As people often say that good things come in small things, and the case of Mr. Vuong’s family with cow bank is an example of that.
Mr. Vuong and his wife joined SSCD’s Production Team in 2019 with the hope of having the opportunity to receive support for raising a calf to increase their income. They live with their son in a very small house and are considered one of the poorest households in the village. Mr. Wang’s family took very good care of their cow. Every day his wife gets up early to cut grass to feed the cows
Sharing with us, Mr. Vuong said: “We were the last family in the hamlet to receive a cow from the Production Team. At that time our cow was very small, maybe the smallest in the group, and the purchase price was It was only 12 million VND. We tried to take good care of it so that it grows well and grows fast.”
After a while, from an initial breeding cow, Mr. Vuong’s family had another baby calf. This is a very healthy male calf and was eventually sold for VND 26 million. This amount was returned to the Production Team in accordance with the family’s original commitment (returning the first calf born for rotation to another household).
In the second year, in 2021, the cow gave birth to a second child, which has just been sold for 27.7 million VND. The sum was a substantial amount of family income and a record for cow banking, the highest price sold in SSCD-assisted cow banking. The high price is partly due to the rising market but also speaks to the care that Mr. Vuong’s family gives to the mother cow and calf.
At the time of our visit, Mr. Vuong’s cow was pregnant with its third calf in April 2022.
The income of the family has increased dramatically, previously they relied only on a meager income from farming and a few chickens and ducks that they could raise and sell to earn their living. Vuong and his wife are also old, their health is getting weaker and weaker, raising cows will ensure the family’s life in the near future.
This is one of many success stories in our cow banking project. Cow bank is a sustainable opportunity for people to rise out of poverty because cows often give birth to a litter every year, bringing a good source of income for the family.