Lessons from dairy empire in business for 50 years

Alice Chesire with her cows at Makongi Farm in Uasin Gishu County. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Nestled in a fertile valley between the Cherengany Hills and Mt Elgon lies Makongi Farm, popularly known as home of Ayrshires.

It is a dairy venture started by the late Reuben Chesire and is now being run by his widow, Dr Alice Chesire.

Makongi Farm specialises in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer technology to breed quality cows for sale.

Because they have invested in technology, small holder farmers and institutions visit the spectacular 1,000-acre dairy farm to learn best practice on modern dairy keeping.

“My joy is to teach dairy farmers how they can embrace technology to boost production and efficiency on their farms. There is a lot to learn from here,” says Dr Chesire.

The strategy

The farm has strategically chosen to rear thousands of Ayrshire breed of dairy cows. Dr Chesire has been running the farm together with her children since the husband died in 2008. He started the farm in 1971.

“My husband acquired the farm from a British settler who had a mixture of Sahiwal cows and dairy breeds. He loved cows and was a regular visitor at the Royal Agricultural Show (an annual agricultural fair held by the Royal Agricultural Society of England every year from 1839 to 2009).

“He imported a bull from a farm in England and heifers from a different farm. They were pure Ayrshire breeds,” she says.

That is how they dived into dairy keeping.

“We chose to breed Ayrshire because this is a mwananchi cow. This breed has the highest butterfat content and unlike others; it converts the smallest quantity of feed into milk.”

Their Ayrshire have won awards in Agricultural Society of Kenya shows in Nairobi, Eldoret and Kitale.

“We feed our Ayrshire well and ensure they are free of diseases. That way, their milk production remains high,” Chesire says.

Another technology that they have invested in, albeit with challenges is embryo transfer.

One cow gives five calves in a year

Dr Paul Thiongo, a resident vet at FarmKenya Initiative explains that embryo transfer is a procedure used in animal breeding in which an embryo from a super-ovulated female is removed and implanted in the uterus of another female.

The farm works in collaboration with the Bull Centre (Kenya Animal Genetics Resource Centre) in Kabete in semen production.

Partnership with Bull Centre

So important is the embryo transfer project that the Government allocated the Bull Centre Sh200 million in the 2021/22 budget.

At Makongi Farm, Dr Chesire says semen is harvested from quality bulls, before a specialist veterinarian starts production of embryos which are transplanted by the experts in a surrogate cow.

“This is a highly delicate process, with high failure rate. It is still a learning curve for us, that is why we work closely with experts and the Bull Centre,” says Dr Chesire.

To guarantee success, highly trained vets collect the eggs from ovaries of selected cows in a highly delicate process. 

Timothy Chesire, helps with this process.

The farm started embryo transplant after the Chesires attended a conference in Finland.

“At the conference, embryos were being sold and we got interested. After understanding a few insights in transferring the embryos, we bought 20 embryos and brought them at the farm.

“Our son, Timothy (Chesire) who has technical expertise, did the transfer into surrogate cows,” Dr Chesire says.

She says 80 per cent were successfully transplanted in the farm’s fertilization laboratory.

Uptake is low

They are still not perfect in embryo transfer and  the uptake is still low, Dr Chesire admits.

Geoffrey Mutai, a breeding consultant says embryo transplant is rare in Kenya, but observes that the practice has been around for a number of years.

Why is its absorption low? Dr Mutai says embryo transplant is an expensive exercise and still unaffordable for small holder dairy farms and startups.

The veterinarian says it costs between up to Sh60,000 to carry out embryo transplant in Kenya.

“Agricultural Development Corporation has recently taken up this issue and this might significantly bring down the cost of embryo transplant,” he says.

Dr Mutai says embryo transplant has a success rate of between 60 and 70 percent.

He says transferring embryos, instead of the spermatozoa through the AI service, is more effective.

But on breeding, Dr Chesire says one of their secrets is proper record-keeping has helped the farm to maintain quality breeds, with details of up to the seventh generation of its Ayrshire heifers and bulls.

Another strategy is dealing with professionals.

“To perfect their game, I would advise dairy farmers who want to take their ventures to the next level to always work with experts. Walk to the county office and get to know who is dealing with agriculture docket. Go to State offices. Ask questions. We work closely with Agricultural Development Corporation, one of the best breeders in the country,” Dr Chesire says.

Not a walk in the park

She admits that breeding is not a walk in the park and encompasses a tricky balance of feed, disease and parasite control.

For high milk production and quality semen, she says the heifers and bulls must be fed with nutritious feed.

“A bigger portion of our maize plantation is used to make silage. We also make our own hay. We also produce seed maize in one section of the farm,” Dr Chesire says.

She admits that protein-rich feeds are still a challenge in the farm, with French beans stalks not being enough for the cows.

To meet the shortage, Dr Chesire says they outsource other protein ingredients such as cotton cake seed.

“We grow French beans and we include the stalks in the feed rations. We also grow sunflower to supplement our protein needs,” she says.

The bigger share of their income is from sale of mature cows.

Dr Chesire reveals that they sell a mature Ayrshire for between Sh260,000 and Sh280,000.

Most of their clients are from Uasin Gishu.

Their impact is felt beyond the borders.

“Recently, a team from the Ugandan government visited our farm. The team was planning to set up a breeding centre in Uganda, and they chose our farm for their benchmarking. They went back with some bulls and several heifers,” Dr Chesire says.

Ups and downs

Though they are now well settled, Dr Chesire says the fight against tick-borne diseases is a challenge.

She says this has affected milk production and the ever-increasing prices of acaricides, further worsening the situation. Transport is also an issue.

“The distance to the milk market in Eldoret is long,” she says.

Despite this, they soldier on.