My simple, low cost and profitable zero-grazing

"I used cheap eucalyptus poles to construct the roof and the only serious expense that I incurred was the iron sheets,’’ Rose Chepkwony. PHOTO | ANDREW MIBEI

What you need to know:

  • Rose has learnt how to make dairy meal at the farm by mixing different foods. The blended meal has kept her animals producing more milk than when she used to rely on commercial feeds.
  • Bomet Central Livestock Production Officer Evans Kiplagat told Seeds of Gold that zero-grazing helps farmers address the shortage of land while optimising production because cows in units convert most of the food into milk as they don’t waste energy walking about.

Three years ago, Rose Chepkwony owned three cows, which she grazed along the village paths because her small plot would not produce enough pasture for the animals.

Today, curious visitors throng her farm at Tirgaga Village of Bomet County daily to see the healthy 14 cows and five calves she keeps on her quarter acre plot.

Five of her happy cows are lactating while three are about to calve. She has six heifers four of which are in-calf.

So what turned around her fortunes? “My visit to a zero-grazing unit in 2012 changed my life. I learnt that zero grazing does not have to be complicated or expensive,” Rose told Seeds of Gold earlier this week. The mother of three saw that the farmer’s dairy unit had been made using locally available materials.

She immediately sourced off-cut timber, which she used to make the feeding troughs that she is still using today. She first made a structure that was enough for her three cows, but she increases the size every time she gets a new animal. Her unit now measures around 25 by 4 metres.

“I used cheap eucalyptus poles to construct the roof trusses and the only serious expense that I incurred was the iron sheets and the cement for the floor,” she said.

She got two loans of about Sh80,000, which she used to buy two high-quality animals.

Keeping zero-grazing cows increases milk production and reduces the chance of diseases and ticks attacking them.

To prove that zero-grazing is more efficient, she showed Seeds of Gold one Ayshire cow that would give her 12 litres of milk a day but now produces 28 litres.

She, however, cautions that housing alone does not increase milk production. Proper feeding and management is important.

Rose has learnt how to make dairy meal at the farm by mixing different foods. The blended meal has kept her animals producing more milk than when she used to rely on commercial feeds.

She mixes wheat and maize bran, legumes, fishmeal and minerals to produce high-quality dairy meal.

Rose has also leased half-an-acre where she grows napier grass and another half-acre where she has planted Rhodes grass. She leases a further quarter-acre where she grows Lucerne, desmodium and sweet potatoes, which, she said, are vital in dairy farming.

She supplements the fodder from the farms with barley straws that she buys from large-scale farms in neighbouring Narok.

Rose is not one to spurn a new idea. She has adopted hydroponic technology to grow barley that she feeds to her cows. From a rough structure behind her kitchen with trays arranged in wooden racks, she has been growing the barley that she said takes only a week. She says the barley is nutritious since it has vitamins and proteins.

All her cows are milked three times a day and each produces not less than 20 litres, translating to 100 litres, much of which she sells to New KCC and a restaurant in the nearby Silibwet market.

She also makes ‘mursik’, the traditional Kalenjin sour milk, that she said is in high demand and fetches more money than fresh milk. On average, she earns about Sh50,000 a month from the five milk cows.

Bomet Central Livestock Production Officer Evans Kiplagat told Seeds of Gold that zero-grazing helps farmers address the shortage of land while optimising production because cows in units convert most of the food into milk as they don’t waste energy walking about.

“It also helps to control breeding and feeding giving farmers a chance to influence production,” Kiplagat said.

According to Kiplagat, farmers who make their own feeds are likely to increase their production because they are assured of the quality. It is also cheaper than commercial feeds.

From the proceeds of her dairy venture, Rose has built a family house and ensures that her children get a good education.

She has two employees who help her prepare feeds, feed the cows, clean the unit, milk the cows and feed the calves.

Rose intends to charge visitors to her farm a fee very soon.