From one cow to producing over 100 litres of milk daily

Nehemiah Nyaga, a farmer in Kithunguriri area of Embu North sub county at his dairy unit.( Joseph Muchiri, Standard)

 

With just two acres of land tucked on the slopes of Mt Kenya in Embu County, Nehemiah Nyaga has beat odds to become a model dairy farmer. His farm is akin to the Garden of Eden as fruits and vegetables are also in plenty.

Ngaga says he started with a single cow inherited from his father in 1990 when he finished secondary education at Nguviu High School, which through sheer smart and hard work, he transformed into thriving high yielding Holstein Fresian herds that yield at least 100 litres daily.

The uniqueness of his enterprise hinges on the symbiotic running of the farm where one activity supports the next one, lowering production expenses while boosting productivity.

The dung from the herd is fed into a biogas plant to produce fuel for his kitchen.

The slurry from the biogas is channelled through pipes and trenches to the farm to enrich maize and nappier grass that he uses as fodder for cows and for making silage.

Some of the slurry ends up in his vegetable plots and fruit orchards. The silage that goes bad and which can harm the cows is used as mulch to young fruit trees.

The carefully planned farm has earned Nyaga wealth and recognition. His moment of glory was a few years back when he was enthroned as the best farmer in soil conservation and dairy management in the then Embu District.

This year, agricultural education and extension students from Meru University, Karatina University, University of Embu and other organisations including Caritas-the development arm of the Catholic diocese of Embu have visited his farm to learn from him.

At the entrance of his farm is a fenced fish pond where he farms tilapia.

Whereas the fish nourishes the family nutrition, interestingly Nyaga constructed the pond as a water reservoir for his crops.

“I’m not very keen on running the pond commercially as the cost of fish feeds is high. It’s only once in a while that I throw pollard feed to the fish. The fish is a biological control of mosquitoes,” he points out.

The farm is supplied by a community water project and Nyaga has tanks to store water for his livestock while the reservoir, which is at the highest point of his sloping farm trickles water to the crops through gravity.

“The pond can supply my plants water needs for three days. This means a lot to me because lack of water for even a day can negatively affect my plants,” says Nyaga.

Next to the pond is a large wooden structure where he stores fodder for his eight cows.

On the other side of the pond are the silage bunkers where he stores enough to last for up to a year.

Nyaga has leased threes acres of land in Karurumo area and two acres in Ugweri area, regions which are major producers of maize, where he grows the crop for silage.

He makes silage using green maize when it is in the milking stage and adds molasses and inoculators.

Silage increases milk production and enables a farmer to have feed even during the dry season.

“My land is small while maize here takes a long time to grow. It made more sense to lease land for growing maize in large quantity elsewhere then use my farm to grow tree tomatoes and avocadoes, which are more profitable,” he says.

Nyaga is currently milking four cows each producing between 20 and 30 litres while another heavy producer is pregnant and in the drying off period.

The 53-year-old father of four recalls his hard start with a cow bequeathed by his father who was also a farmer.

“The cow produced just three litres a day after a lot of toil foraging for fodder. I longed to run a serious agribusiness. I saved up diligently, sold the cow and I used the proceeds to buy a three-month old Fresian calf at Sh20,000,” he narrates.

The cow would go on to produce offspring that he has over the years crossbred to have Holstein Fresian cows.

The income from the farm is Sh70,000 monthly. Nyaga employs about three casuals every day to help in preparing fodder and tend his crops.

He admits that he has not been good in record keeping although this is something he is working on.

To expand his income stream he planted 50 tree tomatoes and 20 hass avocado trees three years ago.

This year he has earned Sh80,000 so far from the selling avocadoes.