Smart farms

: 23 September 2016; Hits: 18403

Plastic biogas digesters fit changing livestock size

Men working to lay a plastic digester for one of the GesiShamba farmers. The plastic digester allow for resizing to fit the volume of cos dung a farmer has unlike the concrete ones. PHOTO COURTESY OF GESISHAMBA.

Farmers, who rely on biogas as the source of energy for their homes can install adjustable plastic digesters, which are also movable unlike the common permanent ones.

Current stone or concretes digesters are permanent and if a farmer cannot raise the required dung volume due to change in livestock size, the set up becomes obsolete.

GesiShamba Biogas officer Daniel Mungai said the plastic digesters allow for much flexibility to meet the farmer’s energy needs despite the number of cattle they have.

“If today you have a concrete or a stone digester that accommodates dung from seven cattle, reducing your livestock to three renders it useless. But the plastic option allows for farmer to scale down to even two cows and continue enjoying the energy supply,” he said.

Similarly, it is an option for urban farmers who do not have permanent residences. It is movable, therefore, if farmers stop being tenants at one place, they can shift with it, Mungai said.

One may also want to relocate the biodigester within the farm. It is easy to do so.

It is easy to repair or replace damaged parts without dismantling everything and starting a new.

GesiShamba does the adjustments from big to small or the reverse at a cost-depending on the size.

To install a four-metre-cubic digester for two cows, it costs Sh80,000. The digester can handle 30kg of cow dung.

The biggest digester for five to seven cows costs about Sh130,000. The price includes labour and all accessories such as pipes and burners.

Monthly installments are also allowed, with options of paying from five months to two years.

Mungai can be reached on +254714979842

GesiShamba technical co-coordinator can also be reached on +254723114472.

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: 22 September 2016; Hits: 12182

Exotic beans boost Nyeri farmer's milk output by three litres

One Nyeri County farmer has found a new way of mixing multi-nutrient exotic beans, sweet lupines, with maize flour to feed his semi-indigenous cattle.

The mixture has seen him increase milk output by three litres.

Juma Gichohi, learnt of the multiple nutrient in the beans, which originated from Egypt and the Mediterranean regions, and decided to crash and mix them with flour as nutrient supplements.

There are more than three types of the lupine beans, but he chose to stick to the sweet lupine.

“The beans are rich in nutrients that are found in commercial feeds. The nutrients span from vitamins to mineral elements and the body building proteins. I have seen an improvement in milk production after reducing the Napier grass and supplemented the feeds with the mixture,” Gichohi said.

Gichohi adds one kilo of the lupine flour to three kilos of maize flour.

The beans take four months to mature. They must be dried well before being crashed into flour.

One of his two semi exotic cow, has increased milk production from 12 litres to 15 litres per day after cutting down the amount of Napier grass.

Lupine beans have been a human delicacy for many years in most part of the world, although they can be poisonous if not treated well before cooking. For human consumption, they must be soaked in clean water for almost a week.

One hundred grammes of lupine flour contain 36.2 per cent of proteins; this translates to 36.2 grammes out of the 100 grammes.

Calcium and iron are in 5 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. Vitamins C, B1 and B9 are also present in the beans.

Other mineral elements like magnesium, as well as manganese are available in small deposits.

Besides the mineral benefits, consumers derive at least 113 calories from 100grammes of lupine.

“There is no constipation after feeding because of the about 40 per cent deposit of fibre, which helps in digestion,” he said.

The Mukurwe-ini farmer He sells the extra beans after harvesting to farmers too.

PHOTO: Juma Gichohi displays twigs of sweet lupine at Kabiru-ini Agricultural Society of Kenya Show Ground, Nyeri, on September 17, 2016. Mixing lupine beans with maize flour has increased his milk out by three litres per day. BY LABAN ROBERT.

Gichohi can be reached on +254721322606.

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: 20 September 2016; Hits: 46235

Feeding dairy cattle with yeast adds farmers three litres of milk

Farmers giving livestock feeds laced with yeast stand to increase milk out-put by up to three litres due to improved conversion rate.

Nyeri County farmer and yeast distributor Boniface Mwangi said he has seen gradual increase of milk from one litre to two litres over time after consistently mixing yeast with commercial feeds.

“Yeast expels oxygen from the digestive system of the cattle, making anaerobic bacteria to increase in number. Bacteria that live in the digestive system without oxygen support breaking down of food, therefore, no nutrient waste,” Mwangi said.

Mwangi’s argument is supported by the UK’s online agriculture repository, Richard Webster Nutrition Limited (RWN), which says that live yeasts boot feed conversion by between 10 per cent and 15 per cent resulting to one litre to two litres milk increase.

With consistency, the milk conversion can hit three litres, the site adds. Yeast raised the stomach PH by reducing acidity, therefore, making digestion efficient.

Although he has not subjected the milk to content analysis, he said the quality has improved as he could tell from the taste.

RWN adds that the total feed dry matter intake goes up by about two kilos, translating to more milk, healthy and fertile cows.

Because of the increased intake of dry matter, cows take in more water.

Mwangi said two kilogrammes of feeds are mixed with half a litre of the yeast.

“I may not have concrete support for my claim, but I believe that, yeast being a b- product of alcohol, the liquor elements relax the cow. When a cow in relaxed, more prolactin is released to excite the mammary glands to produce more milk,” he said.

Prolactin is one of the main hormones that enhance production of milk.

Mwangi buys the yeast from authorised brewers in Nairobi before repackaging it into 20litres jerricans for sale at Sh400 each.

PHOTO: A dairy caretaker walks past Friesians the unidentified farm brought to the Nakuru Agricultural Society of Kenya Show on July8,2016. Dairy cattle feed on yeast can increase milk output by three litres. PHOTO BY LABAN ROBERT.

Mwangi can be contacted on +254704622279.

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