Everything in life seems to come slower to him, says Nguyen Trong Hien. But when he received a cow from the cow bank YWAM Mercy Vietnam set up in his community, his slow birthing cow brought unexpected profits to his family.
Through the cow bank, qualifying families receive a cow and are taught to care for it. In about two years the first calf is usually born and this is returned to the project to be given to another family. However, Mr. Hien’s cow did not give birth for four years.
Usually when a cow is slow to give birth a family requests for the project to swap their slow birthing cow for a new one. In this case, Mr. Hien opted to keep his cow for an unexpected reason. Mr. Hien’s cow is good at plowing!
Neighbors in his village tell how there are many cows in the area but only a few can plow and Mr. Hien’s cow is one of them. They rent his cow to plow their small rice fields at a cost of about US$8 per 360 square meters of land. This brings in a good profit for Mr. Hien and his family who have struggled to make enough money to support the family in the past.
Raising a cow is very profitable. My cow is really healthy and strong. We have profit from renting her for plowing.
Mr. Hien takes good care of his cow, cutting four baskets of grass (above) for it daily and cooking bran for it in the winter. Now that they have their first calf they will give it back to the cow bank for another family. Their cow-raising experience has been so encouraging, they plan to raise three more calves in the future.