MANILA, Philippines -- This is your last chance to visit the Agrilink trade show which will end at 6 o’clock Saturday evening. Don’t miss it because there are so many things to see which could inspire you to improve your own brand of farming.

One interesting fellow we met at the show is Dr. Renato “Ric” Songco, a dentist from Guagua, Pampanga who is so upbeat on raising sheep, particularly the Dorper breed. This is a fast growing breed that is also very hardy. It is highly adapted to the Philippine weather conditions.

Dr. Songco quips that there is more money in farming than in dental practice. So he is determined to increase the more than 100 Dorpers that he has in his farm in Brgy. Lambac, Guagua. In fact, he is looking for upgraded female sheep that he could buy because he really wants to increase his flock. He does not sell any of his stock now. He would like to use his purebred male Dorpers to sire more upgraded females.

He said that he recently acquired 30 hectares of fishpond. He intends to graze his sheep on the dikes which he will plant to forage grasses.

Sheep now seems to be the new darling of the small ruminants raiser. In fact, we talked to Ben Rara who has a farm in Pandi, Bulacan, and is the president of the Federation of Goat and Sheep Producers of the Philippines. He also wants to increase his flock of sheep. Right now, he has 40 sheep in addition to about a hundred goats.

Ben is also determined to increase the number of his sheep. He said that sheep has less disease and pest problems compared to goats. They are also usually faster growing than goats. And they are very docile. They can be used as “mowers” in the orchard.

Jeff Valencia of Ebemezer Goat Farm in Capas, Tarlac, has also been importing Dorper sheep and goats from Australia not only for himself but also for other clients like former Congressmen Toti Carino and Dudut Jaworski. He has many other clients.

We also met Chong Ken Foo of Exquisite Focus Philippines. He has a bio-inoculant which could decompose rice straw in the field in seven days. He also has other bio-formulations that serve as fertilizer and pest deterrent.

We also met Caysing Tan of Kainitz Corporation with his many machines that include multi-purpose shredders, corn sheller, rice thresher, rice mill, coffee pulper, disc mill, gasoline generators, portable automatic seeders, rice harvesting combine and irrigation equipment.

Larry Miculob came all the way from Davao to display his durian fruits at the retail section. Larry has a 16-hectare durian farm in Davao City that is very productive. By the way, he says that they will have their Mindanao Fruits & Vegetables Summit on October 20 to 22 at the Kadayawan Hall, NCCC Mall in Matina, Davao City.

We also met Vice Gov. D.V. Savellano of Ilocos Sur who has put up big farm demonstration and training center in Sto. Domingo town. He said he will be buying all the Indigofera seedlings that would be left by other buyers at the booth of Alaminos Goat Farm. Rene and his sons Art and Toti have brought several thousand Indigofera seedlings to the Agrilink trade show which they are selling at P20 each.

Rene says that Indigofera is a very good feed for goats, both the meat type and the dairy type. He has ob-served that when lactating goats are fed with fresh Indigofera, they usually give more milk.

Back to Vice Gov. Savellano. He said he is multiplying in big numbers the native pig. He said he has already more than three hundred of different ages. Another farm animal that he is bent in multiplying is the carabao. The training center, he said, already has more than 60 heads.

And back to the Alaminos Goat Farm. They have a very delicious ice cream made of goat’s milk. Their goat sausage, on the other hand, is very juicy. And their goat’s cheese is what Rene is really proud of.

We also met Dr. Mary Ann Sayoc of East-West Seed Company. Some of their staff are not at the Agrilink because they are busy launching their new varieties in Central Luzon. These include two varieties of papaya, the Red Royale and Carinosa.

We learned that this early, the company is already preparing for an important milestone. East-West Seed will observe its 30th anniversary and one of the highlights will be the publication of a coffee table book featuring the very successful growers of their different crops.

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