DAIRY BUFFALO RAISING: A FARMING COUPLE’S STAIRWAY TO SUCCESS

A farming couple, Victoriano and Dominga Dumale, of barangay Licaong, Science City of Muñoz in Nueva Ecija, was known to many in their village for literally sleeping in pen where their buffaloes are sheltered.

What’s their reason behind the odd practice? “To make sure that our animals can stay healthy, discourage attempts in rustling, and make sure that the returns we will gain is much more,” they chorused.

According to Victoriano and Dominga, they treat their buffaloes as their children. That is why they give them their rigid attention.

Victoriano said that he feeds their animal every two hours at night to ensure that their nutritional needs are met.

The couple does not leave the corral even during storm, a practice which has drawn the mockery of neighbors.

“I don’t mind them. After all… I earn at least Php15,000 every 15 days from the milk’s proceeds,” Victoriano said.

The 61-year-old dairy farmer shared the difficult life that he and his family had endured before. According to him, they had to resort to acquiring loans in order to cope with their needs.

Then he got wind of the sure benefits that buffalo

dairying bestow on the raisers.

In 1989, after their wedding, Victoriano relied on producing rice at his 3,500-square-meter farm during the rainy season and onions during the dry season. Dominga served as housekeeper for a boarding house and accepted laundry jobs on the sideline.

“I used to harvest 45 cavans of palay and earned Php10,000 from the onion crop,” Victoriano says. “Certainly it was not enough for us,” he added. In 2010, Victoriano learned that PCC was providing dairy buffaloes through a “paiwi” (consignment) contract to prospective farmer-trustees. He joined a dairy cooperative and was provided with a Brazilian Murrah buffalo.

He joyfully revealed that he even named the buffalo “Freda”, which was taken from the name of his son, Freddie Boy, and treated it like their own family member.

Freda did not fail Victoriano’s expectations. Within a year, it gave birth. In four months, his total earnings from the animal’s milk amounted to Php68,000.

In 2011, Victoriano decided to expand his venture. He acquired two more water buffaloes from PCC and named them “Zeny” and “Ola”. He said the name just came out of the blue.

Later on, the bamboo and cogon grass barn they provided for their animals were replaced by a concrete corral. They also acquired a water pump and other pieces of dairy machines to efficiently carry out their farm works.

The couple’s devotion for their animals has proved to bring them good fortune. Thanks to “Freda”, “Zeny” and “Ola”, the couple’s daughter Princess has finished a civil engineering course and son Freddie, a degree in agriculture and soon after were gainfully employed. The other son, Alexander, is a welder.

The fortune that smiled for the Dumale couple had another turn for the better. In 2017, Victoriano was bestowed “Outstanding Dairy Buffalo Farmer (Family Module Category)” by PCC during its 3rd NCC.

The award was given in recognition of the couple’s good farm practices and animal management resulting in good body condition scores and high milk production of their buffaloes. In that same year, they were able to collect an average of 8 liters per day from one buffalo. That generated a monthly income of Php70,000 from their five lactating buffaloes.

Currently, the family owns a herd of 13, five of which are lactating and are expected to provide more income in the coming months.

The Dumale couple has become “a living testimony that investing good intentions and proper management-practices in rearing dairy animals will surely reap good rewards in due time”.