She has not regretted venturing into rearing dairy cows since 1989 when she received her first earnings from the sale of milk to the now defunct Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC).

Today, says Mrs Jane Murage earns Sh2,100 every day from selling 60 litres from her three cows.

The 51-year-old mother-of-five says she started with one Friesian cow her father gave her in 1988 when she was 27 years old.

She asked her husband, was working with the then Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, to take early retirement in 1992 and join her on their farm at Ihururu in Nyeri County.

Combined production

“He also had a cow and I thought the combined milk production coupled with the earnings from our tea farm were enough to see us live comfortably,” says Mrs Murage.

In a month, Mrs Murage finds Sh63,000 deposited in her bank account, courtesy of the milk which she takes to Ihururu Dairy, where her husband has been the chairman since 1997. A litre of milk fetches Sh35.

The farmer says rearing dairy cows is not a difficult task if fodder is available.

Mrs Murage says that she spends about Sh4,000 to buy two 90-kilogramme bags of dairy meal, which she supplements with napier grass. She mixes this with other kinds of hay to provide her cows with a balanced diet.

“Cows, just like human beings, need to eat a balanced diet and for those reared for milk production, you have to provide them with food that is rich in protein to increase production,” she said.

The farmer invested Sh35,000 in a small biogas project that provides the family with a clean source of energy. She uses the waste produced by the cows to generate energy which she uses for cooking.

On the increased cost of milk, Mrs Murage says the October-December short rains that extended to part of January saw an in increase in pasture and therefore the price of milk should not go up.

The farmer has managed to pay fees for two of her children in boarding school while her third will sit for her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination this year.

Mrs Murage says she is also paying fees for her fourth born in a private medical college through earnings from her cows while the last born just is waiting to join secondary school.

“Rearing cows for milk production was the greatest thing I did in my life and I do not know how I would have managed if I was not selling milk,” says the farmer.

She says she finds rearing cows an easy task as she does not need to take care of them throughout the day.

Mrs Murage makes sure that the cows have enough fodder and water for the day in the morning and only comes back in the afternoon to milk them.

High cost of production

The farmer, though, finds challenges especially during the rainy season when the animals suffer from mastitis due to sleeping on a wet floor and during the dry season when the cost of production increases due to scarcity of fodder.

She has, however, managed to survive the dry season by planting her own fodder. Availability of piped water has helped reduce the cost of production.

Mrs Murage encourages the youth to try cattle farming and not wait for white-collar jobs, adding that farming has proved to her that it is lucrative.

“It’s not a difficult task at all. The only heavy work is cleaning the cow sheds and carrying grass, but I do not see how youths cannot do this if I can do it at my age,” she says.