Also known as the People’s Farm, the DV Boer Farm is not just about goat raising and cattle raising. For those who’d want to spend a day with the animals, DV Boer Farm provides just the right venue for those who would like to engage with nature.
Aside from the usual tour of the area, the farm offers time to feed the animals with an indulgence of fresh air and serene atmosphere. Guests can also revel in horseback riding. There are a couple of cottages to stay and dwell in, and naturally, most of the dishes are prepared fresh. Perhaps, one of the most outstanding plates of food served here is the kalderetang kambing, a savoury goat-meat stew with vegetables and spices.
“We plan to put up several and different activities here in the future to entertain our guests,” says Dexter Villamin, owner of DV Boer Farm in Lian, Batangas. But this farm is not just any other goat farm or a place to relax and unwind. Occupying an 11 hectare of land, the farm is a breeding haven of full-blood Boer goats directly imported from Australia. Although the farm provides rest and recreation for its visitors, the farm also provides an integrated effort in livestock raising among individual stakeholders who are interested in a sustainable and progressive mass reproduction of hybrid offspring.
“My objective was to upgrade the quality of our country’s native livestock and in the process, institute an innovative and profitable livestock farming never before experienced under the country’s agricultural setting. I then decided to begin with hybrid goat raising which I considered easier to manage and more economical in terms of handling cost, feed cost and energy cost compared to swine raising,” said Villamin whose revolutionary approach involves widespread sharing of livestock genetics.
Known as the DV Boer Profitable Goat Raising Livelihood Program, it was heavily promoted in its official Facebook accounts, and shortly went viral as it caught the attention of Filipino livestock farmers and agri-business enthusiasts both here and abroad.
“My social-media promotion of goat-raising and cattle-raising projects paved way for people to develop that spirit of agriculture based entrepreneurship,” Villamin says. “They learned the simplified yet profitable way of livestock raising even if they didn’t have their own farms. They only have to avail themselves the services provided by the DV Boer’s own farm complete with its facilities, manpower and technical expertise to ensure successful livestock-raising and breeding processes.”
Called the “Pa-iwi System”, this simplified way of large-scale livestock raising was taught in a series of seminars abroad aside from the occasionally scheduled on-line seminars or webinars. To accommodate the interested individuals, DV Boer Farm had expanded its number of satellite farms in Pangasinan, Sorsogon, Zambales and more will soon be established in several provinces nationwide.
Image credits: Mike Alegado