Management, productivity and livelihood effects on Kenyan smallholder dairy farms from interventions addressing animal health and nutrition and milk quality

• Published in: Tropical animal health and production 2012-02, Vol.44 (2), p.231-238
• Main Authors: VanLeeuwen, John A., Mellish, Teresa, Walton, Colleen, Kaniaru, Ayub, Gitau, Regina, Mellish, Ken, Maina, Bernard, Wichtel, Jeff
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Animal Husbandry - methods; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cattle; Cattle - growth & development; Cattle - physiology; Dairies; Dairy farms; Dairying - methods; Diarrhea; Farmers; Farms; Female; Focus Groups; Hygiene; Intestine; Inventories; Kenya; Lactation; Life Sciences; Male; Mastitis; Milk - metabolism; Milk production; Milking; NGOs; Non-governmental organizations; Nongovernmental organizations; Nutrition; Original Research; Parasites; Parasitism; Planting; Pregnancy; Surveys and Questionnaires; Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science; Zoology
• ISSN: 0049-4747; 1573-7438
• DOI: 10.1007/s11250-011-0003-2

We aimed to describe the management and productivity of this group of smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya at the beginning of an intervention program and to document relevant observed changes in the 3rd year of the intervention. A 3-year intervention program, focused on management of animal health and nutrition, and milk quality, was implemented by one Kenyan and two Canadian non-governmental organizations (one university based) to help improve the milk production and livelihoods of Kenyan smallholder dairy farmers (primarily women). Thirty farmers were enrolled and completed questionnaires at the start and end of the project. Focus groups were also conducted to obtain qualitative information on livelihood effects from the program. In 2004, 70% of the eligible youngstock (more than 15 months of age) were pregnant, and cows had a long average days-in-milk of 240 days. External parasites, poor hygiene, and long claws were not uncommon among cows, and 37% and 20% of the farms reported clinical intestinal parasitism and diarrhea in youngstock. In 2006, there were significant improvements in the proportion of farms planting high-protein forages, farms using better milking procedures, and on-farm milk storage methods. The reported mastitis incidence rate fell from 0.55 to 0.20 cases/cow-year ( p