Cattle farmer says patience is key

By Vatapuia Maiava 11 January 2017, 12:00AM

Junior Tau, a cattle farmer from the village of Letogo, says there is a lot of money to be made from farming livestock.

The 47-year-old explains that when he first started three years ago, he had only two cows to his name and as time went by, he now has 18.

He urges the people of Samoa to look into joining the livestock business, and with the only work being to take them to feed on a field of grass, the money is worth it.

“Raising cows is one of the easiest things there is, it actually really depends on how good your land is for the cows to grow on,” Junior told the Village Voice.

“We started raising these cows about three years ago and we actually just started off with five cows. Right now those numbers have multiplied with my family owning about 18 cows now.”

“The only work we really do with these cows is pile them up in the morning and then take them to a piece of land with a lot of grass so they can feed off of it; that’s pretty much all that’s needed throughout the day.”

Jokingly, Junior says that his cows are from Australia and that’s why they only understand English as opposed to Samoan orders.

“Like I said before, these cows are very easy to take care of,” he said.

“They actually understand us when we speak to them in English because they were brought in from Australia. I don’t think they understand Samoan.”

“They only listen to us when we call out to them in English. I am actually undecided whether or not to send them to join our Manu sevens team.”

Asked if he is thinking of selling the beasts anytime soon, Junior said no. He would rather display a little patience and sell the cows when the time is right.

“Our plan is to wait until we have at least 30 beasts before we decide what to do with them,” he said.

“Right now we are just taking care of them and raising them. I really don’t see the point of rushing to kill them for sale to the butchers; we want to wait just a little bit longer before we decide on that.”

“We spent a lot of money on these cows and as time went by, we noticed that the beasts kept giving birth and that’s when we had the idea of focusing on the livestock and making sure we can get as much out of it as possible.”

“My whole family understands that there is a lot of money when it comes to raising livestock, especially cows so it’s good to focus on making a living out of it.”

Furthermore, Junior says to join the cow farming business while you can, there really isn’t anything to it.

“For those who are thinking of joining the livestock farming business, my advice for you is to have patience,” he said.

“You don’t have to go and get many cows; you can start off with only two and you will be surprised when overtime, you see you cow farm increasing in numbers.”

“This is a good business to join and I recommend it for everyone in Samoa.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 11 January 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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