Sheep rearing for meat

As promised last week here is a 'business plan' for a seasonal sheep rearing business.

Step 1

Buy and safely store adequate amount of hay during hay harvest season. In Kenya this is around December time. Luckily (for this business anyway), in Kenya during harvest season the commodities under harvest are cheap than any other period for most of the time. Buy an adequate amount of hay to feed the intended number of animals. An average goat eats 5 kilos a day so for 20 goats held for 2 weeks you would need 1,400 kilos. Am not sure how many kilos a hay bale weighs but i know in the low season if you look carefully and stay away from the middle men you can get one for 80 shillings.

Commercial feeds will also be more expensive in this period than in the harvest season, so if you intend to supliment with commercial feeds make sure you stock up with this. Keep a cat if you have to keep them rats away from your feeds. In drought season a 70 kilo bag of polland ( A mix of various grain husks) go for as much as 3k; bran is also good for fattening.

Step 2
Buy your animal stock in the drought season.
Please dont first buy your animals then buy the hay. First secure the hay then wait for drought. The drought season is usually around January. Give it a month or so and then buy the animals when they are weak and most farmers are selling cheap either due to lack of feeds or to secure school fees for their children. Ideally by this stage you should have some good structures to secure your animals. Please note that there is a lot of wizi wa kuku and mbuzi etc...so you might need a watchman and a dog. You dont need a lot of space because you arent growing your own fodder. You will need a good secure storage facility though.

During a 'good' drought the animals go for as low as 1k in the arid areas. You will need to venture out. Also note some of the areas like Nandi just dont know mpesa and have no interest in banking either. So you might want to use a middle man if you think you will loose your money in transit.



Step 3.

Feed the animals.
As hay is dry it is rich in starch and thus good for bulking up the animals. If you suppliment with the commercial feeds your animals will be ready for the butcher in a month or 2 at most. A kilo of meat mutton goes for 480 shillings in the butcher in the good times. A good sheep/goat can weigh up to 15 kilos. With a good realiable butcher friend, you can rake in some good money.

Step 4

Market your animals for butcher
Stay away from the middlemen if you can. It does help if you do have friends who own butcheries as then you can arrange to supply a number of animals on a daily or weekly basis.

Step 5

Pay taxes if you wish to!

The timeline

December  - buy hay at Ksh 80 a bale and store. secure housing for the animals.

January - Feb - buy animals at throw away prices from arid areas - de worm and give appropriate medication

Easter time - sell the meat to butchers ( sell at least 5k)

Repeat next season!