Celebrating the success of female dairy farmers in Kenya

Female farmers report better cow comfort and increased milk production after FHF-UPEI training sessions

On International Women's Day, Farmers Helping Farmers wishes to recognize the Kenyan farming women who are dairy farmers, and attended the training sessions offered in Meru County throughout the last year. In 2023, 350 dairy farmers took part in the program, where sessions are offered once every two months.

These are their success stories.

Cow comfort and better feed are leading to more milk and more farm revenue for female farmers in Kenya

The training uses the Handbook for Kenyan Dairy Farmers, developed by FHF and UPEI, as the curriculum. With support from Global Affairs Canada, the program provides additional resources including Lucerne (alfalfa) seed, silage bags, teat dip, calf feeding bottle and beetroot seed.

Training is provided by Farmers Helping Farmers dairy trainers, Stephen Chandi and Leah Kariuki supported by the muzungu (foreigners) including UPEI’s Dr. John VanLeeuwen, veterinarian Dr. Jill Wood and retired dairy farmers Ben Vos and Ken Mellish when they volunteer in Kenya once a year.

The training sessions are held on farms and are illustrative. They are held in a child-friendly environment, and at a time convenient for women to attend. If a woman has a newborn baby or is a expecting a baby, the training can be held on her farm.

How the training is making a difference

At the end of the training program, FHF dairy trainers Stephen and Leah captured the comments offered by 37 people who attended the 2023 program.

UPEI’s Dr. John VanLeeuwen summarized their findings.

Farmers, regardless of age, indicated that the improvements are leading to more milk production, even double or triple the milk production that they used to get, leading to more money for household expenses, including school fees.

Some farmers would even borrow money to help make changes, knowing that the improvements will pay for the loan and then make them more money.

Some farmers are sharing the training and resources with family and friends (sometimes having their transportation expenses paid to allow the sharing), leading to community spread beyond the intended trainees.

Some farmers are planning to focus more on dairy farming because it can make more money than other types of farming.

Farmers in the dairy clubs said that, prior to the dairy club training, they knew each other because they would meet along the road, or in other meetings, but they didn’t interact much. However, the dairy clubs helped them form strong groups with common interests and bonds, and they will continue to meet even after the FHF-organized dairy club training has ended.

Farmers are hoping to have some additional training beyond the year-long training program.

Cow nutrition

The first finding was the dairy farmers should ensure good cow nutrition, especially regarding “steaming”
up" cows just before calving, and ensuring cows are fed sufficient protein, energy, and minerals in relation to their milk production and reproduction needs.

That ensures good milk production continues, and cows show heat signs and conceive within the first 4 to 6 months after calving.

Agnes said that “The secret to producing much milk is steaming up and proper feeding, not buying an expensive cow.”

She said she has learned that she can “make money by buying dairy meal and minerals”, and at the end of the month, she made a profit of 10,000 shillings to help her family.

Josephine reported that “the training on steaming up helped a lot".

She said: "Last lactation, my cow peaked at 10 kg a day and after steaming up, it peaked at 18 kg a day, and I am sure that she would have produced more if I had good forage at calving.”

The second finding was that the farmers learned that storing good quality feed using silage, led to higher milk production.

The third finding was that the women recognized the importance of making adjustments to housing and
manure management to improve cow comfort.

When cows lie down for longer periods in a clean, dry, comfortable stall, that leads to better milk production (1-2 kg/cow/day).

Lucy reported that “when you and Ben visited my farm, I didn’t have a good cow shed and you trained about cow comfort. I now have a permanent zero grazing unit."

"Your training has helped me increase milk production from 10 kg to 30 kg per day”.

The fourth finding was that the women learned that they should make good calf-rearing a priority through proper feeding, housing and timely dehorning.

When Ken Mellish was in Kenya recently he visited Purity, one of these women, who showed him her new, two-month-old calf. He reported that “she had learned to save the colostrum from the cow, and ferment it to feed the calf for the first five weeks of its life."

"The calf was developing well, and she had used the new milk that had no other value, but is very good feed for newborn calves. The secret to producing lots of colostrum is the practice of “steaming up”, or feeding the cow well before she calves. This was learned at the FHF training.”

More knowledge and more resources

The fifth finding was learning how important it is to measure the body weight of cows to know the weight for accurate deworming dosing, leading to better milk production (1-2 kg/cow/day) and smoother hair and skin.

Monica said: “Today’s training was meant for me. I have learned about disbudding a calf at an early age. I have a four-month-old calf and is not disbudded. I will look for someone to do it for me soon.”

The sixth finding was that women learned to utilize resources provided from FHF and UPEI, such as lucerne and beet root seed, silage bags, hormones and pour-on dewormer. These training supports really helped the farmers adopt the training messages and make improvement

Lucy reported that Eprinex worked very well on her cows. Teresa reported that “I didn’t know anything about fodder beetroots. You gave us seeds and you can see how well they did on my farm. This was an eye opener for me.”

Ann told us that “When you gave us Lucerne seeds (alfalfa) I planted and gave some to my neighbours."

Many of the farmers asked for more training. Anges requested that “you members continue
meeting even after Steve and Leah (trainers) leave us in order to continue motivating each other
on dairy farming.”

It should be noted that men also attended these training session and offered similar comments
on the usefulness of the training.

"Above all, we and her neighbours saw a woman who was informed and proud of her farm."

Ken Mellish shared the story of his visit to Purity’s farm, and the success that he saw there.

“The farm was producing almost all the feed for the cows, with only a small amount of grains being purchased to up the energy level in the ration. It was an almost closed system, with the crops feeding the cows, and the cows fertilizing the fields.

The farm was profitable, and Purity was using the farm profits to send her children to school, and had a nice new house. Purity told us repeatedly that FHF training had enabled her to increase milk production from her cows and make more profits."

"Above all, we and her neighbours saw a woman who was informed and proud of her farm."