We bought our initial four dairy cows as heifers in calf at three years of age from four different institutions that practiced natural farming in the region so there was no transition problem a part from the cows getting used to new housing and new handlers that was our farm, our farm helpers and us.
Dairy cows were the mainstay of our farm. Within the range of dairy cows, we had the following breeds: Jerseys, Guernseys, Ayshers and a crossbreed of Brown Swiss and Zebu.
Due to shortage of adequate grazing land that could be divided into paddocks, we practiced what was known as ‘zero grazing’. This meant that our cows had to stay indoors day and night except when they were being bathed, that was every two to four weeks to prevent tick infection and a disease called Nagana as the area was heavily infested with tsetse flies.
As a result, a big shed was built at the back of the homestead as follows. From the floor up to a height of four feet was solid stone wall. The middle section was supported with pillars and covered with strong wire mesh inside and nylon netting on the outside to let in air, light and prevent ticks and tsetse flies from getting inside. Even ordinary houseflies were not present in the building.
A ring beam resting on the pillars was built above the middles section to hold trusses for the roof followed by a permanent tile roof with no gaps to stop anything small from entering the shed. The floor was made particularly hard with quarry waste and rough rendering to withstand the weight of the cows and their hooves.
The door was made of the same wire mesh and netting as well which was kept closed at any one time to prevent predators from entering. A big trough was erected inside the shed for drinking water. Milking, eating, sleeping and standing areas were all available inside the building.
The shed was cleaned twice daily: soon after early morning and late afternoon milking and the wet dung removed and heaped at the appropriate place described in chapter one. Urine and waste water was directed through two different pipes to the banana plantation nearby. Fresh water was supplied twice a day.
Adequate feed was supplied two times a day, soon after each cleaning. The cows got used to eating only during the day till sleeping time, something like fourteen hours a day. The eating trough was divided into ten smaller sections with yokes halfway up to stop cows from getting inside or messing it up with dung or urine.
The feed was compost of a type of grass called Napier, a sweet cane like grass that was planted on the farm. It was planted in rows to make it easy to follow lines while weeding, putting manure, watering during the dry season or cutting. It grew quickly and was ready for cutting every two to three weeks. It was chopped to tiny portions for cows to devour easily.
There was a leguminous tendril called Mukuna planted along the back fence and it was rich in protein. Its broad leaves were cut every now and then for them to eat. It was particularly very good for cows that were being milked as it promoted milk production. Tendril and leaf development was pretty fast after each harvest.
There were tiny leaves from certain big trees called Lukina that were harvested from along the track outside the farm and along the main road. It was particularly used as lull feed for lactating cows during milking times instead of dairy meal, as cows adored it at such times. Cows again tended to produce more milk when fed these leaves.
These leaves were available every time; it was a question of climbing higher up the trees to harvest the young branches bearing the small eaves. And as the wind and birds dispersed their seeds, young seedlings sprang up and more trees developed.
Then, there was the ordinary elephant grass, couch grass and others that were cut within and without the farm. The elephant grass is the one we made hay from after long rainy days with dry spells in between.
Also, there were farm wastes like maize husks, seedless cobs and stems; leguminous plants’ pods, stems, roots and leaves; fruits like pawpaw, citrus and banana leaves and stems; vegetable wastes at harvesting time; cassava leaves and sweet potato vines; kitchen wastes like fruit and vegetable peels.
When pruning fruit trees and some of the indigenous trees, feed was being made available like in the case of mulberry trees whose leaves cows loved dearly.
Milking was done at the enclosed milking area while cows licked thick molasses from sugar cane or ate tiny Lukina leaves mentioned above or dairy meal made from maize germ and bran removed from whole maize by the millers grinding and packaging sifted maize flour for human consumption.
Sugar cane was grown widely within the region as the area is a sugar cane belt and a mill was available nearby. Other such mills were in the hinterland where more sugar cane was grown.
Hand milking was done every day after washing the udders with warm water plus a little salt and a clean towel. As milking salve, we used a little cream from the previous evening’s or morning milk depending on the time of milking.
Salt block for licking was provided in a small trough inside the shed. Coarse salt mining was done within the region by the sea.
The shed could comfortably accommodate up to ten cows, with enough room to give them maneuverability without pushing each other unnecessarily. Their calves were housed in the second such shed just next to this one.
The absence of calves nearby eased the milking procedure. The cows accepted the fact that they were there to produce milk and they were happy doing just that and so there was no fighting with any of them or tying any of them at milking time. They simply stayed put eating dairy meal or Lukina or licking molasses.
There could be slight problems only when a cow was not feeling very well in which case we got to the bottom of it like when the cows were on heat and became very sensitive once every month especially those not in calf.
The cows were inseminated via vials to avoid keeping bulls apart from male calves not yet weaned. The amount of land dictated this and bulls were not profitable. This helped reduce diseases in the cows by not mating with various bulls some of who could be infected.
Semen was harvested by experts from different types of exotic bulls of different breeds, labled appropriately and sold to farmers as per the farmers’ choices. Vials of insemination fluid were kept in nitrogen filled tanks and safely stored in agricultural offices where qualified personnel monitored and handled them. Farmers contributed money for nitrogen purchases.
We called the agricultural officers when we needed them and they came on motorbikes to service our animals at a fee and we also paid for the cost of their transport and that of the insemination vials.
We had a book for each cow where we kept records of everything about her like date of birth, parents, first calving, number of calves, bull type of insemination vials used, sickness and history of heat in order to know when she would be on heat again and call the respective personnel within twenty-four hours of the onset of heat otherwise it meant waiting for another month.
The cows calved once every one to two years depending on the accurate timing of the heat and insemination successes.
This type of insemination was very good for us because we did not want in breeding that could weaken the herd. We did not even allow a mother and her daughter to have the same types of insemination vial numbers either that could have meant same bulls for both of them.
The only problem with this method was that some of the cows did not clearly show their heat signs and we had to spend so much time with them in order to determine their status when we expected them to be on heat going by the calendars we kept.
The cows all calved all the time without any problem. Luckily, none calved at night and we were always there during the day as they calved and we assisted where necessary. The calves were all normal and upbeat. We never needed a veterinary officer at such times.
The cows gave us milk that we sold raw (unpasteurized and un-homogenized). The milk was thick, tasty and yellowish in color and our clients loved it compared to the commercial one. The cows were milked till they were about one month to their next calving. This allowed them enough time to develop colostrum for the next calves.
The cows gave birth to calves that increased our herd if they were females and brought us money if they were males. We got raw dung from the cows every day and through a laborious process turned it into manure that we used to fertilize the land where we grew grains crops, legumes, groundnuts, root crops, vegetables, bananas, fruits and cattle feed.
In time of sickness, most of the ailments were treated with herbs either from within the farm or around the farm like Neem trees known for treating ‘forty diseases’ in man, cattle and poultry.
Our cows were bathed with a solution from Neem tree seeds, leaves and the bark boiled in water and cooled. Bathing took place in an open permanent rectangle consisting of eight thick durable poles with four poles on each long side and two planks of wood tied with strong twine on the middle parts of the two long sides.
Another two planks were tied at the rear and the front of the short sides after putting in a cow to act as a restraint at the time of use.
The solution was scooped with a plastic jug from a pail and poured on the cows while brushing the body with a soft brush to get rid of dirt and any parasites under the hair and skin.
The restrain was done to stop any cow from running into any garden. The small animals did not need this type of control as one rope could do on just one of the poles. The same solution when cool was given to cows that showed signs of fever or weakness or diarrhea or lack of appetite.
Some cows eating lush grass springing up after the onset of the heavy rainy season developed diarrhea after having been used to eating hay. Sometimes, fever, weakness and lack of appetite came about after occasional tick bites through feed cut and delivered with ticks especially grass from outside the farm.
We sold milk and got money. The farm’s main financial sustenance came from milk production. Sixty-seven percent of the milk produced daily was for sale and the remainder was for calves and home consumption including our helpers.
Old and unprofitable cows, milk and delivery-wise were sold to butchers.
The things we feared most on the cows were their horns and hooves. In anger, the horns could pierce one to total misery and the hooves could break one’s feet if they stepped on one’s feet. We had to be very careful all the time. Those were the disadvantages of zero grazing. Luckily, none of this happened to any of us.
The experts had advised us that if by mistake a cow stepped on any of us, the solution was not to struggle to remove one’s foot from under her hoof as it would cause tearing and serious injury. The solution was to stay put till the cow moved away because that way the injury would be minimal or not felt at all.
The heifers in calf we bought initially were not interfered with even if their horns were big because we did not wish to endanger them in their already developed bodies.