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Maendeleo Vijijini
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Dressed in a black shirt and a matching trouser, the middle-aged
man was all ears as the farmer in Kiambu County took him through the
dos and don’ts when feeding cows.
“Don’t think that if you overfeed cows, they will produce more milk. Instead, they will even produce less,” farmer John Chege, 35, told his guest Zozo Felicien, a Congolese.
“Don’t think that if you overfeed cows, they will produce more milk. Instead, they will even produce less,” farmer John Chege, 35, told his guest Zozo Felicien, a Congolese.
“Excess
feeding interferes with the animal’s digestion process, and thus the
overall production. The animals should be given enough time to chew the
cud,” added Chege, whose farm is in Githunguri, in the agricultural rich
Kiambu County.
The Congolese, who is the national
coordinator for Action Sociale Et D’organisation Paysanne, one of the
biggest grassroots farmer organisations in Congo, had travelled to the
farm for tips on dairy farming, especially on small pieces of land, and
running a dairy cooperative society.
Chege, who has
been farming for 15 years having started with a few animals, keeps
dozens of cows on three different 50 by 100 plots.
And that is what marvelled Zozo, who got to learn about the farmer’s Riverbanks Farm through a Kenyan friend.
On
the first farm, Chege has about 40 heifers aged from three to 18
months. His second farm also measuring 50 by 100ft hosts a similar
number of cows, calves and heifers. The third farm hosts about 20
animals and his house.
HYGENE IS SUPREME
Apart from the farm where he has built his residential house, the other farms are divided into two portions with a walkway of roughly 7 feet in between.
Apart from the farm where he has built his residential house, the other farms are divided into two portions with a walkway of roughly 7 feet in between.
Each
sleeps in a space of about 5 by 8 feet with a general feeding and
watering space on the opposite side. Once they are through with feeding,
they simply turn around and get into their sleeping quarters.
On all the farms, there are other structures, some holding goats, sheep and chicken, as well as staff houses and feeds’ stores.
Having
such a large number of animals in a small enclosure, one would expect
Chege is assailed by foul-smelling animal waste. “Cleanliness is
paramount. I have full-time employees who clean the cows and the sheds
regularly. The waste is then channelled to the bio-digester for biogas
production.”
Chege insisted that a cow only needs to
eat the equivalent of two 10-litre basketfuls of feeds, that is about
20kg daily. He feeds the cows mostly on napier grass, which is sliced
into pieces using a chaff cutter and mixed with wheat bran.
The
cows are fed twice a day; in the morning and in the afternoon. Each
feeding session lasts roughly two hours, after which the feeding area is
closed to avoid over-eating.
“Anything more than that
is over-feeding, which is not only costly but also reduces milk
production. What cows require in plenty is water,”
And to ensure he has sufficient water supply, Chege has drilled boreholes on all his three farms.
And to ensure he has sufficient water supply, Chege has drilled boreholes on all his three farms.
GOOD FARMING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Zozo,
who said that small farmers back home do not practice zero-grazing, was
surprised that cows which are in an enclosure are capable of producing
good amounts of milk.
“To maximise on milk production, the cows need to save on energy. If they use lots of energy moving around, then they will not produce a lot of milk. Still, cows that move around tend to pick diseases as opposed to those that are confined,” explained Chege.
Chege’s 20
lactating cows produce around 400 litres of milk a day, with the top one
offering about 30 litres daily, making him one of the largest
shareholders of the Githunguri Dairy Cooperative, where he is a member.
He milks the cows three times a day and delivers the milk at the society, which buys at Sh40.
“I
am currently servicing a loan that I pay Sh350,000 per month. Once I
complete repaying it, I will borrow more to expand my business,” he
added.
An impressed Zozo said his organisation would
extend an invite to Chege, sometime in August, so that he can teach and
motivate farmers in Congo.
Felix Opinya, a livestock
expert at Egerton University, says that such an intensive kind of
farming poses risks when a disease strikes.
“Due to the
close confinement, diseases can spread fast and if not properly managed
can wipe out the entire stock,” he says, adding the system has no
problem as long as a farmer engages in good management practices.
SOURCE: NMG/SEEDSOFGOLD
SOURCE: NMG/SEEDSOFGOLD
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