Give a man a cow, he eats for a day (or a month b/c cows are HUGE).
Teach a man the art of cattle fattening, his family will not go hungry.
This is the premise behind my first (and very exciting) Peace Corps project. For almost four months I’ve devoted my time and efforts to building social capital- relationships, language skills, community knowledge and more. Now its time to cash in.
When I woke up this morning at 5am to get on a bus to Ambo, I had the grumpy, hazy thought to sack the whole endeavor and get another 3 hours of sleep. Instead, at 5:15 my counter part (Dula) knocked on my door and together we embarked on the bumpy, dusty 4 hour drive to Ambo. Our mission was simple- to turn dreams of starting a cattle fattening project into reality. When I was first approached by my PLWHA (HIV+) association with the ambitious dream of starting a cattle farming program, I dismissed it as too complicated and too costly. The more I interacted with my PLWHA group however, the more I felt the need to do something to help them out. As a result I came to Ambo to hunt down some cattle experts.
In Ethiopia, appointments aren’t all that necessary. Its common to simply show up at an office and request to have a meeting with the person in charge- be that the dean of a university, the mayor, school principle- anybody. So Dula and I showed up completely unannounced at AmboUniversityand found a couple students who lead us to the Animal Sciences Department. There we got really lucky. The dean of the department is one Dr. Chala, who happens to know a great deal about the cattle business and was more than happy to answer all the questions we had about cattle fattening methodology.
After the meeting, Dula and I wandered in search of the University’s dairy cow research facility. Within a hundred yards or so, we just followed our noses. Seeing this concrete example of exactly what I hope our cattle area will look like made me giddy with excitement. We talked to the caretaker and got a lot of really good information about proper cattle care and cattle feed. We also got some ideas for barn construction as well as feeding and watering areas. Despite the tight budget, there is no skimping on proper construction. This is for sanitation purposes and to maintain the health of the cows.
I’ve lived inTexasmy whole life but never for a second did I think one day I’d be rustlin’ cattle. Not at all what I thought my P.C. experience would be, but life is always taking us in unexpected directions.
There is much still to be done. I haven’t even written a proposal for the project yet and there are a million obstacles between now and a successful cattle fattening program that could potentially jeopardize the project. But I’m energized and I’ve got a lot of people willing to put in the effort to get this project off the ground so wish us luck!
For People Who Don’t Know Exactly What I Mean By “Cattle Fattening”
In modern cattle fattening inEthiopia, the first step is to buy traditionally grass feed cows. You then start them on a ‘get fat fast and non-exercise’ routine, the Ben and Jerry’s Diet for cows. The cows will get fed a mixture of locally available foods (sugar cane byproducts, molasses, grass) and a special feed ‘concentrate’ that will be brought in from other parts of Ethiopia. Traditional pastoral systems involve the cows walking miles every day to graze. Cows in this program will stay within a much smaller, enclosed area in order to minimize energy expenditure and maximize cow growth.
After 3 or 4 months of intensive feeding and non-exercise, you turn around and sell the fat Bessies for a profit. When responsibly done, the profit margin can be substantial. Unlike the loathsome massive cattle farms you see in the U.S., ours will be small scale, will give the cows decent room and sanitary living space and will be hormone free!
The whole endeavor is going to have a large start up cost, something my small Peace Corps grant money combined with community contribution may or may not be able to fully fund. We’ll find a way though, and I think having a tight budget will really put the pressure on the community to show their investment in the project.
Update of Cattle Fattening Venture
The next day we went back to discuss more with Dr. Chala and he actually offered us a partnership withAmboUniversity. They will help fund our project if we adjust the project to allow them to research different feed methods. This is fantastic! By further involving the university, we will have on hand expert advice every step of the way and our project will be more likely to succeed.
The catch- today several unnamed sources sighted some problems within my PLWHA (HIV+) association which may hinder the project’s success. The problems have to do with the politics around how funds from the org.’s projects are distributed to its members. This management problem could make things very complicated. Despite this, I’ve decided to attempt the project anyway by creating a new sub-committee within the organization who will work on and benefit from the project, separate from the current leadership committee. If this structure is opposed by the leadership of the organization then I will not do the project with them at all but instead will work with the PLWHA association in Mazoria, a town 13km away. The Mazoria PLWHA Association are great- they are small, self motivated and extremely eager to work. They are a prime candidate for such a project but their distance from Fincha puts them slightly outside of my job description. But I hope to work with them anyway, after going through the moves with Fincha’s PLWHA.
