Smart farms

: 20 February 2017; Hits: 16277

Introduce new feeds gradually to avoid stressing chicken

Chickens Mary Njeri Nakuru By Laban Robert (2).JPG

Nakuru County farmer, Mary Njeri, poses with her chickens. The farmer says abrupt change of feed brands lead to sudden egg production drop. Photo by Laban Robert.

Farmers, who gradually introduce new feeds to livestock, have sustained yields during and after the transition period.

Instant change of feed brand for whatever reason shocks livestock like chicken, which go into production recess as a result of stress.

Nakuru County farmer Mary Njeri said poultry, especially chickens, drop eggs production almost immediately after the sudden change of the feed brand.

The farmer, w ho has more than 600 chickens, said the digestive system is interrupted after receiving ‘foreign food’ leading to stress.

Stress causes loss of appetite and even if there is no alternative, the chickens peck a few mouthfuls for survival.

“Chickens suffer from stress with a sudden change of routine. If they have been feeding on a given brands since they were one day old, abrupt change sends shock waves in the system of the bird, leading to abstinence or minimum feeding,” she said.

Feeds are sources of protein, carbohydrates and other nutrients required for production. Any reduced consumption is reflected in suppressed production.

Examples of chicken feeds are manufactured by Unga and Kay. If a farmer want to stop offering her chickens Kay and move to Unga, Njeri says the feeds have to be mixed in equal ration for more than one week as part of orientation.

An egg laying chicken consumes between 130g and 150g of feeds per day. If 50 chickens consume eight kilos of layers mash per day, four kilos have to be from Unga and Kay brands.

Chicken can take weeks to months to adjust to the new feed, a time tat they will not be laying or will be doing so with skipping.

The gradual introduction formula is also followed when weaning chicks from chick mash to growers mash and layers mash.

Price fluctuation is one of the major reasons driving farmers into switching from one feed to the other. Others do so as a cost-cutting measure as they pursue locally made varieties.

Njeri, who was a saloonist about five years ago, has leaned all this from the experience of handling hundreds of chickens from season to season.

The farmer ahs more than 600 chicks and chickens at her farm at Langa Langa Estate in Nakuru town and Njoro farm-about 20kilometres away.

Although she sells mature chickens, eggs, doves and pigeons, chicks are her main business. She uses chickens and incubation machines to hatch the chicks, which are sold at the age of one week, month, or as the farmer may request.

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: 16 February 2017; Hits: 10014

Stored fodder gives farmer milk during drought

Hay Geoffrey Rono, Narok.jpg

Narok County farmer Geoffrey Rono picks hay bales at his farm. Hay and silage are helping a Nyandarua County farmer maintain milk production this dry spell. Photo Courtesy.

As the country continues to lose livestock to the ongoing drought, one Nyandarua County farmer has maintained milk production with hay and silage, which he harvests and prepares at his farm in Kinangop.
Joseph Mbugua converts the hay into bales and fodder maize into silage, months ahead of every season.
The three cows consume about 40 litres of water per day and he gets about 20-25 litres of milk daily.
The farmer has more than 60 bales of hay which he hopes will take him through the remaining days of February and March 2017, before the April long rains.
Mbugua, who has three Friesians, said the unreliable weathers that affects growth of pastures like Napier grass drove him to a sustainable alternative of stored fodder.
“Although green feeds tend to have more milk than the dried ones, I have managed my cattle through this dry spell. The milk production has dropped by between three to five litres per day, but that is better off, than being without something or death,” he said.
Mbugua harvested the last batch of the hay in November, 2016. Usually, he cuts the fresh oat straws and rolls them into bales after drying under the shade for a day or two.
“Direct drying in the sun lowers the quality of the feeds because of the breakdown of the nutrient components. Drying reduces the moisture content for longevity in storage. Because of the compaction, the feeds may be infested by aflatoxins, which can poison the animals upon feeding if the moisture content is high,” he said.
One cow feeds on a bale of the hay per day. But in improving the quality of the total feeds, Mbugua offers locally made dairy meal together with silage mixed with purple vetch.
In this mix, hay consumption reduces to half a bale per day. The silage mix is a 20litre bucket measure. The molasses in the silage increase the appetite of the cows in feeding.
The maize fodder and molasses offer carbohydrates while the purple vetch and dairy meal adds proteins.
He sticks to the 70 per cent carbohydrate and 30 per cent protein and other mineral balance in feeding.
Because Napier grass does not perform well at his place, cabbage and kale leaves from farms help in supplementing the green feed requirement.
The oat straw hay takes between two and a half and three months to be harvested. From half an acre, the Mugumu Village farmer gets about 60 bales. But during sufficient rains, he harvests more than 80 bales.
Fodder maize is grown on half an acre.

READ ALSO: Farmer earns from hay as peers suffer maize and wheat losses
Mbugua and other dairy farmers in the Central Kenya region buy maize germ from suppliers from Uganda.
A 100kg maize germ- which is also rich in carbohydrates- costs him between Sh1,800 and Sh2,000, depending on the supply. He uses the germ to prepare the local dairy meal by adding sunflower seeds as protein sources.
For every 30kg of the maize germ, Mbugua adds five litres of the molasses.
“The resulting porridge-like liquid is rich in nutrients. The cows consume two litres per day. With such a mix of molasses in silage and the local meal, cows have increased appetite for even dry hay,” he said.
The purple vetch, which has between 16 per cent and 27 per cent crude proteins, is intercropped with fodder maize.
This not only saves on space, but helps in fixing nitrogen into the soil, besides controlling loss of moisture on dry weather and muting weeds.
Oats have about 20 per cent proteins, 4 per cent fats, 11 per cent crude fibre, potassium, manganese, phosphorus, calcium, zinc, among other minerals in various portions.
Although the current fodder maize prematurely dried up in the ongoing dry season, the farmer has prepared another piece of land for the next season.
“I am preparing more fields to grow hay, maize, and purple vetch for the next season. I must have a fodder that takes me through two months or more in advance. In case it fails to rain or snow falls,” Mbugua said.

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: 10 February 2017; Hits: 18061

Sack farming cuts irrigation water

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Festus Mutemi working at his backyard sack farm in Kitui County. Photo Courtesy.

In cutting down the irrigation water requirement, one Kitui County farmer has resorted to growing vegetables in sacks to meet the domestic needs.
The 90kg sacks host between 10 and 15 kales grown at the top as well as on the sides.
Festus Mutemi mixes the soil with sawdust to reduce water loss after irrigation. Three litres of water are sufficient in maintaining the productivity of every sack for a day.
The farmer, who started with eight sacks at his Kitui County home in November 2016, is expanding the trade to his other home at Makueni County. He already has to sacks filled with kales.
“I started with trials. I grew the kales on a sack and others on the ground as a control. After one month of irrigation, the ones in the sacks were doing well while those on the ground- despite receiving the same amount of water daily- were weak,” he said.

The farmer, who is also a student at Laikipia University, picks loam soil, which has good drainage bedsides organic matter and micro organisms for decomposition.
He mixes the soil with about 10kg of goat droppings just before transplanting the seedlings. He later adds chicken droppings mixed with saw dust.
“My family spends at least Sh80 after every three days in purchasing greens. But since November 2016, the expense has been slashed. The little water that is required in this movable farm is just like that in the household,” he said.
The lower eastern region, under which the two counties fall, receives less than 500mm of rain per year, therefore, most to the time it is dry.
As he expands the project to commercial levels, the young agripreneur hopes that sack farming could be helpful in meeting vegetable needs all year round, not only for him, but the residents too.

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