EATON, Ohio – Mark and Joy Yeazel recently sold their renowned Ja-Bob Holstein herd of more than 180 cows to provide funds for Mark to build a dairy for an orphanage in Tanzania. Mark has been known worldwide for his work with Red and White Holsteins. Some people thought he was crazy, but as his time for retirement came closer, his focus changed.

The Yeazels belong to the Eaton Community Church. Over the years, they have made mission trips to Romania, Haiti and Tanzania. In 2019, they learned about an atypical orphanage in Tanzania called Eternal Families. It was just getting started.

In 2023, Mark and Joy were going to Kenya where Mark was to present three seminars with information on sick animals. They booked their tickets but then things fell apart. They were disappointed but decided to go on to Tanzania.

Eternal Families had seven families living in rented homes in what they called Village One. It was modeled after Caminul Felix in Romania, which the Yeazels had visited earlier.

“Caminul Felix’s structure is 10 homes in a village, a set of parents who would make a life-long commitment to the children and raise them as a family in an individual home,” Yeazel said. “The parents are providing home, care and emotional support. A set of parents can take on 14 children and that includes their children.”

In 2021, the church bought Eternal Families a tractor and some implements. In April 2023, the couple decided to visit, see how things were going and how they were using the things the Yeazels and the church had given them.

“By the end of the trip I felt like I was supposed to sell my herd and go build a small dairy to produce fresh milk for the children there at Eternal Families,” Yeazel said.

Added Joy: “It was pretty inspiring because as long as I have known Mark he has been a dairy farmer, known worldwide. When we got on that plane to come back and he said ‘God has called me to build a dairy and the only way I can do that is to sell the cows here on the farm,’ I knew it had to be God because he would not sell the dairy cows since that is all he had ever known. I was very inspired and I said, ‘I think if God is calling you to do that then you definitely need to do that.’”

It was an emotional day when they sold the herd, Yeazel said.

“We sold cows to 15 states and Canada and Mexico,” Yeazel said. “I told people what I was going to do. I made it clear that this was why I was selling my cows. As I let people know that throughout our community, our church, and even through the dairy industry I was overwhelmed with people saying they wanted to help build this dairy. A lady at our sale just handed me a check for $2,500. Other people were giving me donations before I started asking for donations.”

In February 2024, Yeazel went on a fact-finding visit to Tanzania, to see what resources were available, where he could buy cows, equipment, and feed, where he should build the dairy and what kind of building would it be.

“We had a piece of land picked out when I went there in February,” he said. “I came home and they were supposed to get it cleared. I go back in June of 2024 to start building and they hadn’t done anything. They had removed a couple of stumps. I was so upset at them. Then, like within a week, another piece of property came up for us on the other side of our village.”

 It was a better property, about 10 acres, and already cleared.

“But it also started to teach me about the cultural difference; that Tanzanians are on a different time schedule than we are,” he said. “They don’t have a sense of urgency about much of anything.”

They bought the land, plans were drawn, and a contractor came in and built a dairy barn, a heifer barn, and a hay storage area. They built a house for the herdsman and used the money from their church to drill a well there and at the school. They had to drill down more than 700 feet.

They had to build roads and bring in electricity. They ordered some forage equipment from Kenya in June 2024. It was supposed to take 10 to 12 weeks to get there. It took seven months.

“By the time it got there my corn was too dry,” Yeazel said. “The silage we made was on the dry side although we went out into the community and found a couple of fields that were a little wetter.”

Yeazel is heading back to Tanzania soon and hopes to buy bred heifers. He was hoping to buy Holsteins but decided he might do better with Jerseys. They will be coming in a box truck, so they need a pile of dirt to unload the cattle onto.

In the long-term, Yeazel hopes to provide the orphanage with a small dairy of 10 to 12 cows that will produce enough milk for the orphanage, to pay for itself, and to create a little income.

Eternal Families is still working on a website. For information or to receive a newsletter, email Mark Yeazel at y2kows@gmail.com.