Utete, TZ – Mama’s Group welcomes a healthy calf – 1 Jul 2014

The Mama’s Group is Kindwitwi was happy to receive the good fortune of a healthy calf this month. Their dairy cow gave birth to a male calf at the beginning of the month and it has shown no signs of illness or other problems since its birth.

The Mamas Group’s newly born calf.

The new calf provides a number of benefits for the women in the group. The calf is an asset that the women can use in case of emergencies or they can sell it in the future when it reaches its peak value. Having a calf also means that the mother cow will increase her milk production. The cow had gone down to producing only 1-2 liters of milk per day. With the new calf, the cow is now producing 6 liters of milk per day which can be sold for 6,000 TZS ($3.75).

The veterinarian visited the group last week to check up on the calf and provide advice for how to maintain and improve the project. He suggested that increasing the amount of grass and corn husks the cow was eating could help it produce up to 10 liters of milk per day.

This increased milk production has been an enormous relief for the mamas. After the cow had stopped producing milk, the women were forced to use their savings from the project to repay their loan. Recently, the savings were depleted and the women were unable to make their repayments. Now, the group will be able to get back on track with their loan repayments. The group plans to continue working with the veterinarian to ensure that the cow continues producing milk at high levels.