Brookside Dairy calls for strategic cow feeds reserve

A milk processor says the perennial milk shortage could be permanently plugged if stakeholders created a national strategic feeds reserve to mitigate drought related challenges.

Brookside’s director of milk procurement, John Gethi, said a pilot feeds’ reserve by some dairy co-operative societies had shown resilience as member-farmers were able to maintain their expected daily milk deliveries to cooling plants.

The push for feed reserve comes in a year where milk prices hit a record Sh65 for the half a litre packet following scarcity of raw milk on reduced fodder following poor weather.

Delayed long rains that normally start in late March and a dry spell in the October and November season left around 2.7 million people in need of food aid.

"This year’s weather has not been great at all and more than ever before, dairy farmers need to engage in smart farming where feed conservation is paramount towards succeeding in tackling the vagaries of weather,” he said said.

Mr Gethi, who heads Kenya’s largest dairy firm said the company’s 300,000 farmers were currently undergoing training on conserved feeds-making processes while encouraging societies to run farmer to farmer training on modern fodder preparation and storage.

Narok county government has since 2010 been running a strategic livestock feeds reserve that has helped ease migration of livestock in search of forage thereby helping them maintain weight during the dry period.

Yesterday, Mr Gethi said they were engaging other stakeholders in encouraging young people to commercially grow napier grass and Rongai grass for haymaking which could be sold to dairy societies for formation of strategic hay reserves.