By Anselmo Roque
Central Luzon Desk
SAN JOSE CITY – By common rice farming standards, Salvador Tobias, 55, of Barangay Villa Joson here, can already be considered a big-time farmer as he owns and tills a five-hectare rice land.
But Tobias’ years devoted to farming were marked with seemingly endless difficulties.
His rice lands are rain-fed areas which, most often than not, are not irrigated well enough. Using irrigation pumps to supply the water needs of his rice plants is expensive due to the high cost of engine fuel. Not even his foray into vegetable farming, including onion production, helped him out of poverty.
Stuck in the farm for his family’s livelihood, Tobias and his wife Teresita were resigned that they could not provide a better future for their seven children.
But when Tobias tried raising water buffaloes, his family’s life changed. Money now comes easy and he is able to provide for the needs of his children.
Certain areas of his rice lands have been planted with grasses to feed his herd of water buffaloes.
The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) acknowledged Tobias’ efforts and cited him this year as the agency’s “outstanding dairy farmer.”
In 2001, Tobias was among 25 farmers who formed the Simula ng Panibagong Bukas Carabao Dairy Cooperative in this city.
He attended trainings conducted by PCC for the raising of dairy water buffaloes and in the eventual dairying enterprise. That time, PCC was introducing dairy water buffaloes as a source of livelihood for rural farming families.
Tobias received from the PCC two Bulgarian Murrah buffaloes (riverine type buffaloes), which are ideal for dairying. Under the PCC’s project guideline, Tobias had to give back to the PCC the first offspring of the buffalo pair.
These buffaloes were different from the carabao, which is of the swamp-type water buffalo that is mainly used for draft power.
In 2003, Tobias reaped the benefit of carabao dairying. He was getting four to six liters of milk from each of his lactating water buffaloes.
In later years, his average milk harvest increased, getting as high as 12 liters a day per animal.
“It meant daily cash for us,” Tobias says. “I vowed then to give all my heart and energy to increasing the number of my animals and in honest-to-goodness business of dairying.
Through artificial insemination, which the PCC provided using extended semen from quality Murrah buffalo bulls, his herd of dairy animals grew.
He has now 21 purebred dairy water buffaloes and one crossbred, which he uses as draft animal.
Tobias was selected for the award for his practices in adhering to standards of good dairy farmers. These include proper animal management system, good physical conditions of the animals, sanitation, proper milk collection and delivery system, family participation, productivity and compliance to the PCC set of requirements.
Tobias, his wife and seven children have their shares of work for the upkeep of the animals and in the milking activity.
His four sons – Dennis, Russel, Aser and Wendell – help in taking care of the herd, in grazing them or in cutting forage for the animals, and in bathing them before they are milked.
Dennis, his eldest, has become a technician and veterinary aide through the trainings he attended. He takes charge of providing artificial insemination treatment and in other activities like pregnancy diagnosis, deworming and administering vitamins to the animals.
Tobias’ wife, three daughters and two daughters-in-law prepare the needs required before, during and after milking and in readying the milk for the milk collection by a business agent.
They also maintain cleanliness in the corral area and in updating records of the animals and their business.
“We work together. Even my youngest daughter already knew how to milk the carabaos even while she was in Grade 6,” Tobias says.
He said his two sons, who are married and with children, opted to stay in the farm where the animals are kept. The farm is some 2 km away from the family home.
“We can say that raising dairy buffaloes and dairying maintain our family bonding,” Tobias says.
At the peak of lactation period, the animals provide him a net income of P1,000 a day. There are “dry days,” when the Tobias family gets a daily income of P350.
“Carabao dairying is really a big help for us because it is providing us daily income for our expenses in the family and for our children’s school allowance,” Tobias says.
His milk produce is collected daily by an agent from the Nueva Ecija Federation of Dairy Carabao Cooperatives (Nefedco). It is bought at P35 a liter but he gets only P34 as the P1 goes to the cooperative as his savings.
Published in Philippine Daily Inquirer August 7, 2010
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