ELDORET POLYTECHNIC
Farm Manager - Susanne Seron
Eldoret polytechnic is in Uasin Gishu and is within the Eldoret town. The farm has 26 cows of which 10 were lactating at the time of the visit. Before the advent of ABS the farm used CAIS semen for the cows. Currently the best cow is producing 25-30 liters of milk per day while the average production is 18 liters/cow/day.

Some of the benefits gained are the improvement of udders to their dairy animals. In the past two years, they have won the supreme Champion because of their excellent animals.Their milk is consumed by the polytechnic students.

Farmers normally visit the farm to buy bulls and they also usually ask for advice. The Polytechnic farm also offer AI services to the farmers around, and attend to approximately 10-15 inseminations per month. Generally they are happy with the trend in the dairy sector as its made positive changes. Some of the animals in the farm.

SAMBU’S FARM Mr. W. Sambu Farm is in Uasin Gishu District, on the Eldoret- Kisumu highway and was started in 1998. He started business with ABS started in 2000. There are 100 mature cows and 50 calves most of whom were born within then last 4 months. The highest producer is 34 liters with a potential for 40 liters. Out of the other 47 lactating animals the average yield is 16 litres/cow/day.

The farm uses ABS genetics purely and also has a few cows conceived through Embryo Transfer. (ET). The main reason for choosing ABS is the proven genetics. Five years down the line the farm would like to have purer animals and as milk market is not an issue that remains the significant challenge.

Some of the constraints perceived in the farm by the manager Mr Kamau are
· Tick resistance
· Milk prices

Achievements
· Constant support by ABS TCM Ltd.
· Increased milk during the dry season
· Reduction in calving intervals from 500 to less than 1 year
· Lower Mortality rates as compared to the previous years.

JOHN NGETICH

Mr John Ngetich is a small scale farmer in South Nandi District. Currently he is getting 50 liters a day from 5 cows. The five calves in the herd are all ABS. However he has invested in genetics and has identified ABS as his main source of Semen. He is served a local inseminator, Mr. Apton Ngoren who also runs a dairy Homelands Foods & Dairy).

He started dairying in 1972 but gave up when KCC collapsed. The Chebarus Cooperative where he belonged also closed down due to mismanagement. With the current developments in the sector, he feels that dairy has improved and he supplies a local hotel with milk.

His future plans are that he would like to be trained in AI so that he can be able to serve his animals more accurately.

Homeland Foods & Dairy

Located in South Nandi District. Apart from running the dairy the proprietor is also commencing farming activities and has already got 5 calves from ABS. At the moment he sees the current production of 7-8 litres per cow as very little and in one years time when he starts milking he intends to get at least 20 liters for the younger cows/day.

Mr Ngoren, the proprietor started the farm in June of 2003. He has already set aside 9 acres of land for intensive fodder planting. The dairy is a centre for milk marketing handling 2400 liters monthly from 400 farmers. He has setup a milk processing unit with help from Land O’ Lakes. In the next 3 months the number of farmers will increase to 450 he hopes.

Mr Ngoren is also a trained ABS inseminator and he says that at the moment he has a conception rate of more than 90%.

Benjamin Kituu

South Nandi District Benjamin Kituu used to have a problem with bulls. The cows would take a long time to conceive and when they did they miscarried most of the time. Mr Ngoren introduced ABS genetics to this farmer and from that day onwardsthe farm is different. Calving intervals have reduced greatly and the cows are giving birth with a lot of ease. At the moment the three cows give an average of 8 kilograms/cow/day. The three in-calf heifers are ABS daughters and nowthe farmer projects that he will have a lot of milk.

Tea is the most important crop for this farmer but dairy supplements his income and helps with household budgets. Milk is sold locally to the Local Inseminator Mr Ngoren who has a dairy called the Homelands Dairy.