The Year That Was, 2008 For Alaminos Goat Farm and Beyond As the year comes to a close, we look back at our performance in 2008 as we lay down our plan for 2009. In 2008 we made steps forward in our goat raising operation and in 2009 we will make giant steps to make it a sustainable economic undertaking, anchored by our goat dairy operation.
In 2008 Milk Star fresh goat’s milk made history in Philippine Agriculture, it set the record as the first fresh goat’s milk to be sold at SM SuperMarket, SM HyperMarket and Robinson SuperMarket in Mega Manila. The introduction of Milk Star fresh goat’s milk in the super market trade is a big boost in creating awareness that goat dairying can be done in tropical Philippines. We achieved our target of 150 kilos of goat’s milk per day in July but we scaled back to 130 kilos at year's end as we fine tune production and sales.
For 2009, our production target is 200 kilos of goat’s milk per day by May, as our milking goats start to freshen late April and slowly increasing it by 10% in the third and fourth quarter. We will be happy to end 2009 with 250 kilos per day production.
Our target for 2009 is a balance growth of production with our outlets' requirement. This gives us time to plan the construction of the facilities that will house the dairy goats. We have scaled down our growth target, experience have taught us that the short shelf life of fresh goat’s milk requires that growth of production in terms of milk volume should match what your outlets can sell within 7 days.
AGF Boer breed improvement program got a big boost when AGF 1407 emerged as Supreme champion in the First Boer Goat Show at the Agri-Link Show in October 2008. With the breed improvement program in place in 2009, we will be culling imported Boer does that have not performed within the standard we have set based on our breed improvement program. For 2009 onwards, we would focus on quality boers produce rather than quantity.
As we bring in replacement doelings coming from the top 5% of our breed improvement program in 2007 and 2008, we will cull the same number of imported Boer does. By the last quarter of 2009, we will come up with a commercial Boer line that will be priced at affordable prices for farmers and the more expensive Boer Stud line for stud breeders.
The sale of pregnant does and does with kids will be pursued in 2009. It proved to be a very successful marketing tool in selling our goats in 2008. Value for money promotion would be pushed in 2009, to make Boer goats more affordable for goat raisers. We will continue to come up with sales promos in 2009, following the line of our very successful March Double 10 promo in 2008 and the on going Holiday Promo which runs up to February 2009.
The experience we have gained in raising Boers in the area of nutrition and animal husbandry practices have served us well in our dairy goat operation. The system we have developed is well suited in raising dairy goats under extreme tropical condition. Our good performance in 2008 have shown that goat dairying in the Philippines can be done. The additonal cost of feeding concentartes can be justified with the production of milk, breeders and meat from the dairy goats. This technology is being shared to all those who are interested in helping develop the dairy goat industry in the Philippines.
In 2009, we expect to sustain the performance of our milking herd and improve it as they mature. Experts says that as the milking goats enter their third freshening, they tend to increase milk yields on the average.
In 2008, we took note of the exceptional performance of AGF 1605 Louca Darwyn, a purebred Anglo Nubian buck. He is prepotent and kids coming from him are showing a lot of length, height and his prominent features. We are happy with the performance of AGF Darwyn and his solid contribution to our breed improvement program. He is the cornerstone in improving our Mitra line which we are crossing with a Saanen buck to develop a Philippines commercial dairy goat in 2009. We have named the product of this crossing Alaminos Mitra Saanen (AMS) cross.
In 2009, our goal is to improve the quality of milk produce from does selected for our dairy from this AMS cross. The AMS cross is expected to adapt better under tropical condition, capable of producing 2 litres of creamy milk per day for 300 days.
For 2009, research work with a government agency is being targeted to come up with a study entitled development of a commercial dairy goat in tropical Philippines. We look forward to close this deal and do colloborative work to see the completion of this research work by 2010. We will use the result of this study as centerpiece in creating an awareness campaign in the viability of goat dairying in the country.
Alaminos Goat Farm is grateful for all the support and patronage it has received in 2008. We would like to say Thank You to all our customers, goat raisers, government officials and friends. We hope you continue supporting us in 2009. It is our commitment to help the goat raising industry by creating awareness with the sharing of our experiences in raising goats. Help us show that goat dairying could be a center piece for a doable agricultural development program for the Philippines in 2009 and beyond.
Visit us at
http://alaminosgoatfarm.com to learn more about what we are doing.
