A guide to sourcing quality cows

Mrs Lucy Ochieng' feeds Margaret (cow) as her twin sons, Aloyseans Opiyo and Gonzaga Odongo engage Margaret's female calves, at their home in Mowlem. According to statistics 1:900 cases of cow births result into twins. Mrs Ochieng' is also an elder sister to twins. PHOTO | TOM OTIENO

What you need to know:

  • The process requires a guiding hand of a professional in the sector. Visit one of the farmers who has bought the animals for a chat if possible.
  • A seller claiming to import the animals should offer you details of the source farm, which you should be able to check, if necessary with the help of the embassies here and abroad
  • The source farm should have clear records of the animal. These include parents of the stock and vaccinations against diseases.

Starting a good dairy farm involves having a proper business plan to help you keep off risks and run your farm smoothly.

In this plan, sourcing for animals whether as a starter or for additional stock should be guided, with where to purchase them be well-known.

The process requires a guiding hand of a professional – an expert in the area – because buying cows is capital intensive and a delicate exercise, anything can go wrong.

The professional can be from the Livestock Department or a veterinary consultant.

Work with the help of the expert, at least in the key activities like selecting the breed and knowing the animal’s history, whether you are investing big or small.

At the source farm (which if possible visit), with the guidance of a livestock expert, seek to see the registration certificate of the animal, which you should later counter-check.

A seller claiming to import the animals should offer you details of the source farm, which you should be able to check, if necessary with the help of the embassies here and abroad before you make the final decision.

This should be done with the hindsight that not every cow ‘hawker’ is genuine. The fact that the transaction is all about willing-buyer and willing-seller calls for more diligence.

HISTORY OF THE FARM

It is important to consider the history of the farm from where you are buying the animals. That is, how established is it? Did it sell animals in the past? Outcomes from sales if any? How good are their so-called pedigree or high-milk producing animals? Visit one of the farmers who has bought the animals for a chat if possible.

Herd size is also of importance. Farms sell animals for different reasons; for culling, because they are disease-prone or are low producing. All these can be disguised in in-calf animals or animals sold in their peak milk production stage, so be very careful.

The source farm should also have clear records of the animal. This include parents of the stock and vaccinations against diseases. If not going for calves or heifers, ask for milk production records because they reveal a lot.

LIVESTOCK REGISTRATION CENTRE

Reputable farms have their animals registered with the Kenya Stud Book, which is a livestock registration centre that maintains accurate and authentic ancestral and identification information of animals that include dates of birth and extended pedigree details.

The Kenya Stud Book, initially called East Africa Stud Book, was started in 1921 and was responsible of keeping a pedigree register of all livestock in the region. It is run by the Kenya Livestock Breeders Organisation.

As several other sectors, the dairy industry is infiltrated by fraudsters, which, therefore, requires that one does extensive due diligence.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the dairy sector does not have organised channels of buying animals like we do in say the meat industry, where meat must be inspected, bear the KVB stamp.

Kenya only has defined regulations for transporting animals from one place to another. It is, thus, up to the farmer to make the tough decision of where to source animals.

Lastly, if the deal is too sweat raising doubts, do not part with your money.