A little bit of everything makes me happy farmer

Beatrice Omwale feeds dairy cattle in her farm in Vihiga. The diversity on her farm earned her the second runners up position in the women category in this year’s National Farmers Awards Scheme. PHOTO | ELIZABETH OJINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In 1995, she bought a Friesian heifer from a farmer in Kapsabet at Sh50,000. The animal calved down two more heifers by December 1996.
  • Next to her dairy unit stands a feeds store hosting dry maize stalks, a chuff cutter and bundles of hay. Two acres of her land host napier grass, Boma Rhodes grass, calliandra, lucerne, desmodium and sweet potato vines, which she uses for animal feeds.
  • Prof Mathew Dida, a lecturer at Maseno University’s Department of Agriculture, says that during pregnancy, farmers should give their animals a balanced meal and essential minerals like cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, selenium and zinc to produce a healthy calf.
  • She, however, notes that with mixed farming, there is a likelihood of a farm concentrating on a few ventures. Her next project is keeping fish.

The ‘stone hills of Maragoli’ are enchanting to first time visitors of Vihiga County.

The big granitic tors stand in the middle of crops that include maize and beans, the common plants grown in the region.

Aboard a motorbike, my destination is Owandire Village in Majengo in search of Beatrice Omwale.

Beatrice practises mixed farming on her three acres, growing tree seedlings, tissue culture bananas, collard greens (sukuma wiki), indigenous vegetables and keeps dairy cows and goats and rabbits and runs an agrovet.

The diversity on her farm is what earned her the second runners up position in the women category in this year’s National Farmers Awards Scheme organised by Elgon Kenya and Ministry of Agriculture.

“I started farming in 1993 as a side hustle to my teaching job,” says Beatrice, a teacher of English at Mustinyi Primary School.

Then I received an Ayrshire cow as a member of Ebubayi Self-Group, under the Kenya-Finland Livestock Development programme.

In 1995, she bought a Friesian heifer from a farmer in Kapsabet at Sh50,000. The animal calved down two more heifers by December 1996.

The numbers have increased since then. At her 28 by 19ft zero-grazing unit, eight dairy cows of Friesian and Ayrshire breeds chew napier.

“I am currently milking two animals, a Friesian producing 20 litres and an Ayrshire 15 litres daily. Three other cows are in-calf and the rest are calves,” says Beatrice, who sells the milk to Ebuwali and Ebusirori Secondary Schools at Sh60 per litre, earning in a good month Sh25,000.

Next to her dairy unit stands a feeds store hosting dry maize stalks, a chuff cutter and bundles of hay. Two acres of her land host napier grass, Boma Rhodes grass, calliandra, lucerne, desmodium and sweet potato vines, which she uses for animal feeds.

LIVESTOCK KEEPING

“I also make silage from maize plants and slice the rest of the fodder with a chuff cutter and feed the animals.

The animals are fed twice a day and offered plenty of water,” says the teacher, who supplements feeds with three 70kg bags of dairy meal in a month that she buys at Sh2,200 each and notes that recently, she lost one of her in-calf cow.

Prof Mathew Dida, a lecturer at Maseno University’s Department of Agriculture, says that during pregnancy, farmers should give their animals a balanced meal and essential minerals like cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, selenium and zinc to produce a healthy calf.

“The farmer should introduce the minerals in form of licks or injections after tests have been carried out to show deficiency,” says Prof Dida.

Next to the dairy unit stands a raised 20 by 4 metres dairy unit hosting 45 Toggenburg, German Alpine and Sannen goat breeds.

Beatrice with one of the rabbits that she keeps in her farm. She has 15 rabbits of the California and Flemish Giant breeds which she feeds on cabbage leaves, sweet potato vines and commercial pellets. PHOTO | ELIZABETH OJINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

“I started the venture in 2005, buying three does at Sh13,000 each and a buck at Sh10,000 from Meru courtesy of Dairy Goats Association of Kenya,” says Beatrice, adding that dairy goat rearing is easier but she enjoys keeping both the animals and cows.

The 49-year-old farmer offers her goats calliandra, tricandria, lucerne, desmodium, Boma Rhodes, silage and commercial feeds. They start feeding at 10am, eating as much as they wish from the troughs.

“I have five dairy goats at different lactating periods, which produce up to four litres each. I use two litres at home and offer the rest to goat kids.”

KEEPING FISH

She sells bucks when they are seven to 12 months old at Sh15,000 for breeding purposes. In-calf does go for Sh25,000 each, selling them to farmers in Nandi, Vihiga, Kakamega, Siaya, Busia, Kitale and Kisumu counties.

Two years ago, she started with three rabbits, and now she has 15 of them of the California and Flemish Giant breeds.

She feeds them cabbage leaves, sweet potato vines and commercial pellets. She sells each to farmers at Sh2,500. 

She further grows 10,000 sukuma wiki plants and indigenous vegetables that include amarathus (terere), cowpeas (kunde), nightshade (managu) and spider plant (saga). She supplies five 70kg bags of sukumu wiki at Sh2,000 each three times a week to Ebuwali and Ebusirori Secondary schools.

She has 100 tissue culture banana plants, selling the produce at Sh700 each. In her tree nursery, Beatrice grows eucalyptus, grevillea pawpaw and avocado seedlings, selling each from Sh10 to Sh30 to earn Sh25,000 in a good season.

She has employed two workers who help her do the farm work.

“My different ventures offer me income round-the-year. Sometimes the dairy goats are ready for sale while the cows are in their non-lactation period, one enterprise stands in for the other,” says Beatrice, adding income from her agribusiness has helped her pay her children’s school fees without struggling to university level.

She, however, notes that with mixed farming, there is a likelihood of a farm concentrating on a few ventures. Her next project is keeping fish.