The Farm

Did You Know?

...I did not.

Much to my surprise goats can die from Pneumonia. Not the smartest farmer in the world I did not think 65 degrees was cold.  I lost a precious goat to pneumonia before I realized in Rwanda with a breeze and rain 65 is too cold for goats.  The really sad thing was she was growing twin lambs inside so we lost both mother and babies.  We now have a tarp covering for the goat barn to protect from the cold and rain. The goats are happier and I will not make such a mistake again.

I learn more every day but this was a tough and a costly lesson.

The Goat House. Blue is my favorite color.


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Project for April

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The on-going project for Urukundo Farm to be a major producer of broilers and eggs is getting close to being accomplished.  We just need more space and the building project will give us this. The building project in the pictures below shows the progress made so far. We have a market for the broilers with MR CHIPS RESTAURANT in Kigali City. He would like for us to deliver at least 200 broilers a month. Now, that is reaching but with God all things are possible. 
Broilers
Construction in progress.

Farm News

The big news is that mama pig has 9 babies, and the second mama has 5 - our pig population is exploding!

Mama and five babies.  I just learned that baby pigs snuggle when they are cold. It seems animals have many Instincts attributed to people.
Our animals have all been tagged and records will be kept for each animal. This gives us a history for our animal. 
More news
Daisy and two of the young heifers are pregnant and soon will deliver,  increasing our cows count to 8.  We're hoping for all female offspring.
This will also increase our milk production. At this time, only one of our cows is producing milk and so we have to buy milk from a local farmer. Of course that also helps the economy but I will be glad when we have all the milk we need and can offer the excess for sale.
Our baby.  Her mama is supplying the milk for her and our kids.

Chicken Farm News

The incubator is ready and we will start hatching our own baby chicks. The design is simple and I hope it will add to the assets at our farm.
We still need some kind of thermostat for it. Any ideas?
Our farm now has about 300 layers (for eggs) and 100 broilers (for meat). Our children have eggs twice a week. Eggs have been named as an important food to aid in learning, so we provide eggs to the preschool once a week and we sell eggs to the community for a lesser price making it possible for them to purchase for their families. We also have a market for extra eggs. We do not expect to make a big profit but it would be good if the income from eggs and chickens paid for the food to keep them.  Might not be the best business practice but it makes good sense to me!

 

Latest Event from the Farm

Our goats arrive, all ten of them. They are unique. The coloring is great. There is a Papa goat, 2 Mama goats and maybe 9 young goats.
We went to buy 10 goats and came home with 12. Goats multiply fast but not that fast.
We call them the personality "kids". 
Kids coming home.

Each goat was picked because of their uniqueness. Just like us - we also are all different.

The new house has a stage where the boys can inspect the new arrivals.
Time for dinner. Cow grass is also good for goats.

News from Urukundo Kids Farm

It may not look like much but I am pretty proud of the pen for our five pigs.
Food troughs designed by Benjimin the builder. Bricks covered with a thin layer of cement.
Papa Pig.
Prospective mamas - we expect to breed and sell the piglets. A new venture.

Baby pigs.
I should write a story about the 5 pigs. Naw, that was done long ago and it is called
"THE THREE LITTLE PIGS."  Yes there is also one played on the toes : "THIS LITTLE PIGGY "

From the Farm

The roof is going on. Soon the cows will come. Thanks to you who helped get it the materials for the barn. It will be such an asset for our farm and providing milk for the kids is the objective. 
The barn nears completion.
Our kids and Cyakabiri school learn about feeding animals. These baby lambs lost their mother when they were born and the farmer has kept them alive by bottle feeding. The idea is to show the children different ways to provide food for babies.  The milk is cow milk and the children felt the container to know the milk is heated before it is given to the babies. The lambs follow the farm boy everywhere. They think he is their mother. He is the source of their food.
Update on Daisy the milk cow : after eye surgery Daisy has no more pain and doing well. She is expecting a new baby we hope. Vet will verify next week.
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Surgery on our Farm

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Not your typical operating room, nor the normal procedure, but it works in Urukundo Village. The combined expertise of a vet from Rwanda and two vets from Austria has made a difference in our lives at Urukundo Home for Children and for our favorite and only milk cow DAISY.
Daisy is our source of milk for all 43 children and she had a problem that threatened milk production.  When Daisy was very young a cow herder hit her in the eye with a stick. She lost vision in that eye and it petrified. For some reason recently the eye began to water and enlarge, protruding more and more and causing Daisy pain.
Sam, our farm manager, was our driving force. When he heard that our visitor was a surgeon for animals he set things in motion to get Daisy the help she needed. Anesthesia was the critical need. Drs. Otto and Tina joined our on site vet in performing surgery.
A happy team after the successful operation.
Otto and Tina also spent time with the babies. Here they are with (l-r) David, Mama and Kenny, Rebekah.