Livestock farmer wants to start own meat brand

While some women her age are caught up with the latest fashion, 22-year-old Fay-Ann Smikle is out getting her hands dirty on her goat farm.

With very little time for a social life, the St Catherine native also works as a telemarketer. Although working in the fields comes with many criticisms, giving up is not an option for the bubbly Smikle, who is also a veterinary technician and animal scientist.

"There are some persons who told me that I am too young to be a farmer, and there are some who turn up their nose. There is a lot of negative feedback from some of the community members as it relates to me being a young girl doing farming. Probably I should not have brought the goats as yet because I was stabling pastures, but I did buy some and they were jumping out a lot. Someone stole one of the goats...but I am not giving up," she told THE STAR.

Smikle, who receives a lot of support from her followers on social media, said although she loved agriculture, she dreamt of becoming a nurse. But she got a change of heart when she interned at the Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [JSPCA] in 2017.

"I went to Jose Marti [Technical High School] and they have a strong agricultural background. I like animals and I like to plant stuff, but I didn't know it was going to be a career path. When I was about to graduate, it was internship time, and I was placed at JSPCA, a vet clinic, and I fell in love with the animals. I forgot about the nursing career and told myself that I could still go in medicine, but to help animals," she said.

In 2017, Smikle pursued an associate degree in veterinary sciences at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education, followed by a bachelor's degree in animal science at the same institution.

"After I graduated college in 2021, I met someone at a Denbigh show and they enlightened my mind in terms of working with goats. I then purchased four goats last year, and then it grew to seven, and now I have over a dozen along with my mother, Nadia Johnson," she said. Last year, Smikle secured a three-acre parcel of land which she uses as a pasture.

"I planted Mombassa grass, African star and Brachiaria grass which are all nutritional for goats and other livestock. Once you can plant your own grass and control how long the animals feed and where they feed, then you can manage how they grow. My brothers helped me with planting the grass and I had other persons helping to cut the trees. I have goats now and I am planning to get broilers (chickens) this year," she said.

Smikle has several plans for 2023 and acknowledged that there are many persons wishing and hoping that she succeeds.

"I have to push out and do my best because I have three younger brothers watching me, so I have to do well. I do want to do a slaughterhouse this year, and I want to package and brand meats and sell. I want to become a household brand when it comes on to meat products," she said.