Why Rift Valley Fever strikes in rainy season
Rift Valley Fever is a viral disease that affects both domestic animals (cows, camels, goats and sheep) and man.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 5 years ago
Why Rift Valley Fever strikes in rainy season
Dos and don’ts when your heifer is pregnant
Pick from a heavier milking mother – she is likely to be as good as the mother.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 5 years ago
Dos and don’ts when your heifer is pregnant
Pig feeds is eating into my profits
Pig-rearing systems can be broadly classified into two — intensive or semi-intensive.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 5 years ago
Pig feeds is eating into my profits
Beware! That fake vet can kill your dear cow
Quacks make farmers incur lots of unnecessary expense; worst they can literary kill your animal.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 5 years ago
Beware! That fake vet can kill your dear cow
Myths about milking you need to discard
Yes, Friesian ranks first in quantitative milk production terms, but there are other critical factors at play.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 5 years ago
Myths about milking you need to discard
That lush green grass can poison your cow
It can be acute and an animal that appeared healthy can die overnight. The simple form of the disease is caused by lack of magnesium in...
By Dr Othieno Joseph 5 years ago
That lush green grass can poison your cow
Buying a dairy cow? There’s more to look for than ‘udder’ there
Most farmers make the mistake of only looking at the udder when selecting a dairy animal.
By Othieno Joseph 5 years ago
Buying a dairy cow? There’s more to look for than ‘udder’ there
Taking care of cattle during rainy season
Farmers must be aware of the good and the bad to tap into the opportunity presented by the rains or mitigate against negative effects.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Taking care of cattle during rainy season
You can turn that filthy waste to gas
Waste when well managed can be a form of value addition that you can get a farmer a marketable product...
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
You can turn that filthy waste to gas
How to make more cash from beef business
Before you get into beef production, identify a steady market
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
How to make more cash from beef business
Raw milk? That’s a raw deal, do yoghurt
From raw milk, you can make cheese, yoghurt, butter, ice cream, milk shakes, flavoured milk or maziwa lala and it fetches more than raw milk.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Raw milk? That’s a raw deal, do yoghurt
Busaa for cows, is it drunk or sober idea?
Can traditional brew – busaa to treat Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)?
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Busaa for cows, is it drunk or sober idea?
Protect your cattle from deadly anthrax
The festive season is here with us and it comes with an appetite for nyama choma feasts. During such festive seasons when meat is on demand, illegal home slaughter of animals is common.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Protect your cattle from deadly anthrax
Why you need to cut tail of young sheep
D’amour Ntirenganya is an ardent Smart Harvest reader from Rwanda. I met him during a recent visit to Netherlands for an agricultural forum and we interacted briefly.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Why you need to cut tail of young sheep
How to control foot and mouth disease
The last time I visited my mother in Lunga’anyiro village she was worried. Her cause of concern was that her cattle may be hit by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) commonly known as malenje in western.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
How to control foot and mouth disease
Why your sick cow 'refuses' to get well
Next week is the World Antimicrobial Resistance Week, a period set aside to create awareness on antimicrobial resistance.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Why your sick cow 'refuses' to get well
My goats have funny growth inside mouth
James and his neighbours from Siaya County have lost goats in the recent past to a funny disease characterised by wart-like growths around their mouths, ears, teat, scrotum and vulva.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
My goats have funny growth inside mouth
You can be arrested for transporting that animal illegally!
Chicken carried upside down on racks of speeding buses, matatus and motorcycles are common but disgusting scenes on our roads.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
You can be arrested for transporting that animal illegally!
How dairy support programmes have liberated Kenyans
The public sometimes views veterinary doctors as a people in their own world defined by animals, diseases and accompanying drugs nexus.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
How dairy support programmes have liberated Kenyans
Counties stand the best chance in fighting nagana
Most counties, especially those not known for commercial dairy production have put a lot of effort in promoting dairy farming.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Counties stand the best chance in fighting nagana
Crossbreeding can work magic on your low-milk Zebu cow
Robin Aswani has a “good” Zebu cow; good in the sense that it produces relatively high quantity of milk compared to other cows in its league.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Crossbreeding can work magic on your low-milk Zebu cow
Goats will do better on your idle plot
Livestock farming in this modern day shouldn’t be viewed in a narrow way.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Goats will do better on your idle plot
AI is way safer, cheaper than keeping a bull for breeding
Last week, I explored the topic on nutritional causes of infertility in cows. The article elicited a lot of feedback from readers. Today’s article is based on feedback from one of the readers, Mr Chemigin, a farmer from Nandi County.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
AI is way safer, cheaper than keeping a bull for breeding
Is your cow struggling to conceive?
There are many causes of infertility in cows; ranging from poor handling of semen by the inseminators, anatomical deformities, diseases of reproduction tract, nutritional imbalances or bull infertility (where bulls are used) and a farmer not being observant of the heat signs where A.I is used.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Is your cow struggling to conceive?
So you want to start rearing pigs?
A few weeks ago an ardent reader of Smart Harvest magazine Mr Kihara wrote to inquire about pig rearing. He intends to set up a huge farm of up to 100 pigs and he wanted to know how to go about it.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
So you want to start rearing pigs?
Beware! Cows also have dental issues
In old age, athletes are likely to experience joint and muscle problems due to extreme usage of their joints and muscles in their heyday. Ruminants too in old age are likely to have “teething problems”.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Beware! Cows also have dental issues
Hey, this is why no butcher wants to buy your goat and sheep meat
Mr Igolo is a sad shoats (goats and sheep) farmer. He had a flock of about 150 shoats on his ten acre farm in Isinya in the outskirts of Nairobi.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
Hey, this is why no butcher wants to buy your goat and sheep meat
My cow is producing red urine yet it’s not even pregnant, is that normal?
Last month, I visited my mother-in-law Aureriah Mndaka in Marima village, Tharaka Nithi County.
By Othieno Joseph 6 years ago
My cow is producing red urine yet it’s not even pregnant, is that normal?
Help! My cow has been bewitched
I had just finished my Fourth Form and wasn’t sure I would secure a place at vet school when Lazaro’s only cow suffered a “funny disease”.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
Help! My cow has been bewitched
Why do my pigs bite off each others tails?
I always look forward to interactions with one of my long time clients — Mr Makumi, a pig farmer in Nyambare, Limuru near Uplands Beacon Factory.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
Why do my pigs bite off each others tails?
My malicious neighbour fed ‘juala’ to my cow!
Sometime last week, a dear friend, Baba Kamau, called me to handle a peculiar issue. His precious cow had swallowed a polythene bag and according to his investigations, his malicious neighbour was to blame!
By Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
My malicious neighbour fed ‘juala’ to my cow!
Want healthy herd? Keep them far from swamps
Last week, I went to Rift Valley and made an interesting observation on the grazing behaviour of many livestock farmers. Due to the drought conditions and feed scarcity, they are allowing their cattle to feed near swamps.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
Want healthy herd? Keep them far from swamps
Yes, you need to kill that precious cow today!
This is the situation I found myself in last month. Mama Shiro; a small scale dairy farmer at Ololua village in Ngong is one of my clients. She called to inform me that one of her two Friesian cows had fallen in a ditch. They pulled it out but it was unable to stand up.
By Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
Yes, you need to kill that precious cow today!
That Difficult Decision for a Farmer –"Getting Rid of a Dairy Animal"
There comes a time when a farmer has to get rid of an otherwise productive dairy animal. It is a difficult decision but there are health conditions that dictate you get rid of a dairy animal through safe disposal or at a throw away price.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
That Difficult Decision for a Farmer –"Getting Rid of a Dairy Animal"
My cow has developed habit of ‘hiding’ milk
Majority of Kenyans travel to their upcountry home every festive season. Christmas to many of them is not Christmas if it is not celebrated in the village.
By Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
My cow has developed habit of ‘hiding’ milk
Help! My cow has refused to go for long call
It was a dry December some years ago when I had just left the vet school and was steaming with the zest of a young vet. I came across a case that has ever since stuck in my mind like the memory of a maiden kiss.
By Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
Help! My cow has refused to go for long call
Keep livestock for money, not as pets
There are farmers who practise farming as a hobby; they take pleasure in seeing livestock dot their farms and love to talk about them among their friends. Though they endeavour to get some monetary gain, they quite don’t; nonetheless, that does not bother them in anyway, but it should.
By Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
Keep livestock for money, not as pets
For more milk, cows must be happy
Two hormones that serve two opposite roles are the reason behind these two scenarios, namely oxytocin and adrenalin, commonly called milk let down and fight or flight hormones, respectively. As the names suggest you can already know which is responsible for what outcome.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
For more milk, cows must be happy
How to make meat safe for everyone this festive season
As has been tradition, the celebrations are normally marked by merry making, family get-together and at the centre of it, goats, sheep, cattle, turkeys and chickens in their thousands will be slaughtered to supply the much-needed meat. This puts the farmer at the centre of the celebrations as the main supplier of meat.
By Dr Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
How to make meat safe for everyone this festive season
How to manage swellings with pus and blood in your livestock
Last week, Vet Perspective carried an article on swellings called hernias. The topic elicited a lot of feedback from readers and that is why we will discuss other conditions that cause swellings in animals.
By Othieno Joseph 7 years ago
How to manage swellings with pus and blood in your livestock