Agricultural Review

Successful Dairy Farm Management. The Gogar Farm Way

In this article Mr Hamish Grant the Farm Manager of Gogar Farm located in the Rify Valley of Kenya and an affiliate of Brookside Dairy Products shares valuable insights into what is fundamental to successful dairy farming.

Spend Less, Save More
A farmer should invest on the things that will give the best returns. Concentrate on the decisions that will enhance profitability. It is far too easy to invest too much money in modern farming systems developed outside Africa to provide solutions to problems that we don’t face, such as lack of labour.

The key to success is to look at each investment decision critically and to ask yourself what you hope to achieve. Go back to the basics and look at other ways to achieve the same objective. Often these are less glamorous but better suited to Africa.

Some innovations that are touted as the best things, sometimes can lead farmers down blind alleys of over reliance on sophisticated systems that are not only more expensive but often not as effective. Pay particular attention to service backup.

The simpler the technology, the easier things are to fix when they go wrong. This is true of milking systems and feeding systems amongst others. Avoid spur of the moment investment decisions; they are almost always made for the wrong reasons.

Don’t think that I am against modern technology. Far from it. Some innovations such as mobile phones, internet and computers for example, have improved dairy farming enormously in the last decade. Farmers can plan and control their businesses more effectively than was previously possible. Use this information wisely.

Proper Management
Our most valuable resource in Kenya is labour. We are blessed with an educated, capable and willing labour force. Managers who complain about their labour force or use labour saving devices are often saying more about their own inability to manage labour effectively. Encourage people to think for themselves, give their input and take ownership of their projects, large or small. Create conditions where they can develop to fulfill their full potential.

Beware the supervisor who does not allow his team to have their say. This is usually because they are afraid that a newcomer may be more competent than they are and may one day take their job. As a manager do not shut your office door; anyone should be able to see you. If you want good labour relations, you have to be prepared to listen and talk though problems with your staff.

Otherwise they will take them to the labour office or a trade union and you will end up wasting ten times more of your precious time in the long run.

Good communication is the key: hold regular meetings with all key staff and encourage supervisors to do the same. Listening to their problems doesn’t mean giving in to them every time, but if you cannot explain to them why you disagree then the chances are you have not thought it through properly yourself.

Analyse your Business Strengths and Weaknesses.
If you want a top dairy operation you have to get everything right. Scientific research has done a great job in refining cattle by selective breeding to produce ever more milk, but all that improvement has come at a cost. The more productive your cows, the more important it is that you manage them well. To move forward you need to address your limiting factors first.

The most important thing is to have good cows. Good genetics is a prerequisite as no amount of scientific feeding and good management will give you the best results without good cows. On the other hand however wonderful your cows you will never get the best out of them unless you manage them well. That is why it is often better to go for cross-bred dairy animals or hardier breeds such as Jersey or Ayrshire if your management, feed or conditions are likely to limit production.

Feeding
Genetic potential is at best wasted unless the cows are well fed. As any farmer knows, if things go wrong, it is the best cows that die first as they are more sensitive to poor feeding and poor management. Don’t underestimate the need to feed your young stock properly. It is easy to think that just because they aren’t producing milk they don’t matter. In fact the reverse is true; if they do not start right they will not end right.

Animal Heath
Good cows are healthy cows. Don’t skimp on minerals, they may cost a bit more but without them you can never get the best from your herd. That will show in reduced growth rates and poor fertility. Make sure that your cows are not carrying parasites such as worms or fluke. The losses become economically significant long before you can see the effects on the cattle, so it is best to stick to routine deworming, and change the type of dewormer as soon as you suspect resistance might be building.

Use Key Indicators
Make use of key management indicators to make sure that you are on track. The most important of these is the herd calving interval. Ideally all your cows should produce a calf every 12 months: a 365 day inter-calving interval. If you have a large herd, then make use of a computer program such as Interherd (NMR, UK) to help you monitor them. There are many reasons why most dairy herds don’t manage to hit the 365 day calving interval target. The most common is that farmers don’t get their cows in calf early enough.

After calving do not attempt to breed them for at least 45 days to give them time to recover from calving. Good heat detection is critical when using Artificial Insemination (AI). With a small herd you can monitor your animals carefully to see if there are any tell-tale signs of cows in heat. With larger herds it is often worth using an aid such as Kemar heat-mount detectors to show up animals in need of AI. Timing of AI is critical.

12 – 18 hours after the onset of standing heat produces best results. Some farmers prefer to synchronise groups of cows using hormones such as prostaglandins for easier management, however this is only useful if your cows are cycling normally, so best to get a vet to check them first.

Sexed Semen
Using semen that has been artificially enhanced to give a high proportion of heifer calves can offer some advantages. However, sexed semen should be used with care as the expense is high and the conception rate lower than with conventional AI. It is best to start using sexed semen on heifers that are showing obvious signs of heat.

Dairying in the Future
The most pressing problem affecting the industry in Kenya at present is one which is not within the power of any individual farmer to change. Kenya lacks the capacity to take off excess supply in times of plenty and convert this excess to powder.

Government and other agencies as well as the private sector must cooperate effectively to address this aggressively. The Kenya Dairy Processors Association was formed almost 12 years ago to address issues such as these, but so far the results have been disappointing. Processors have been too keen to enhance their position within the industry at the expense of long term development of the industry as a whole.

Top Dairy livestock both Friesian and Ayrshire are available from Gogar Farm. Telephone Livestock Office +254 720 441819”