Five bulls with quality semen for your cow

Dirk Harting is the managing director of Bles East Africa, a Holland-based firm involved in genetic improvement of dairy cows and their exportation. He spoke to Stanley Kimuge on his assessment of the dairy sector in Kenya and identifies the five bulls from which farmers can get pedigree semen

What is your take on Kenya’s dairy industry as compared to regional partners?

Kenya is more advanced when it comes to dairy than Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Although the country was good back around 1970s, the collapse of 1990s took the industry miles back. Back then, there were good breeds, professionals to attend to farmers and information access was easy.

If you look at Uganda, there is much of free-ranging compared to Kenya where more farmers are adopting zero-grazing units. But the country is reclaiming back its position.

What does it take to get best cow breeds?

Most Kenyan farmers import red and black Holstein Friesian. This breed has the potential capacity to produce 10,000 litres in a year.

The challenge is that to achieve this, it need’s muchinput such as to give proper feeds, good housing structure, and enough water as well best animal husbandry. Farmers can get good pedigree semen sourced from the bulls with known history such as Danshot, Heuvel Bulykin, Montruex, Red cliff, Red Torpedo and Broekhuizen Bart.

They guarantee high trait values in milk volumes, easy calving and strong udders and legs. Good semen should be delivered frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen containers.

If it is compromised, the semen will not be viable. It, however, makes economic sense if a farmer imports more than 40 cows.

Despite importing high-yielding cows, some farmers still find challenges getting more milk...

I can say most farms lack professional managers with skills in areas such as calf-rearing and equipment handling. If one does not have qualified staff, the milk output cannot be high because both the farmer and the manager are groping in the dark.

What other challenges do Kenyan farmers face?

There is a perfect environment in the highland areas such as North Rift, South Rift and Central region. Imported cows reared in these regions are not affected by heat stress.

However, the main challenge has been the tropical diseases such as foot and mouth disease, East Coast Fever and lumpy skin disease.

The diseases are also caused by parasites such as ticks, which are prevalent. Farmers need to do regular vaccination against these diseases.

Where do you see the Kenya’s dairy industry in the next five years?

In the next five years, there will be more demand for milk. The industry is set to be more competitive and professional as more people move towards medium and large-scale.

The milk will be more hygienic with low total bacteria count as dairy processors will provide competitive prices based on quality rather than volume as it is at the moment.

This will also ensure safety standards are adhered to. In Netherlands, we have one national laboratory that tests all the milk supplied by dairy farmers.

And through these tests, milk is monitored and tested and farmers are paid per quality. On the other hand, those whose milk is adulterated or with residues or antibiotic are penalised.