Today was my last day interviewing farmers. I'm actually quite sad about it, I really love hearing about the different ways these dairy operations are run. Our normal driver Mikhel was unable to take us today so we had a different driver (I didn't catch his name because he spoke so softly).
Our first two stops were at a medium and small farm. The first farm may have had only 10 cows but they were definitely not lacking in the technology area. This man and his family had their own processing equipment to package milk, make cheese and butter and sell it in their two shops they owned in Debre Zeit. I thought that was pretty awesome! Our second stop was at a smallholder farm. The main farmer, the woman, owned a total 5 head along with a few chickens and a few oxen. She was eager to hear advice from Hannah and I on her chickens and cattle. When we went to see the cows, I immediately saw one of the cows had overgrown hooves. I had the enumerator translate that she had to get the hooves trimmed and maintained. The cow was already starting to fall back on to her hock because of her hooves. When translated, she accepted the advice.
Our next two stops were at farms that we had visited previously but I was not able to get all my questions answered. We stopped at Alfa Fodder Dairy Farm. The owner was from Holland and all the cows were purebred Holstein Friesian from Holland. Some of the feed minerals and even the vet services were coming directly from Holland. This is by far the largest farm in maybe all of Ethiopia with 433 total head. This farm is definitely impressive in size and in efficiency. The max milk yield they have ever collected is 57 liters, which is just insane. I also asked about their marketing of the milk and I was told they sell to a company, Holland Dairy, as well as privately. If only every dairy farm was able to have the management that this farm does, there would be no problems with poor production. But, that is why I am here. Working to make the production better! Our last stop was at Genesis Farms. They have a little bit of everything, dairy products, plants/flowers, chickens, vegetables, and even paintings! I got my survey questions answered and then we went to the little market their on the farm. I had remembered a painting that was there from the last time we visited and sure enough it was still there. It is now a gift for my parents (shh, don't tell them.. even though they're reading this).
It was around lunchtime when we had finished up so I invited Mohammed to join us at the Pyramid Hotel restaurant. I bought him his meal as a thank you for all the help the past couple weeks. He was very appreciative. I hope that we get to meet again in the future.
We got back to ILRI and both Hannah and I were so wiped out from the last week so we decided to take a nap. I woke up refreshed and decided to go to the gym. As for the rest of the evening, it will be time to relax. Tomorrow, we will both go and settle back into Sululta and finalize our data. I also plan to keep working on my paper.
12 more days, see you all soon!
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