Being up in the clouds and seeing the whole world from a completely different viewpoint, Rodrigo Diao said that aviation was the thrill of his life. After a number of years in commercial airlines, he went back to his hometown in Naawan, Misamis Oriental where he settled with his family. He diverted his energy to their farm and caring for their livestock including their dairy carabaos. Unknowingly, Diao grew fondness for the animals’ while he made fortune from selling their milk.

Diao had always taken interest in agriculture. In fact, he never missed the annual agricultural exhibit held in their province every month of October. He would not hesitate to skip work so he could explore the fare. This is where he amassed most of his knowledge on dairy buffalo including which species are ideal for milk production. 

One day he was invited by a staff of the provincial office to attend an orientation on carabao dairy industry conducted by DA-PCC on January 2020. As he was unable to attend, he sent one of his farm helpers instead. Surprisingly, the following day, some staff from DA-PCC at Central Mindanao University (CMU) came to visit and evaluated his farm. A couple of days later, DA-PCC at CMU Center Director Dr. Lowell Paraguas also met with him in the City of El Salvador, Misamis Oriental to personally brief him on dairying.

As soon as a delivery date was set by DA-PCC, Diao worked on the construction of his carabao pen and, within 15 days, it was completed. He also made sure to stock up enough forage feed supply for the animals to come.

Six buffaloes were initially delivered followed by another set of five.  Diao admitted he was much surprised with the fast transitions but at the same time exhilarated with his new venture.

Upon entering Diao’s farm, we were swarmed by the friendliest carabaos. The calves didn’t mind posing and staying still next to each one of us for a few selfie shots.

“My carabaos come second to my dogs,” Diao said. “When I call out ‘kabaw’ or ‘baw’, they would approach me. Of course, they weren’t always this friendly. It took time, and daily chest rubs before I earned their trust. In fact, one of the carabaos used to greet me with its horn, but now, it greets me with its snout. It is something special to experience,” he cheerfully narrated.

Diao used to name his carabaos and one of them was Raulito, the very first calf they had out of all their buffaloes.

“Carabao raising is stress-free. Just looking at Raulito makes me forget about my problems,” Diao said. “When he is eating and he sees me approaching, he would stay still and will wait for me to grab the food next to his mouth, only then will he continue feeding,” he added.

Nonetheless, having this soft side for animals is also problematic. Diao said he had difficulty selling them at first because of the attachment made. This is when he decided to stop giving names and refer to them in general as ‘kabaw’ (the local term for carabao) instead.

While enjoying the companionship of his carabaos, Diao also generates good revenue from selling their milk. At present, he owns a total of 17 carabaos, with 8 of them producing milk.

“Competition is not a problem in the buffalo dairy industry because of the enormous demand for milk especially from the milk feeding and supplemental feeding programs of DepEd and DSWD, respectively, requiring about 600,000 liters a day. Even if everyone in Naawan raised dairy buffaloes, they still would not be able to supply for the whole Misamis Oriental,” he asserted.

“If I have at least 30 carabaos with daily milk production of 10 liters, I can definitely generate much more than what I earn from my previous profession,” he also related. 

Diao’s buffalo dairy venture like any other businesses was not a smooth sail. However, he is resolute of the promising future that the dairy carabao industry holds for Naawan and he wants to set the first example.

“There are challenges, but they are nothing too serious to be unresolvable,” he said. “If you accept defeat, that is what you will get. There are too many people involved in this venture–people who look up to me and people depending on me. I want to give them hope and I don’t want our community to miss the opportunities that the dairy industry can offer,” he contended.

As part of his efforts to advocate dairying, Diao is also currently working on developing a module for a cost-efficient management system accommodating five carabaos to serve as reference to the local farmers in their area. He is also trying to develop a forage feed formulation for increased milk production of dairy buffaloes with the help of Dir. Paraguas who recently completed a research on the use of yeast culture as supplements in carabao feeds.

One of the greatest joys in raising carabaos is having their loyalty. Unlike humans, carabaos stick with you through whatever circumstances. I did not even have to give them anything special to earn their trust. I only groom them every now and then and I did not expect that they would actually give me affection in return.