Fashion designer, now a dairy farmer, has no regrets

MANILA, Philippines - Minerva Sotto Yuvienco used to be a revered name in the high world of fashion. Her Best of New York boutiques in Cebu whose products she designed were much patronized. Her influence reached other Visayan cities and up to Davao City where she had held fashion shows regularly in the nineties.

Now, this glamour woman who was schooled at the Traphagen Fashion School in New York City is into dairy farming.

Her success in the milk production business was documented by the National Dairy Authority (NDA) chaired by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap with Orkhan Usman as administrator.

The NDA has been assisting Yuvienco in raising her dairy herd which now consists of 54 cows, 14 of them milk-producing.

“Thanks to NDA, we have the services of (its) veterinarians who are knowledgeable in dairy cow management.,” she said. One time with the NDA vets out in the farm, she slipped out and consulted with private veterinarians but she was disappointed.

She said the vets she consulted on the side had “little or no knowledge” of dairy cow management.

She believes that the dairy industry has a bright future in the country because Filipinos have begun appreciating the benefits of drinking fresh milk. She sells a big bulk of her produce to the Cebu Federation of Dairy Cooperatives but keeps some at her Cebu City home where ordinary folks go to buy their milk supply.

Before venturing into dairy farming which she set up on a six-hectare land inherited from her physician parents — Dr. Merito Yuvienco and Dr. Suga Sotto Yuvienco — this grandaughter of Cebu’s great statesman, the late Sen. Vicente Sotto, had to close her boutiques due to the economic downturn.

Finding no choice and buoyed by her sense of resiliency and never-say-die character, the fashion guru plunged into dairy animal raising.

She has no regrets and is enjoying her success in the industry. She looks forward to bringing the business to a higher notch, and that is to be able to produce cheese and trade her cheese products abroad.