Animal Projects

John is very happy to begin working with the animal production for the base. He has two projects in mind at this time to use for boosting the protein consumption here: the cattle herd and the fish ponds.

He found they had a small herd of 6 cows and 3 calves with a very small bull that wasn’t functioning. He had priced bulls here and found they cost around $2000. Now, how to get a bull? During the recent Youth Explosion some cattle were donated for butcher. It was said that a good sized bull was in the allotment so John asked if the small bull we had could be traded for the large bull. It was agreed so John sent the small bull ahead for butcher. However, the big bull didn’t come, and didn’t come. There was some legality of paperwork that had to be accomplished and it was being put off till someone could go to the farmer up in the mountain village and get his signature. After 2-3 weeks, the new bull came and it was just what we needed. We were so happy at how God heard and answered our prayers so quickly. New fencing is being put up around a larger field and grass that was trampled during the Youth camp is being watered to restore it for grazing. May the Lord bring the increase!

The fish ponds were in very sad shape. Some were completely torn, ripped, and unable to be used as they were. Some simply needed a good cleaning and with the help of the pastoral students, that cleaning has begun. Different size Tilapia fish were found barely surviving in some of the existing ponds but now, they have all been put into one small pond during the cleaning and will soon be placed in the bigger ponds to multiply and grow. We hope to see some fish on the plates in 3-4 months as we understand they are fast growing and fast reproducing. May the Lord bring the increase!

            

(top left) Damaged pond liner     (top right) Clean pond      (bottom left) Cleaning a fountain pond  
(bottom right)  Littlest pond holding the surviving fish




One big concern remains. All this will be nothing unless there is someone who will take the responsibility to take care of the animals even when we are not here. John has found one young man named Gabriel whose desire was to become a veterinarian but who was financially unable. He would seem to be the logical answer. Pray for these areas of need:

1) that Gabriel or someone qualified will accept the responsibility to oversee this endeavor
2) that the current animals will prosper and reproduce to bring increase
3) new corralling for managing the cattle