One Dairy Farmers Perspective on Agriculture in Kenya

This week I got to visit with a man who runs a dairy farm in Kanji, Kenya. His name was Kiaria. Kiaria did not actually own the farm that we got to visit, instead he was the farm manager. Working with Kiaria there were two other hired men who were helping to do the chores and milk the cows.

This farm was definitely a lot different from what I am used to back in the U.S. Instead of having at least a hundred cows, Kiaria’s farm had only twenty. Many of the cows were Friesians, but I know them as Holsteins. The farm was well kept and tidy, but not spotless like many of the dairy farms in the U.S. are. It was interesting to get to see a different way of dairy farming.

I also had the opportunity to talk with Kiaria and ask him several questions about dairy farming in Kenya. He was very knowledgeable and I learned several things. Did you know that many dairy farmers in Kenya do not keep any of the milk for themselves? Instead, to them it is worth much more if they are to sell it.

I also got to see what and how they feed their animals. The animals are not on a grazing system and are instead kept in an area that is kind of like an open barn. Since they do not graze on open land they are less likely to be exposed to many of the diseases that free ranging cattle are exposed to. This means that the farmer has to provide all of the feed in some way. On this farm they had several plots of Napier Grass that they could chop down and feed their animals.

The young heifers on this farm get a mix of chopped Napier Grass and also some additives. This is a relatively inexpensive mix of feed and so farmers choose to feed them this when they are not yet producing milk in order to save themselves some money. The cows on the farm that were producing milk got a much higher quality, and more expensive, mix of feed. They get a higher quality of feed to help them to produce more milk.

I also learned that after this farmer collects his milk for the day he takes it to a dairy cooperative. There he is paid for his milk and the milk is able to enter the commercial market. The idea of having a coop is still very new to many people in Kenya and sometimes they are seen in a negative light, but this farmer was very positive about the work that this coop is doing. He is able to get feed, medicine, and even loans through this coop. This is a very convenient thing for many of the farmers in the area.

Kiaria also told me that the coop we visited was actually just one of fifteen different locations for the coop. This particular location collects about 6,000 liters of milk every single day. The coop as a whole collects 250,000 liters of milk every day.

Overall, getting to meet with an actual farmer that was very knowledgeable about how his farm is operated and what it takes to operate it really helped to put some things into perspective for me. I can’t wait to see what else I am going to learn!