How Bóthar Works
Bóthar establishes families in micro-farming units by giving them the living gift of a farm animal. However, this gift is only given as the last stage of a long and important process.

Village Committees
Villages and communities that wish to take part in the Bóthar project are asked to form a committee specifically for dealing with the Bóthar project. That committee must then decide which are the most needy families in their community and who should receive animals first. They also appoint the first 'pass-on' families at this time. In this way the community has ownership of the project from the beginning.

Training Courses
Together with our project partners, Bóthar ensures that all families are equipped with the knowledge and skills to manage the animal. The majority of farmers that receive Bóthar animals are illiterate, and unfamiliar with a classroom situation, so training is done in groups using picture cards and stories to aid in explanation. Most training courses last between one and two weeks. They are carried out at a central location and farmers are accommodated in the area. The training will encompass all necessary aspects of care of the animal they are to be given: housing, healthcare, nutrition, etc.

Zero-Grazing Units
Each family must build the correct housing facilities for their animal. In the case of the dairy cows and dairy goats that housing is called a zero-grazing unit. The zero-grazing unit is constructed of locally available material. It has several seperate areas, one each for milking, feeding and sleeping, one for only offspring and also an enclosed exercise space. The family must grow the correct crops to feed their animal and must learn how to harvest the crops at the right time of the day so as to avoid the spread of tick-borne diseases. The fodder is brought to the animal in the zero-grazing unit.

Terracing and Contouring
In some African countries soil erosion is a particularly severe problem. Land from which tree cover has been removed becomes desertified; then, during the rainy seasons, without anything to anchor the deep and fertile soil in place, up to 10 tonnes per acre can be washed away annually, leaving the landscape scarred by enormous gullies and robbing the land of its most valuable resource. Bóthar project farmers are taught simple contouring and terracing techniques by which small earth banks are constructed on their land following the contour lines of any slope. These have the effect of arresting the erosion and conserving the soil. Furthermore, neighbouring families are often prompted to do similar works in the hope of receiving an animal in their turn.

Passing on the Gift
Each family that takes part in Bóthar projects must formally agree to pass-on to another selected family the first female offspring born to their animal. (In the case of the bee, rabbit and chicken projects the recipient family must save money earned from the sale of produce and offspring and with this must purchase breeding rabbits, flocks of chicks or hives as well as paying for the cost of training for pass-on recipients). In this way the gift is multiplied and over time many families and even whole communities benefit. Passing on the gift is an integral and essential part of all Bóthar animal projects.

Presentation of the Animal
Finally when all the preparations have been made, the family is given the gift of an in-calf Irish dairy heifer or an in-kid Irish dairy goat, an in-pig breeding sow, a flock of chickens, three hives of honeybees, a trio of rabbits or a breeding pair of yak. The families are also provided with full veterinary back-up including assistance with breeding.

The Impact
Milk, honey, meat and eggs not only improve a family's diet but the surplus can be sold thus giving the family possibly their first opportunity to earn an income. This income allows them to feed, clothe and educate their children. The impact that one good quality farm animal has on an impoverished family in the Developing World can mean the difference between destitution and security. A comparison could be made to a peasant family in Ireland during our own famine just over 150 years ago. Any of the families that starved to death during that period would have been saved and would have seen the famine through in relative comfort ifthey had been given one good dairy cow. Many attributed their survival to owning a goat.

Simple Sustainable Development
The beauty of the Bóthar approach is in its simplicity. As the old adage goes: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach a man how to fish and he will feed himself for the rest of his days." When recipient families pass-on-the-gift the benefit multiplies. Once they have fulfilled the terms of their contract and passed on an animal the family may keep all subsequent stock, and so the gift grows. The families have control over their farms and futures, and, over time, can lift themselves up to a position of relative comfort with dignity and pride.

Project Partners
Bóthar is part of a community of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) using livestock in development aid. Bóthar works closely with an American organisation, Heifer International, a UK group, Send-a-Cow, Heifer Nederland and Heifer France. Bóthar works in partnership with Heifer International in some countries and in others the projects are supported by indigenous NGOs.

Bothar and Heifer International: A mutually enriching relationship
Very early in the development of Bothar the board recognised that there were a number of strong arguments against opening up Bothar field offices. Chief reasons included; the drain of resources maintaining such offices; the fact there were many local organisations specialising in livestock development and it made more economic sense to build their capacity rather than just transplanting people from the developed world; and a significant network already existed.

Heifer International (formerly Heifer Project International) was founded in 1944 and has helped more than 4 million impoverished households in 129 countries move toward self-reliance through livestock development, the provision of income-producing animals and training. Every family and community receiving animals also receives training in environmentally sound, sustainable agriculture. Recipient families pass on the gift by sharing on or more of their animals' offspring with other struggling families.

Bothar and Heifer International have collaborated since 1991. It was quite easy for Bothar to adapt and fit into this network as the missions of both organisations are compatible. The relationship has worked brilliantly as both organisations offer opportunities to each other that increase the effectiveness of their work, indeed a greater level of effectiveness than operating unilaterally translating into more impoverished households assisted than would have been otherwise the case.

Initially this relationship was confined to an African Programme, but since it has stretched to an Eastern European Programme, an Asian Programme and a South American Programme. Looking to the future it does not seem unreasonable to suggest that this relationship will continue to grow and prosper.