Day 40: Good Vibes & Sunshine

Hellooo!

This morning after breakfast our guide had called Mikhel to tell him that he something he had to attend to in the morning so, Mikhel took us to see the Haile Selassie Church here in Debre Berhan. It looked quite similar to the church in Entonto (Sululta). After the original fourteenth century church had been destroyed by Muslims in war, Haile Selassie had this church built in its place by an architect from Greece. Shortly after the church was built the architect had passed away and was buried on the church grounds. There were several people kneeling around the church windows and doors praying. We also got to visit another tortoise who was roaming the grounds! I love tortoise and it's cool to see them in different places.

After visiting the church we went to meet our guide at his residence. He took us to a small farm that had about 30 chickens. Hannah completed her survey for the farmer and in the meantime one of the daughters who was probably about 6 came and greeted me. She shook my hand and both said 'Selam' (meaning peace). I was sitting on the doorstep of their home and she came and sat down next to me. I decided to take my phone out and we both played with the snapchat filters. She then asked me if I had any games. I don't really have any fun games on my phone just time-fillers really. But, she played one of the my games where you have to connect numbers to get a bigger number. Though she didn't now what she was doing she was still having fun. When it was time for us to go, she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It was so sweet and both her parents were glad that we visited their farm and met their children. 

Our next place to visit was model and training farm for the Debre Berhan community. This farm had Holstein Freisian dairy cows where they would first have classes to train the people on proper care, handling, feeding, health, etc. and eventually the cows would be distributed throughout the community. I asked about how successful the training actually was but unfortunately they were unable to give me a straight answer on how they were performing after the training. The picture below is of their calf pen. 

Before lunchtime, we visited one last farm. A lady owned two dairy cows and 3 laying hens. One of the cows was a low exotic percentage and one was a higher percentage of exotic. I began to ask her about her management practices, feeding, and even what she did with the calves. One of the things that shocked me the most was the weaning period. If the calf was a heifer she was keeping the mother and calf together for 6 months and if the calf were a bull she kept the mother and calf together for 4 months. In America, that is almost unheard of especially in the dairy industry. I began to explain to our guide (for him to translate to her) that she should start decreasing her weaning times from 2 to even 1 month should they need to stay with the mother. The farmer said that she kept them together for so long so they could grow strong. But, I also explained that the calves need to be started on feed sooner for its strength and growth. By doing this, she would be able to get more milk for either market or home consumption. After it was translated she agreed and said thank you. I hope this is another small change that can be beneficial to the farmer in the long run. 

Mikhel, Hannah, and I were not very hungry so we decided to have something to drink and a small pastry at a cafe. They didn't have an cappuccinos (Hannah's and my favorite) so we had Mirinda (similar to Fanta) and I had a donut-type pastry and Hannah had a white cake. It was really good and probably one of the sweeter things that I have had since I've been here. Once we finished up, we headed back to the hotel to get wifi and wait to meet our guide after his lunch with family. 

We visited one last farm for our time here, it was another poultry farmer. He had one breed that he was conducting research on for the Debre Zeit research farm as well as another breed for his personal use and consumption. 

Overall, today was a really good day. It's so interesting to compare the different farms to one another. I also really enjoy just giving little tips that can go a long way for these farmers. Tomorrow, we will go a little further north of Debre Berhan and see some of the views here. After that, we will travel back to Addis. I was a little disheartened when we first arrived here Tuesday but now, I am very happy that we came. I really enjoyed my time here and I really like spending time with our driver, Mikhel. He is very intelligent as much as he is interested in what we are learning. I'm glad that we are able to travel with him and learn more from him.

Day 39: Knowledge is 🔑

Hello everyone!

Today was a nice day here in Debre Birhan. We spent the morning at a large farm that had poultry, a few oxen, sheep, and bees. They also had apple trees and olive trees. It was so beautiful to be high up in the hills (mountains) and see the beautiful landscape. It was a bit colder because of the wind but otherwise it was so gorgeous. I could've spent all day up there. Once we finished up at the large farm we went to a nearby village and visited a lady who owned 1 Holstein Friesian milking cow and 1 Holstein Friesian calf as well as a few indigenous chickens. I talked to her about her cows and Hannah talked to her about her chickens. It's always interesting to compare farms from all over. This lady was housing the cows underneath her home. The house part was raised tall enough for a small barn to be made below. When asking her questions, some of her answers were somewhat confusing or did not line up. For example I asked how much she had bought the pair of cattle for and she told us 45,000 birr. In America that's about $1,900 which is not a bad price but for here, it is expensive. Our translator and driver both explained that she simply did not know what she was really getting when she paid for the cattle due to lack of knowledge.

We stopped for lunch at the hotel restaurant and Hannah and I shared a BBQ pizza. It was really good but I have to stay I miss Casey's and Hy-Vee pizza! We met back up with the translator again and took off to visit a poultry farm. While we were there a mass of children came up to see what we were doing. They stayed there the whole time we were and when we left, they all dispersed. We travelled to another farmer's home. This farmer was actually a veterinarian who owned one dairy cow. He and his family consumed the milk as well as sold part of it. Eventually, we got on the topic of how to better the nutrition of the people here in the country as well as why the country is facing the problems they are. Turns out, that people (especially rural areas) are selling their meat, milk, eggs, etc. for alcohol. Because it gets very cold in these highlands, the alcohol warms them up. But, the people do not know that this is poor nutrition or in a sense a waste of products they could be using themselves. Its lack of knowledge again. Another big problem for the country is the holidays celebrated in the Ethiopian Orthodox religion. Because they have several holidays a year the farmers of that religion are not working on those days. The priests actually tell them that a higher power will come and destroy their crops if they choose to work on these holidays. So because these farmers are not working they are getting less time into their crop. The less time put in the less they will reap. So this becomes a problem even though Ethiopia has great climates to grow and produce crops. These are all questions that I want to help work on so that this country and others like it can be lifted from poverty.

I can't resist baby goats...

The kids that were enthralled with us visiting the poultry farmer. 

 

Tomorrow, we have more farm visits. I hope they all be as insightful as the ones we went to today were. Through Debre Birhan is cold, I absolutely love this scenery. Have a great rest of your day!

Day 38: Debre Birhan

Hello!

Just a short post for today. We left for Debre Birhan around 3:30 this afternoon and we've been just chilling at the hotel since about 5:00 when we got here. We will have dinner at 8:00 here at the hotel. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. We plant to visit a larger, diverse farm in the morning and then visit villages in the afternoon. Should be fun! Can't wait to tell you all about the farms!

Love you all!

Day 37: More Farms = More Fun

G'day all!

Today was a blast! We went to Debre Zeit again for Hannah to collect chicken weights and me to survey more farmers. We were able to visit 5 farms all before lunch! The farms were unique as always. While waiting at one farm for the owner to arrive, a lady was walking by and started talking to us. She really wanted to show us her family's farm. Her brother was actually plowing a field with a set of oxen at the time. When he got down to our end he asked if we wanted to give it a go. Of course, Hannah and I said yes! Hannah went first and did one row and then I followed doing a row as well. It was harder than I expected. The dirt was still wet from the last rain so it had made it thicker and the oxen wanted to go off to the side rather than straight. But, I completed a row! I have a new found appreciation for farmers who do that constantly. It's a lot of work and it's just part of their lives.

Of course I had to get a picture with the highest producing dairy cow at Azu Dairy Farm. She averages 24 L a day!

I prefer to be called Farmer Kel now. 

This was at Etenash Dairy Farm. The owner only had two milking cows who were both 8 years of age and one calf. After completing my questionnaire I asked to see the cows. The one really big thing that I noticed was the length of the cows' hooves. They were very long which is not healthy especially at these cows age. So, I had the enumerator translate to her that she need to get the hooves trimmed by the vet and more exercise. She said thank you to the advice so I hope that she does! It may seem minor but the little things all add up to the big milk yields.  

So all in all, it was a really fun day! Tomorrow, we are leaving for Debre Birhan. It's about 2 and half hours from Addis Ababa. We will be spending four days out there visiting farms. Dr. Tadelle said he wants us to really understand the farming systems. So, we are going with intentions to just visit and ask questions that come up at the time not with a set questionnaire. It should be cool to see these farms and villages. I hope to have good wifi connectivity at the hotel but I may not be blogging for the next few days. But, I can't wait to tell you all about the trip!

Until next time!

Day 35 & 36: Fresh, Warm Air

Hello!

Get ready for picture overload.

But, before we get to the pictures, what do you think of when you think of Africa? For me, what I saw this weekend is Africa. Warm, beautiful, and amazing fresh air that I literally just want to bottle up and take with me.

This is an ant hill.

Camels!!

The Awash River, beautiful isn't it!

Find the baboon!

Now find the crocs!

Willy Wonka's Chocolate River

Sorry that some of the pictures are out of order but, I hope you enjoyed getting to see the beautiful scenery that I did! The air was seriously so nice and the sun was warm! The people in the smaller towns and villages waved and shouted as we went by. I wish that we could spend all our time out in these villages getting to know these people and their farming systems. Someday, I'll come back to really see it up close. 

Hope you enjoyed! Until tomorrow!