Masongaleni is one of the remotest and driest parts of Makueni County. Here, the rains are scarcer and the sun burns fiercely that one wonders if it ever goes to sleep.
Festus Mwaniki has, however, found Masongaleni a perfect place to set up his enviable beef enterprise.
For him, the dry region is a low hanging fruit for pasture farming, what attracted him to the region where some farmers for years had tried growing maize and beans in vain.
The Seeds of Gold team finds him supervising workers feeding dozens of Boran cattle, which he keeps under the feedlot system on the 800 acres.
“We keep some 300 cattle and about 400 Dorper sheep on the farm. I am currently experimenting with fattening cattle for the beef market using the feedlot system because I have more feeds than we need,” he says.
Three giant fodder racks stand out on the farm that hosts massive grass field that stretch yonder. The Nairobi-based businessman started growing pasture grass years ago after burning his fingers in mung beans (green grams).
He had grown more than 100 acres of the popular legume after aggressively rehabilitating the land by sinking farm ponds for rainwater harvesting, intensive terracing and planting hardy indigenous trees such as acacia.
In mung beans, he was convinced that he had gotten the most suitable crop only to be disappointed after the crop failed due to a prolonged drought that hit the area.
Festus Mwaniki feeds cattle on his farm in Masongaleni, Makueni County.
Photo credit: Pius Maundu | Nation Media Group
However, the investment in rehabilitating the farmland did not go to waste. Mwaniki turned to farming a variety of pasture grasses, but mainly Maasai love grass (Eragrostis superba) and African foxtail grass (Cenchrus ciliaris), and on this, he says he finally got it right.
“We harvested 300,000 bales of hay last year and are looking forward to a better yield this year. We sell a bale at Sh150. We sell because we are consuming a small portion of the feeds ourselves,” says the farmer, who also keeps bees in 250 beehives in his acacia plantation that is part of the farm.
Mwaniki, who runs a farm that trades in agrochemicals, has employed 20 workers and hires more when demand dictates. The farm is his side hustle, he quips.
His feedlot system structures comprise of a bay for holding cattle, a shed made of iron sheets, a feeding troughs and watering points.
Besides keeping his own herd, he buys emaciated animals from local cattle markets in Makueni, Kajiado and Kitui and fattens them.
On average, he buys a cow at Sh30,000 fattens them to attain at least 500 kilos live weight before selling to meat traders from urban areas.
Just like the other crops, pasture requires well-prepared land for establishment.
Agronomists advise farmers to prepare the land during the dry season. The most suitable method of tilling is ripping or sub-soiling which is done to break the hard pan and enhance water infiltration and soil aeration.
“After tilling we go for harrowing to ensure that the bed is finely made such that it has no big soil clods which hinder germination,” Mwaniki says.
There are many varieties of fodder grasses in the market and they come with different nutrient content making them suitable for different value chains.
After tilling the land, the grass seeds are broadcasted. “The seeds for the grasses are readily available in the market. They are mainly marketed by farmers who grow the grasses, as well as certified seeds outlets,” he says.
Experts note that Maasai love grass and African foxtail grass are suitable for fattening beef cattle as they are rich in crude protein.
Normally, he harvests the grass and makes hay. Later, before it is fed to the animals, it is first chopped using a chaff-cutter and blended with molasses for improve palatability.
Mwaniki, who is in his 40s, advises farmers to carefully select the right variety of pasture grass seeds. Over the years, he has noted that the type of seeds a farmer uses determines the survival of the plants and the productivity of the pasture grass.
Festus Mwaniki on his pasture farm in Masongaleni in Makueni County.
Photo credit: Pius Maundu | Nation Media Group
To acquire maximum yields, George Kamami, an agronomist based in Makueni County, advises that soil fertility should be maintained through replenishing by applying farmyard manure.
Mwaniki’s pasture farming venture has been so successful that it has partly triggered smallholder farmers in the region to abandon traditional crops such as maize, beans, cowpeas and pigeon peas for fodder grass.
The trend, which is fanned by advisory from climate change experts who recommend pasture farming as a suitable economic activity and mitigation strategy in arid and semi-arid regions, has been sweeping across the arid region with many small-scale farmers now growing fodder grass at least in a portion of their farmlands.
Although pasture farming is billed as a suitable economic activity in Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties because of the availability of huge tracts of land and the erratic rainfall the region experiences, continued conventional tillage methods have led to build up of hard pan, a situation experts blame for reduced production of many crops including fodder grass.
“Hard pan contributes to poor soil structure rendering the soils sterile through increase of surface runoff leading to heavy erosion, poor or low infiltration, and poor soil aeration. It is cured by ripping,” says Kamami.
The government is advocating for the feedlot system to boost meat production, according to Livestock PS Harry Kimtai.
It has purposed to establish feedlots in 13 arid and semi-arid land (Asal) counties namely Makueni, Baringo, Kajiado, Narok, Isiolo, Marsabit, Wajir, Mandera, Tana River, Lamu, Garissa, Taita Taveta, Turkana and West Pokot.
