just down the road where her learning will be hands-on and exciting, not to mention a piece of her family’s history.

Weekend Article RoundUp

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One of my favorite parts about Friday is writing the Weekend Article Roundup blog. It allows me the time to re-read the blog articles from the past week to see the great work everyone at Heifer is doing. This week we had 70 purebred cows land in Romania to begin projects in central and western regions, a Heifer staff service day in Hughes, Arkansas, and discussed more about biogas which is used to help reduce the demand for fossil fuel. 

Other blogs to highlight this week:
If you’ve read all the Heifer blogs this week, then are are some other stories we’ve been reading around the office:

Reply Turned Post: Biogas

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Commenter Calvin left the following on Tuesday’s biogas post:

Great thinking, I love this, just wondering what impact methane gas has on global warming? Is this cheap and sustainable? or just cheap, like coal? thanks, love your work!

-Calvin

My response to Calvin was getting lengthy, and I thought it might have more impact if I posted it more widely. Besides, I’m a biogas junkie, so I love any opportunity I get to read, learn and write about biogas.

Biogas stove in Uganda.

Great question, Calvin. Here’s the short answer: it’s cheap AND sustainable. Here’s the more complicated answer:

First, biogas comes from waste, which is obviously quite renewable, as opposed to fossil fuels. Second, the waste (let’s just talk manure from livestock to keep things simple) will emit methane gas no matter what. So, a cow poops in a field, and when that manure breaks down naturally, methane gas is emitted into the atmosphere. (On a small farm like those of our project participants, this isn’t the significant Problem it is like the methane-emitting manure produced on feedlots in the United States and elsewhere, but that’s another story.)

Okay, so biogas works thorough anaerobic digestion, which more efficiently converts the manure into a gas that’s made up of about 60 percent methane and 40 percent carbon dioxide. Burning this biogas reduces the greenhouse gas impact by more than 20 times what the waste would produce naturally. So, biogas is great because it’s a) reducing the impact the waste would have anyway and b) displacing the burning of fossil fuels, which have a larger greenhouse gas impact. Further, biogas is considered part of the natural carbon cycle, since the carbon that is emitted when biogas is burned originated from carbon fixed by plants.

(Sources: http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/3/3/034002/fulltext and http://www.electrigaz.com/faq_en.htm)