Alhamdulillah, We have had the soft launch of our goat farm - finally.
Last Saturday, the 12th of July we officially launched our goat farm.
The opening date had first been set for April. This was postponed to June due to my mother’s demise. Then the June date was postponed due to another reason. The 12th of July launch went just fine.
We had a small “kenduri”. I suppose the closest translation would be a thanksgiving feast.
The festivities were all handled by Zai, (my wife’s cousin brother and our partner in this venture) and his family. True to the Malaysian kampong (village) tradition, almost the whole village turned up to help. As this is the standard practice in almost all Malaysian kampungs, this did not result in many cooks spoiling the broth, rather it was many hands making light work.
The occasion was made all the merrier by the inclusion of the “aqiqah” ceremony for my nephew’s daughter. The local imam read a short thanksgiving prayer followed by a delicious lunch prepared by the village team led by Zai’s mother, Puan Rokiah(who is more often called Unggah (short for Tunggal or only child).
Ungga planting the neem tree. Picture taken by my son, Abang.
Picture of my sister in law planting the Neem tree. Picture taken by my son, Abang.
To mark the opening, my eldest sister in law (the matriarch of our family now that my mother is no longer with us) and Ungga planted a neem tree each. God Willing, the farm should thrive, grow and provide for all of us varied benefits just like a neem tree is believed to do.
My eldest girl could not make it as she was not well. She has been given a blow by blow account by her Mama, and I am sure her best wishes were with us.
We now have one goat shed up, 45 goats + one Indonesian worker to help Zai operate the farm. The current objective is just to get into and understand fully the rhythm of the operations and to get used to rearing and looking after the goats. Issues such as looking after their health, their feeding rates, cleanliness of the shed, etc. Another worker is expected to join us shortly and then we would start on our second shed.
The website for the farm is still in progress. Our plan is to get this website launched by the second week of August, and after that all the goat posts will be shifted there.
God Willing, this farm shall now be a major focus for the Fathersez family.
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