Cattle muddle: How NDA misplaced 764 imported dairy animals

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YOU think misplacing a whole cow is unlikely?

The National Dairy Authority (NDA), the agency tasked with accelerating the development of the country’s dairy industry, mislaid 764 of them.

Government auditors said the agency purchased 1,740 heads of pregnant heifers in 2023 under two separate programs: Locally Funded Project – Expanded Dairy Project (LFP-EDP) and the Community-Based Farm Enterprise Development: Farm Rehabilitation and Improvement Dairy Integration-Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP).

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The LFP-EDP aims to start 22 new dairy production enterprises through the acquisition and distribution of 1,100 dairy cattle to qualified farmers to spur the production of up to four million liters of milk each year over a 10-year period.

On the other hand, the CFIDP was a program exclusively for the benefit of coconut farmers by increasing their incomes. The plan was to integrate coconut farming with milk production and optimize the profitability of coconut farmlands.

It turned out both programs sourced the animals from a single supplier, paving the way for a series of small mistakes leading to the cattle chaos.

First, the pregnant animals were shipped and quarantined in one common area. Although the two programs each had its own “packing list,” the lists were reportedly ignored as the cows were mingled in one vessel during shipment.

Auditors noted that each animal had an “ear tag number (ETN)” which was supposed to serve as its unique identification based on the separate lists provided by the supplier for each of the programs.

The NDA, however, said the ETNs were in various colors rather than one color per project, making the selection difficult.

During shipment and quarantine, 145 animals died from various causes – 95 from LFP-EDP’s list and 40 from CFIDP.

Finally, owing to the orientation of the paddock gate during release, there was no opportunity to check the ETNs on a per-project basis as the cattle were simply loaded on the transport vehicles according to their proximity to the loading bay.

Once the dust settled, 385 LFP-EDP animals wound up with CFIDP while it received 379 animals that should have gone to the other project.

The Commission on Audit said the ETNs should have been more than enough basis for the NDA to prevent the mix-up.

“The ETNs specified in the Packing Lists submitted by the supplier for each project were not followed by the NDA upon acceptance of the 1,740 heads of imported dairy animals. Further, there was no document provided by the NDA to justify swapping of heads of imported animals,” the audit team said.

But the cattle pickle did not end there.

Auditors said LFP-EDP’s dairy cattle were not the same as CFIDP’s milking cows.

“It should be noted that based on the technical specifications stated in both contracts, the requirement for the feeds of each imported dairy animal varies for both projects, particularly on the provision of corn silage. The dairy animals for the LFP–EDP and the CFIDP are required to consume 32 kgs and 27 kgs. of corn silage, respectively,” the audit team noted.

For now, the expectant cows look likely to remain where they ended up, regardless of the mishap.

Neither the COA nor the NDA made any recommendation about making heads and tails of 764 animals that went astray.

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