Resigning from an 8-5 job of being Legal Risk and Compliance Officer as well as practising corporate & commercial transactions to venture into goat farming is one of the risky life decisions Rolph Lemayan never regrets making.
This is because the venture has proved to be better than his former job in terms of flexible working hours and being a parent, he has more time to spend with his family as compared to the corporate space filled with paperwork, deadlines and targets.
The proprietor of Goat Master Kenya, a goat breeding farm in Narok says he started commercial goat farming five years ago while in 8-5 job as a way to escape from the matrix of you have to work your entire life and await retirement to do what you love.
He says the journey has since had good life lessons of learning and unlearning the farming niche. As a risk specialist, he has been able to incorporate risk management as part of his farm’s workflow to put controls and manage the farm risks.
His farm hosts hundreds of the most superior goat breeds, including the South African Boer, pure galla goats, and pure Savanna goats, as well as crossbreeds of Boer with Galla and Savanna with Galla and Maasai goats.
Lemayan, who practices free-range grazing, says that unlike the local goat breeds, the exotic breeds such as South African Boer, Savanna and Red Kalahari have early maturity and put on more weight as compared to the local goats such as the Small East Africa Goats.
Inside Stevenson’s dairy farm in Nyahururu producing over 300 litres of milk daily
There is huge demand for goat meat both locally and for export and choosing the right genetics plays a key role in relation to faster growth rate and return on investment.
Furthermore, the Boer goat is very fertile and is not seasonally bound. Lemayan says Multiple births are the rule depending on nutrition and management.
”Boers have high chances of giving birth to twins depending on nutrition and management,’’ he says.
The farmer practices both natural and artificial breeding. For artificial breeding, he notes that a lot of expertise is required for the animal to give the desired traits.
To keep the animals healthy, he vaccinates and deworms them regularly. He also ensures the goats drink clean water to prevent illnesses.
The Farm has a vet, Dr. King’ori who is registered by Kenya Veterinary Board, who ensures regular herd health management which has played an integral role especially for the exotic goats and a livestock farmer cannot ignore the role played by Veterinary officers in the goat production cycle.
According to him, a farmer starting out in goat farming should first conduct farm visits, attend training workshops to be able to understand the investment and the economics of goat farming so as to have realistic goals, manage expectations and calculate reasonable ROI (Return on Investment) since Farming is a patience game and not a get rich quick scheme.
The farmer also needs to check the climatic conditions in their area to determine the suitable goat breed. Goats do not do well in cold areas. For cold areas, you are better off with sheep farming.
He says failure to observe the climate can lead to illnesses such as pneumonia or heat stress which can be detrimental.
Additionally, vaccination is an essential fabric in goat farming since it is part of risk management.
Lemayan says farmers can even go further and take Livestock Insurance to cushion them against losses that he incurred back then when there were no livestock insurance packages like there are nowadays.
Besides goat farming Lemayan offers other livestock services including farm consultancy services, breeding stock and non-farm audit as a well farm risk management.
He also offers training to farmers seeking to venture into goat and sheep farming and also sells breeding machines, including pregnancy detectors, Estrous detectors, and Mastitis detectors.
The farmer can be reached via 0716843979 or [email protected]