Maryanne Kinyua, the cattle broker with a difference

The sun is scorching hot as the Seeds of Gold team arrives at Mawa Dairy Farm in Ngandu village in Karatina, Nyeri County.

The farm located a few kilometres off the Nyeri-Nairobi highway sits on three acres.

Maryanne Kinyua, who manages the heifer section of the family farm, is at hand to receive us.

Her work entails sourcing the heifers from various farms and finding market for them in a business she works as a broker.

After exchanging pleasantries, Maryanne, 35, leads us to a shed hosting some 10 dairy cows. "This is our newest member," she says pointing to a six-month old in-calf heifer. "We will dispatch it to a farmer who bought it in a fortnight," she adds.

Having scaled down their milk production business due to Covid-19 challenges after schools were closed, the farm majorly 10 Friesian cows  and also hosts two to three heifers that Maryanne sources for sale.

"Before the pandemic, we were keeping 18 dairy cows that were producing some 250 litres daily that we would sell to schools. Then Covid-19 struck and we had no market," she explains.

The alternative was to sell the milk to cooperatives but low prices discouraged them.

“We decided to sell most of the dairy animals and remained with a few to produce milk for subsistence.”

Enquiries on social media by young farmers about where they can find quality heifers made her identify a gap that she chose to exploit.

"Some time in 2018, I had posted on Facebook a photo of a heifer we were selling and the response was overwhelming from young farmers. The pandemic opened my eyes to fill this gap."

Maryanne begins by identifying farmers willing to sell their heifers within Nyeri.

She targets animals that go for between Sh120,000 and Sh150,000.

"There are good animals around thanks to a vibrant artificial insemination programme," she says

After sourcing the animals, the budding farmer transports them back to the farm for nurturing if they have not attained the specifics of the buyer, including age and month of pregnancy.

Maryanne, who studied human resource management at the university, says a good heifer should have a bigger body structure.

“Bigger in-calf heifers are good feeders and they are likely to produce more milk. They should also have a wide pelvic structure at the back for ease in calving.”

She also looks for a strong straight back, strong legs with small hooves, a silky udder that is non-pendulous but firmly attached and the teats should be four, average-sized and evenly placed.

"The good thing with this kind of business is that you go for specific animals clients want. For instance, a potential buyer says the heifer must be in-calf at between four and seven months, which means the farmer will not have to wait for long before they start reaping its benefits."

Farmers, according to her, are keen on the udders with the expectation that the heifer will produce between 20 to 25 litres of milk.

Maryanne prefers buying heifers that are zero-grazed since there is control on what they feed on, records are kept better for such an animal, they have higher productivity and there is manageable control pests and diseases.

“We mainly buy from well-run dairy farms because there is information that gives history of the animals – a practice that is not common with most small -scale dairy farmers."

On most occasions, the animals she buys are taken up by the new owners as soon as they reach the farm.

“But some times they stay for weeks and during that period, I feed them on dairy meal, hay and other supplements as I await for the buyer to pick it."

According to her, having the right breed, feeding and comfort of the animal is paramount for good production.

"For comfort, a farmer should ensure that their cows sleep on mattresses and where they cannot afford, they can use sawdust as it cushions the animals while the cowshed structure should be built in a manner that accommodates the animal’s movement, rest or sleep as well as enough space in the feeding area," she says.

These are some of the lessons she offers farmers before they buy the animals.

“Sometimes it can be challenging to those getting into dairy farming for the first time. But we ease this through training . We take them through feeding regime and proper dairy cow maintenance requirements, which adds value to the business we do with them.”

For heifers that are in-calf, Maryanne helps the farmer draw up a steaming timetable that guides them on how to feed the cow extra concentrates to avoid any complications during calving.

Most of the customers are those who have seen Mawa Dairy Farm heifers adverts on either Facebook, Twitter or Google Business, where she markets the animals.

“More than 90 per cent of my customers are from Facebook and Twitter.  I am an admin and founder of Kenya Dairy Farming Forum on Facebook which has174k members, Mawa Dairy Farm Page with 10k likes and over 5k followers on Twitter where I shares content on dairy farming under #CowFactsKe.”

To move the animals, one requires a movement permit that is obtained from the government veterinary offices at Sh50 per head.

“Sometimes there are challenges that come with transportation. There is a time an animal had early calving caused by transportation stress. I was transporting two cows to Migori but the mother and the calf survived.”

According to Maryanne, her broking business is dictated by availability and affordability of animal feeds such as napier and hay and other supplements as well as the cost of milk.

“When the cost of milk is lower, people do not buy animals as much."

Ronald Kimitei, a livestock scientist from Egerton University, says that for a successful cattle broking business, one should ensure they do some value addition by registering with the Kenya Livestock Breeders Association (KLBA).

The registration ensures that the farmer fetches higher prices for their animals, he adds.

According to him, a good structure in a heifer is classified in five categories including the udder, frame meaning it should generally be wide, the height, foot and leg and dairy character.

“A heifer should be feminine with a long face and neck. These traits are of economic importance as they are the key to good milk production,” he says.

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