Flourishing Farm
The biology lecturer at Kagumo Teachers Training College is meticulously examining the newest additions to his farm—two calves born just hours earlier.
Mwangi, who oversees a thriving dairy operation, primarily raises Friesian and Ayrshire cattle. His herd consists of 100 cows, including 32 currently being milked, 10 dry cows, 25 in-calf heifers, seven calves, and 26 heifers. The farm, spread over five acres, features a barn, servant quarters, and plantings of lucerne and maize for fodder.
Mwangi’s passion for cattle farming traces back to his childhood. “I grew up with cattle and always aspired to have my own. My parents had a single cow named January that we milked as children,” he reminisces.
He first ventured into dairy farming by buying two cows in his youth. However, he had to close the business when he was relocated from Nakuru to Nandi. Undeterred, Mwangi renewed his efforts with a single cow, which unfortunately succumbed to illness. The following year, after returning to Nakuru, he moved from a quarter-acre plot to a five-acre property and rescued four Friesian cows from a farmer who was selling them. He invested Sh50,000 in the new herd.
Under his care, the cows’ milk production rapidly increased from one liter to fifteen liters within three months. Encouraged by this progress, he added three more cows to his herd, which soon grew to fifteen. To manage costs, he sold the bull calves as soon as they were born.
Mwangi expanded his dairy herd from 24 to 55 by constructing a 64 by 40-foot modular cow barn. His current barn, measuring 40 by 128 feet, houses all 100 cows. They are organized into seven groups: calves, weaners, heifers, bullying heifers, in-calf heifers, dry cows, and milkers.
Farm manager Justus Githinji describes their daily routine, which starts at 4 a.m. with cleaning, milking, and feeding the animals with his six-person team. “We feed the milkers a mix of maize silage, hay, and lucerne in the proportions of 70%, 15%, and 15%, respectively. The feed varies based on the stage of the animals; milkers get more silage, while heifers receive only hay.”
Mwangi’s farm produces 750 liters of milk daily, sold at Sh540 per liter. To maintain quality and achieve better prices, he stores the milk in two coolers—one with a 3,000-liter capacity and the other with 1,100 liters.
By investing in coolers, producing his own feed, and cultivating fodder, Mwangi has significantly reduced costs and enhanced the farm’s profitability. The custom-made feed, consisting of maize, maize germ, wheat bran, canola meal, soya meal, lime, salt, toxin binder, bicarbonate of soda, and dairy premix, is tailored to the milk production levels of the cows. The highest-producing cow yields 42 liters per day, while the lowest produces 14.
The cows are milked three times a day using machinery, with the milk stored in coolers until it is collected by a processor based in Nairobi.
