Friesian owner smiles all the way to the bank

Farmers queued outside a milk collection centre at Shianda shopping centre in Kakamega County holding cans filled with fresh milk.

Among them is Oliver Wakhu, 43, a small scale dairy farmer from Eshirulo village in Mumias East sub-county.

Rachael Were, a worker at the centre is at hand to receive, test and record the amount of the milk supplied.

Wakhu’s father was a successful dairy farmer and would always encourage him to embrace the enterprise.

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The father of four has been practicing dairy farming for over two years and is happy to have followed into his father’s footsteps. He owns two cows, a Friesian and cross breed which give him between 16 to 20 litres of milk every day.

“My uncle bought me an indigenous calf at Sh2, 800 which I sold several years later and bought my first dairy cow,” said Wakhu.

The two cows cost him between Sh30,000 and Sh60,000.  “I sourced the cross breed from Bukura Agricultural Institute while the Friesian one came from Kapsabet in Nandi County,” he said.

Like several other dairy farmers in the area, Wakhu delivers between 6 and 10 litres of milk to Shianda milk collection centre every morning.

“Usually, farmers would decide whether to be paid on either weekly or monthly basis for the milk delivered, a litre of milk cost Sh45,” said the farmer. Farmers earn between Sh5,000 and Sh3,500 per week. “Each farmer is paid based on the amount of milk supplied,” said Simon Wesechere in charge of the facility. Wakhu said the friesian produces more milk compared to the cross breed adding that the secret to high milk production is a good diet and ensuring the cows drink enough water and at the right intervals.

In every two weeks, Wakhu pockets approximately Sh10,000 from milk sales and in a good month he can make up to Sh25,000.

According to Wesechere, the centre can only hold up to 1,200 litres of milk. 

No capacity

“Our coolant is small, we are sometimes forced to turn away farmers as we also don’t have the capacity to pasteurise the milk,” said Wesechere.

The government plans to set up a nitrogen plant where high quality semen for Artificial Insemination (AI) will be stored in Kakamega. There are also plans to introduce 30 more milk coolants. One Acre Fund, an NGO engaging in agricultural activities in the area has also embarked on a dairy farming project focusing on small scale farmers.

The farmers have access to AI services, spray pumps, de-wormers, pesticide sprays, fodder seeds and 20kgs of dairy meal each to be used for one cow for the period of one year. Wakhu is among several other farmers who have benefited from the AI services offered by the county government of Kakamega at a subsidised cost.

Some of the farmers have also been given animals under the ‘One Cow Initiative’ which seeks to encourage more farmers to venture into dairy farming.

Wakhu a Class Eight drop out said he looks forward to learning more from the initiative. “I might not have gone to school, but experience gathered over years has enabled me ply the trade with minimal challenges,” added Wakhu.

Feeding has been his biggest challenge especially now the country is going through a dry spell. 

Feeding dairy cows for efficient production involves supplying five classes of nutrients in appropriate amounts. In order of descending priority, the nutrients are used for purposes of life maintenance, growth, reproduction and production.
For instance should a cow on its second month of lactation be indisposed through disease such that its feeding is impaired for a few weeks, the animal first responds by cutting on milk yield.
Afterwards, the cow fails to show heat signs and if it had been served already, conception or pregnancy failure follows before it gradually grows thin and eventually dies.

High producing cows usually cannot consume adequate feed during early lactation to meet their energy requirements. The energy deficiency is made-up by converting body fat to energy.

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