Michael Mureithi is an established farmer who has been practising goat farming for the last 30 years.
The farmer keeps the French Alpine goats breed, having grown an interest in goat farming while he was a kid.
Mureithi was keeping local goats while he was starting off but he later started breeding foreign goats.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
Goat farming
Mureithi’s journey in goat farming started in 1972.
While starting, the farmer was keeping local goats but he later started rearing goats from Germany in 1984.
“Compared to the local goats that I kept in the beginning, these ones are slightly bigger and they produce more milk,” he said.
Mureithi explained that a properly fed goat produces between 2 to 4 liters of milk, adding that he prefers keeping dairy goats to cows.
“Comparing the two, these goats are more profitable than the dairy cows because, in terms of feeding, seven goats is equivalent to one cow
“At the same time, compared to how they multiply, goats take a shorter time compared to diary cows. The prices of goats are also fair compared to cows,” he added.
Mureithi also noted a liter of goat milk would go for at least Ksh 80 in his locality and up to Ksh 200 in areas within Nairobi.
“Compared to the dairy cows, goat milk fetches a lot of money,” he said.
Challenges
Mureithi highlighted internal and external parasites as the major challenge that he has to deal with in his trade.
“You have to take care of them and feed the properly. They also need good housing to avoid direct wind to prevent pneumonia,” he said.
He also encouraged those interested in dairy got farming to practice patience.
“The problems with young people, they’re only interested in making quick money, they have no patience,” Mureithi said.
Mureithi currently keeps 27 dairy goats but he hopes to expand to a maximum of 60 goats in a couple of years to come.
