Mt. Kilimanjaro, TZ – Employee celebrates birth of a calf from dairy cow loan – 10 Jun 2016

Lishe Bora garden shop employee Eliza and her family are celebrating the birth of their new calf. They have waited almost six months for their cow to give birth since buying her in November 2015.

The birth of a healthy calf is both exciting and relieving for the family. Calves often die during birth and this event causes stress to the mother and reduces her milk production. So a healthy calf means more milk production and the opportunity for a future productive asset in calf.

The mother cow’s milk production will slowly increase in the coming months and the calf’s dependence on her mother will decrease. Over the course of three months Eliza expects to eventually get 4-8 liters of milk per day from her cow for home use or selling. 1 liter of milk sells for 1,000 TZS (US $0.48). This means Eliza can earn between 120,000 – 240,000 TZS per month from milk sales.

The family is hoping to use the additional income for home improvements. Their first priority is to finish putting walls and a roof on their toilet. Next they want to add an additional room to their house. Currently Eliza, her husband, seven children, and three grandchildren are living in a two room house. She has already been saving money from working with Lishe Bora and purchasing blocks to build the new room.