17 Traveling…Sustainability at the Heifer Ranch

17 Traveling…Heifer Ranch

Happy Thanksgiving week.

I talked my wife, Judy, into going to visit the Heifer Ranch with me this week. When we first arrived, Judy looked at this one fenced in area and asked me what was wrong with the horses back. About that time, it lifted it’s head and she said “That’s a camel”.

To Judy’s credit, a few minutes later, she did identify two water buffalo. I wasn’t sure about that but a lady named Bette, soon to be our tour guide, confirmed that they were indeed water buffalo. That was the start of our glorious day at Heifer Ranch. We first went to the visitor’s center, where we met Bette and Lyle, Heifer Ranch volunteers. After looking at a short film about Heifer’s many and varied sustainable projects around the world, they invited us to take a short tour of some of their ranch projects, we arrived too late in the day for a longer tour. Lyle brought the powered tour cart up for us and Bette was to be our driver and tour guide. The film we viewed inside the visitor’s center was about some of Heifer’s sustainable projects around the world, involving their “gift of giving”, usually much appreciated farm animals. Heifer’s gift covers several parts of our planet, from Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia/Southern Pacific to both Latin and North America. Bette took us on a very informative and educational tour of the ranch. Our first stop was the water buffalo, a truly “multi-purpose” beast. They are used to till soil, haul carts and are capable of many physical chores, not to mention their waste is a very good and efficient fertilizer. Their “dung” is also an excellent source of methane gas, used to run small cook stoves. Our next stop was in front of “pastured poultry houses”. They are called “pastured” because the floor is pastureland, considered more healthy and environmentally friendly than a conventional poultry house. Just across from the pastured poultry houses was the “horse with the bad back” – camel. The camel can comfortably carry 10X the amount of water a human can as well as providing other resources such as milk and butter. Down from the camel (and a bull), around the corner were several large horses. They may not have been quite as large as the legendary Clydesdales but they were well on their way. In an area adjacent to the horses was a pasture with, what appeared to be, at least a hundred specially bred short haired sheep. These special short haired, longer tailed sheep are more easily maintained than their longer haired cousins. They provide milk and sustenance and are relatively easy to breed. Heifer likes to provide the animals already impregnated to the recipients. When the animals bear their young, the “gift of giving” is passed along. Each person receiving an animal passes the newborns along to the next person, hopefully creating a chain of mutual giving and helping. These animals do make a tremendous difference in the recipient families lives. In an area past the sheep was the Heifer Village Challenge Course. This course has several physical obstacles that can be overcome, especially using team work. From several challenging walls to climb over to a zip line, working together is paramount to successfully navigating this course. Just after the challenge course was my “hot button”. A 2.4KW solar array designed, built and mounted on a portable trailer by Bill Ball. It is not only used for aeration of their pond water, it provides power to more remote projects on the ranch. Approximately 1/2 mile north of where the solar trailer is located, is the Heifer Global Village. The Heifer Global Village has several programs designed to give participants an “unforgettable walk in another person’s shoes”. Participants can take anywhere from 1 day to 3 days and nights to experience what it is like in the life of another. This experience takes place in an area that is much like a real village where Heifer actually works. During the time there, participants learn what it is like to actually get water from a remote location, prepare meals and what it takes in day to day living to just survive. The last area we visited today was a (sort of) “petting” barn, where young and old alike can actually touch the animals and next to the “petting” barn is the Heifer Hilton, where a solar array is used to heat water for showers. The water was probably cold on this day, due to the sky being overcast. We really enjoyed our tour and just wished we had time to see more. Hopefully, we will soon. Heifer, it’s employees and volunteers are doing a wonderful job. We thank them for their caring and sharing. Next week will take me to Fayetville, AR to visit with Butch Coger about some of his “green construction” projects. Till then, May God Bless You. Tim
Please leave me a comment, question or suggestion by clicking on the “comments” link immediately following this post.

Tags: Heifer Ranch