Why you should not feed rotten grains to cows

Animals feed in one of the deeps at Eldoret Technical Training Institute Kapseret area in Uasin Gishu County. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Dear daktari, my father is a retiree and he is doing very well with dairy farming. It seems to be making him younger everyday as he labours to feed, milk and bond with his cows. I am home for the voting exercise and I noted something interesting. We are just harvesting our maize and I have noted that mzee is feeding the rotten ones to the cows. I know they could be containing aflatoxins which are not only harmful to the cows but also to consumers of the milk. Please advise. [Wilson Owuor, Migori County]

Thank you for the timely question since it is harvest time in most parts of Kenya. You are right in noting that rotten grains are harmful to animals and human beings alike. Your observation is a common trend among farmers. There is this attitude that any spoilt food is animal feed.