Barely making it to the first level of education, Grace Boyles of Mabini, Bohol was so hard up for basic necessities that she had no idea what it was like to have a decent living. But good fate smiled on her when she put her heart into a newfound pursuit and eventually created a positive ripple effect in her community.

What she ventured into is also now the source of income for 130 other townspeople in the community. All of whom she influenced by her mettle and willpower.

Grace is a member of the San Jose Dairy Buffalo Producers Association, an association initiated by the late agricultural technician of the DA-PCC at Ubay Stock Farm (DA-PCC at USF), Floriano Bernales. She used to be a maidservant in Manila, but her unfavorable experience and longing to be with her family made her decide to come back home and try her luck in dairying.

Grace recalled that it was her relentless search for a livelihood opportunity that goaded her to find out what dairy buffalo production was about. She joined the dairy program of DA-PCC at USF in 2005, wherein she was entrusted with two American Murrah buffaloes. Five years later, she started milking the animals that were then producing an average of four liters of milk daily sold at Php45 a liter. Grace was the only woman in the group at the time, and was the only one milking her buffaloes.

But her journey was not without bumps. She could still vividly remember how many times she cried while milking her animals, feeling disheartened because her husband did not approve of milking their animals because, to him, milk should be fed to the calves. Grace, blessed with an enduring spirit, persisted and did not give up.

Her grit in dairying qualified her to receive more buffaloes from DA-PCC in the succeeding years, increasing her herd size from two to over 20 dairy buffaloes, aided by proper breeding and herd management. This gives her a peak income of more than Php27,000 a month. 

Out of that, she was able to convince her husband to assist her in this endeavor, renovate their worn-out house, send their nieces to college, and help her siblings financially. 

“When my husband witnessed the unfolding of the good benefits of buffalo dairying, he finally agreed to support me in this business. He then left his job as a rice mill operator to work full-time in our dairy enterprise,” Grace said.

Grace has been a constant partner of DA-PCC at USF in the immersion program on dairy production training. She offers accommodation and accepts coaching services to those who want to learn about buffalo dairying. With the genuine intention of demonstrating that dairying is indeed profitable, she even offered her milking carabao for paiwi as a start-up stock to her relative. 

She has encouraged her community to go into dairy production and is now producing more than 80 liters a day.

In 2020, Grace was recognized by the DA-PCC as “Modelong Juana sa Kalabawan” for her resolute dedication and hard work as a female dairy farmer.

To her, being a woman should never be a hindrance to success, and Grace deems carabao dairying as her “saving grace” that got her family out of the quagmire of poverty.