Since a fat cow is a happy cow, and happy cows give creamy milk* the old Bulembu Golf Course has undergone a shift in purpose.
Last year the Swazi 1000 team helped with putting up the fence around the golf-course-turned-pasture, and this year the teams are making sure that the cows will be eating gourmet grass.
The process of grass planting pretty much entails planting grass. Grass is removed from around the soccer field at the bottom of the village, and then transported to the diary a few kilometres uphill. Teams dig holes, and replant the grass in-between other grass. Repeat process …
“We are actually planting a root, and not just something that will disappear,” said Lauren Morgan, Swazi 1000 volunteer from Stellenbosch. ”We work in partners so we get to really bond, getting exceptionally dirty from digging and planting in the mud. We made so many jokes, and it was so much fun. Probably my best day of work so far,” she added.
“We actually prayed for the grass,” said Domy Lin, Swazi 1000 volunteer from Johannesburg, studying at the University of Pretoria. “We prayed that that the cows would produce a lot of milk to feed all the orphans!”
The Bulembu dairy currently has about 30 cows that produce 250 litres of milk daily. The plan is to eventually have 200 cows, creating quite a significant dairy industry for the little border town.
*this is not a factual statement ☺