Sometimes I get pissed at farmers in this region for not taking dairy farming as serious as farmers in other regions in this country. And I don’t know whether to think of it merely as carelessness or ignorance.
Why don’t our farmers understand that things have changed, and we are no longer in our grandparents generation where they had vast tracts of land from where to graze their cattle. Today because of the increase in population and consequently increased land fragmentation, a farmer can not freely roam with their cattle. Today everyone is limited to their tiny piece of land, and you have to manage it because that’s what you got.
Busia county, in the recent years has a seen a surge in the number of dairy farmers which is commendable. But whether these farmers are motivated enough to take this business to another level remains to be seen.
Yesterday morning, around nine, while I was taking a video of my nephew Keith’s pigeons fighting in the yard, a neighbor’s farm boy, a short quiet chap in a pair of soiled white shorts and a blue shirt, we barely talked beyond a casual mambo and poa.
To make it short, the guy was asking if we could sell him some nappier grass because their two Friesian cows, one milking had no feed. They had exhausted grass in the neighborhood and when he told the boss about it, he asked him instead to keep searching.
“Kwani hamna chakula kingine kabisa?” I wanted to know whether they had no other feed options available to feed the cows in the meantime. He shook his head.
“Ata dairymeal ama silage?” I persisted, not really surprised.
“Sisi hulisha tu nappier grass,” he said trying to hide his embarrassment. “Though wakati mwingine boss hukam na dairymeal. But silage, hapana.”
So mom showed up and told him we had no nappier grass to sell. The few lines remaining was for our own cattle. And as he left dejectedly, obviously wondering what he was going to do, I felt sorry for him for working for such a dumb boss.
But it had me thinking and that’s how I stopped taking videos and instead hit my blog for this post. Why can’t our farmers learn to make silage?
In the past I have wrote about this same issue, but seems no one is getting it. As a serious dairy farmer you can’t depend on nappier grass alone!
You need to have all these other options available out here to other farmers. Feed your cows nappier, maize stalks, whatever, but make sure they get other supplements for their nutritional demands, and as you do so, have some silage or hay tucked somewhere for the rainy season.
Silage is very important in cattle farming not only because of the nutritional values it offers to the animal if it was prepared right, but also when it comes to saving the farmer like my neighbor the stress of looking for feeds during the dry season like the one we are experiencing now. Silage can stay intact for months without spoiling, hence a better feed alternative when you have run out of options. And in these parts of the country one appealing advantage is that you won’t have to buy all the raw materials needed. Most of it you can freely get from your neighbors if you plan to prepare your silage during the harvesting season. These are just some of the advantages of silage.
And making silage is not difficult. Any farmer, even the one who never stepped in class, let alone an agricultural one, can do it, with guidance at first. Hire help. Get a professional to take you through it, learn and then comfortably do it yourself henceforth. The savvy farmers can hit youtube and get a tutorial. But the bottom line is as a dairy farmer you need to know about silage making.
Maybe in the next post I should show our farmers how to make silage. I think I should for the benefit of those farmers who have the resources and want to do it but think is such a complicated procedure.
And if I go, if you think this post is beneficial, please leave a feedback.