UGANDA – Majority of the cattle keepers in Ankole and some parts of central Uganda have over the last three decades been investing heavily in dairy farming.
This involves clearing land of thicket and removing plant species that cows do not feed on in order to allow the right pastures flourish.
The farmers in this endeavour have to dig valley dams to ensure cows drink adequately. Farmers also have to acquire, breed and nurture cows of high milk yield. The cows have to be sprayed against ticks and other external parasites at least once a week to guard against diseases such as east coast fever and babesiosis.
They have to be dewormed and injected at least every three months to check internal parasites and diseases. These are basic practices that farmers producing high quality and large volumes of milk have to do.
The revolution in dairy farming has resulted in high production of milk against the low domestic and fragile foreign markets.
Mr Ephraim Rwehooda, a farmer in Sanga Town Council, Kiruhura District, is one of the cattle keepers that abandoned traditional long horned cattle for exotic breeds. He milks 300 litres for sale every day.
“I cannot keep on my farm a cow that produces less than 10 litres,” says Mr Rwehooda.
Kiruhura alone produces 1.2 million litres of milk every day, which is about 60 per cent of milk produced in the entire country, according to the LC5 chairperson and farmer, Rev Samuel Mugisha Katungunda.
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Post time: Sep-03-2020