County Government of Laikipia

For Dairy farmers to realise increased milk production per cow, proper feeding plays a pivotal role. Proper feeding involves availability of quality feeds when the animal requires them.

The County Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in full realisation of the importance of the dairy farming in Laikipia and the role played by farmer Cooperatives in supporting farmers to increase their productivity, is supporting Solio settlement Dairy Cooperatives Society to address the challenge of inadequate feeds and pastures through Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP).

Farmers in Solio Dairy Cooperative Society face the problem of lack of enough feeds and pastures, just like many other farmers across the country. The Agricultural sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP II) in Laikipia is currently implementing the feeds pelleting and formulation innovation concept in the county.

The support given to members of the Cooperative include trainings and demonstrations on feeds establishment, management and preservation. ASDSP is in the process of purchasing assorted fodder seeds to be established 200 acres in the Solio villages as well as procuring pelleting machines used for pelleting the fodder.

As part of the learning process, 28 farmers' representatives from the Cooperative were sponsored by (ASDSP) for a learning exercise in Loldia Farm Limited in Naivasha where they learned on Alfa alfa (Lucerne) establishment, management, harvesting, drying, milling and eventually pelleting. The training helped them witness first-hand how the feed pellets are reduced and packaged.

The farm was started in 1915 and has now embraced modern farming technologies the farmers can learn from. The farm also has a pelleting machine which helped the actors understand better on how they will be able to pullet Lucerne for use when the pastures are inadequate.

Lucerne has very high protein content(15 - 25%), highly digestible (60 - 75%) and has high levels of energy (ME 8 - 11MJ/kg DM). It comprises of about 50% of all protein supplements in livestock feeds.

Due to its high protein content milk production will increase from an estimate of four litres per cow, to 15 litres and therefore increase their daily income.

Officers from the Livestock section in the county have been conducting capacity building sessions in Solio on pastures and fodder production including demonstrations on silage making and storage. The department has procured pasture and fodder seeds to be distributed and planted on demo farms to help the farmers practice it on the targeted 200 acres.

The learning tour comes at an opportune moment to ensure they are ready to receive 10 pelleting machines from the department.