Simon Songok is the proprietor of Ole’ Ngishu Dairy farm in Kajiado County where he keeps over 80 dairy cows.
The animal science graduate started as a poultry farmer before identifying a gap in the dairy industry that needed to be filled.
Today, the cows that he keeps in his 100-acre farm produce over 600 litres of milk daily.
Here is Songok’s story as told by WoK.
Songok established his dairy farm in 2009 with three Holstein Friesian cows which has since grown to 80 high-pedigree Friesian cows, Jersey and Ayrshire.
Speaking in a previous interview, he mentioned that he settled on Friesian cows due to many factors including its tolerance to harsh climate.
“It is the ideal animal that can withstand this climate and give you the milk yield. After getting the right technical assistance from Coopers Kenya, regarding the right semen and best farming practices
“We have been able to study our cows, and we are currently getting an average of 40 litres of milk from one cow per day,” he said.
Before going solo, Songok worked at Sasisni Farm in Mweiga and Ole Suswa in Naivasha before joining Sigma Feeds farm.
He explained that he experiences challenges that include ticks and tsetse flies that are common in the region.
He also pointed out the high price of feeds which results to high cost of production, leading to low profits.
Songok keeps a number of Jerseys and Ayrshires to improve the butter fat content of the milk from the Friesians breed.
“The price of feed has shot up while the leading milk processing firms continue to offer very low prices for milk. We only make some money when we sell off some bulls and a few heifers
“The current production costs of Ksh 25 per litre are very high, and we are appealing to the Dairy Board to push up the buying price to enable the farmer to make a profit,” he said.
Songok also grows maize, paw paw, watermelons, kales and lucerne tha the uses to supplement animal feeds.
“Our future plans are to open a processing factory and a dairy training institute to develop the dairy industry,” he added.
Waste water is directed at the lucerne and the rhodes grass fields through portable drip and overhead irrigation systems to maximise production.
“Nothing goes to waste in our farm. We spread manure from the cowshed in the fields and use waste water to grow grass and lucerne,” Songok says.
He says the secret behind successful dairy farming is a special dairy diet, which contains highly soluble feed grade monocalcium phosphate to give the cows adequate calcium and phosphorus for high milk production and fertility.
