By Manny Piñol
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” — Anatole France.
The fondest memories of my childhood were the moments I and my brothers were close to our farm animals.
Until today, I still remember my late father’s favorite carabao who I and my brother Patricio called “Pakloy” because the tip of her horns were pointed downwards.
“Pakloy” was a female or caraballa but she was beastly strong that she could outdo the bulls in hauling heavy stuff in the farm.
We also had a male carabao, who because of our frequent trips to the farm, already knew that when we would get on his back, it meant a trip to the farm in the morning and back to the house during moonless nights.
There was no need to guide or steer him. He knew the way like a computer programmed drone.
All of us 11 boys loved chickens, including fighting chickens and I went into serious breeding when I came home after years working as a journalist in Metro Manila.
I know some people may frown at it and even question why an animal lover would be involved in a sport like gamefowl fighting.
I guess it is part of the Filipino culture, especially for those who were raised in the rural farms but gamefowl breeding is a passion for me.
I also raised goats, Boers, Anglo Nubians and La Manchas, and I can proudly claim that I had some of the best goats in the country.
My very popular Boer buck, Rocky, and his offsprings – a buckling and a young doe – won the top honors during the 2006 National Championships held in Cagayan de Oro City.
One of Rocky’s sons and another young doeling went to Elizabeth Zimmerman-Duterte who was so impressed with my Boers when I displayed them during the Kadayawan Festival in Davao City.
She wanted to pay for the goats but I insisted to give them as a gift provided the young buck was called “Rody” and the doeling was named “Elizabeth.”
The genetics of my dairy goats, Anglo Nubian and La Mancha, have contributed to the improvement of the dairy goat lines in the country today.
My experience in gamefowl breeding led me to the breeding of an improved line of free-range meat chicken which I call “Manok Pinoy” which is now in demand among chicken breeders.
My daughter, Maria Krista, a doctor who has to take over the farm since I was appointed Secretary of Agriculture, could not cope up with the orders for breeding materials of “Manok Pinoy” which sells at P500 per head and the “Black Star” which sells for P1,000 per head.
But back to my fondness for animals.
I don’t know what it is with animals but my love for them somehow made me a very emotional and sentimental person.
This is the same character I see in my children today as they are exposed to the things that their father loves.
In fact, my youngest child, Imman, dreams of becoming a veterinarian even as his sisters have both taken up medicine.
And surprise of all surprises, my grandson, Duane, who is barely two years old, enjoys feeding chicken and chasing and hugging the cats during his trips to the farm with his mother.
I remember my two daughters when they were young, Maria Krista and Josa Bernadette who are both doctors now, howled like somebody very dear to them died when a stray puppy they took in and cared for was ran over by a car in front of our house.
How did their closeness with animals shape their characters?
I would say that my children could be among the most compassionate human beings you could find.
They are very loving and forgiving, especially with my shortcomings as an often absent father and for my frailties as a human being.
My children are living proofs that indeed kids who are brought up very close to animals and pets grow up to be very compassionate and loving persons.
They are my mirror image.
Today, even with my deep commitment to my task as head of the agriculture department, I make sure that I visit my farm during the breaks in my endless provincial sorties.
Somehow, I find joy in holding my chicken and feeling their bodies, counting the eggs in the basket, checking the chicks in the brooder; petting my new friends – a pair of Dorper sheep from Gov. Toto Mangudadatu – Toto and Tata, and looking at my Peking ducks in the range even from a distance.
While I am deeply committed to do my job as Secretary of Agriculture to the best of my ability, I am also counting the days because at the end of President Rody Duterte’s term, I would like to go back to my farm and be with my friends again.
Life in the farm is so beautiful.
Expose your children to life in the farm and bring them close to animals and pets.
If you do that, especially when they are very young, you will see the moulding of your children into very loving and compassionate human beings.
(Photos show my favorite Boer buck, Rocky, a national champion, and my children feeding goat kids with – what else? – goats’ milk. My grandson, Duane, with chicken in the farm. Other photos show my new friends in the farm, a pair of Dorper sheep, Toto and Tata, which were given to me by Maguindanao Gov. Toto Mangudadatu.)
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