• Nuru International helps them acquire high-grade Heifers at Sh35,000 to cover the cost of animals, vaccinations, artificial insemination for a year.
• Farmers pay Sh15,000 down payment, with the rest cleared within a year to acquire the animal.
Image: FILE
How do you change a pastoral community rooted in local breeds of cows into dairy farming? How does the mindset of a whole community change?
A move by non-governmental organisation Nuru International is slowly turning farmers from local zebu breeds to dairy farming among the minority Kuria community in Migori county.
Last week on Friday, 22 farmers from Mabera Cooperative Society benefitted from dairy cows to bring the number to 216 cows across 13 societies in Kuria.
“Kuria farmers have been facing challenges after the collapse of tobacco farming, price fluctuations have also affected maize farming which made us open this move to end poverty, “ Nuru livelihood team leader Kevin Yongo said.
To start off the project, farmers in groups were first educated on the benefits of dairy cows against local breeds. They were also given soft loans for the animals through their societies and training to maintain the animals.
Mary Boke said she had to sell her 12 local breed cows which only gave her five litres of milk a day, to have only three Fresian breeds of dairy cows that give her about 15-20 litres of daily.
“We were trained on how to take care of dairy animals. We place a lot of importance on zebu cows which has fuelled cattle rustling,“ Boke said.
After several meetings with farmers, Nuru International helped them acquire high-grade heifers at Sh35,000 to cover the cost of animals, vaccinations, artificial insemination, training and extension services for a year.
Farmers have to pay Sh15,000 down payment, with the rest cleared within a year to acquire the animal.
We place a lot of importance on zebu cows which has fuelled cattle rustlingFarmer
Management
The animals are vaccinated against Lumpy skin and Foot and Mouth diseases, common diseases in Migori, with anthrax vaccine given later on.
To control ticks, the dairy cows will have to be sprayed weekly. farmers have been urged to use Norotraz which requires eight millimetres for five litres of water per animal or Duodip and Delete which requires four millimetres for five litres of water per animal.
Other acaricides are Bayticol and Ectopor which are placed on the backbone.
Farmers are also advised to check if their animals are emaciated, have a rough hair coat, loose stool, change in appetite, distended abdomen or oedema, water under their jaws, as signs of worms.
They are also advised to deworm their animals once every three months with Nilzan, Levafas or Albendazole at about 125mm for a 250kg animal.
“For acaricides and dewormers, farmers are advised to change any medicine used after 10 months for effectiveness and to avoid resistance,“ Dairy Programme Officer John Matiko said.
Matiko said dairy farmers are encouraged to also spray and deworm other domestic animals in their farms.
They should have feeding troughs with salt licks to avoid wastage of feed and soiling of feed placed on the ground which increases worm infections.
Silage given to dairy cows, like grass and nappier, should be cut in small pieces and always dried or wilted for at least 24 hours to reduce their moisture content.
Most farmers make a big mistake feeding their animals banana trees, which is just 90 per cent water, the officer said.
“The solid content of the feed is key in adding nutrients to animals for growth for speedy growth and easy digestion of feeds." -
Dairy Breeding Officer George Kimani said an eight-to-16-month-old a heifer will be on heat and ready for servicing by a bull, but the best indicator is the body weight.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation allows breeding once a Fresian breed reaches 300kg, Ayshire breed (270-280 kg) and Jersey (270 kg) but the ideal weight is 250kg for all breeds.
“A dairy farmer should never allow a young heifer to be serviced even when on heat, that will drop down milk production before a maturity,” Kimani said.
A farmer will notice a heifer on heat when it bellows, wants to be with other cattle, mounts others and her vulva reddens, swells and secretes mucus, he explained.
“The best move is having artificial insemination as it ensures the daughters bred have higher milk production than their mothers and prevents the spread of weaker genes and venereal diseases from bulls,” Kimani said.
With extension services, farmers’ cooperative societies and close-knit issuing of dairy cows to farmers, Nuru International collects about 2,500 litres of milk daily, offering a ready market of Sh39-40 per litre for their yoghurt production plant.
Nuru International produces the Nuru Yoghurt brand in vanilla, strawberry and mango flavours.
Kimani said dairy farming will be considered as an alternative because of shrinking land size and better revenue.
Image: MANUEL ODENY
Community change
George Juma, a Media and Communication lecturer at Rongo University College, said the model of engaging the community through a selected group of risk-takers is safest in changing an attitude.
“The Kuria community places more cultural value on the traditional breed of cows with high number seen as higher status in the community, but the group will open up dairy farming in Migori which is milk-deficient,” Juma said.
He said the community also uses the traditional cows as dowry and shapes the position of houses around a traditional homestead which has a cows’ pen at the centre.
“The culture of the Kuria has deeply revolved around the traditional cows which are used even in ploughing, so this close attachment with cows will be key in shifting to dairy farming,” Juma said.
Edited by R.Wamochie