Lelgut farm.....new take on farming!

When and why did you decide to start the farm?
I started farming in 2009. My parents have been farming for as long as I can remember; I grew up in the farm. My university fees in Strathmore were paid by sales proceeds in the farm and that made me realize the true potential of farming.

What are the challenges you faced when starting the farm?

Oh, there are many challenges in farming even for the seasoned farmers. For a start the cost of feeds and medication is both unstable and very high. Secondly there is lack of good qualified professional vets and AI personnel. In animal farming you just cannot afford not to have access to these two, this could mean death of your animals or no breeding for an entire season both of which affect your bottom line significantly. Thirdly, we receive very poor prices for our milk from the processors. I mean we get paid 25 shillings a liter of milk, whilst in the supermarket ½ liter goes for 45 shillings. Fourthly, the poor infrastructure and farmer training is also a great challenge we face in general. And finally, there are the usual suspects, lack of credit facilities, seasonal food prices, lack of strong farmer’s cooperatives to voice the farmer’s opinions and lack of policies that are geared to making farming an easier trade.

Heifer, you can purchase or order from Lelgut farm!

How do you mitigate these problems?

Lelgut geese!

Well, we do offer training in our farm for those who may be interested in farming and don’t know how to start. The information can be found on our webpage http://lelgutdairyfarm.kbo.co.ke/ and on our Facebook page

Where do you see your farm in 5 years?

In 5 years we see ourselves to be a model farm, able to provide one stop shop to all farming. We want to be able to have all the fodder crops on our farm ready for our animals as well as seedlings for those who may be interested. We want to be in a position of mentoring young and upcoming farmers. But most important we want to be able to have solved most of the common farming problems such as dealing with draught, having better vets and AI access and dealing with animal diseases and productivity.

How do you deal with drought?

We preserve feeds from the rain season by silage making and preserving hay. We have also been experimenting with planting root vegetables such as lucienne, Beet roots. Fodder sorghum that is also a very drought resistant crop. The most important thing is planning, knowing you animals’ nutritional needs and forecasting how much you might need when the times aren’t so good.