PROUDLY KIAMBAA

Shinning in the FarmJOHN KIARIE’S JOURNEY TO FINANCIAL FREEDOMAt just 28 years old, John Kiarie is a dairy entrepreneur toreckon with. With just two high yielding cows, he producesat least 27 litres per cow per day making him one the mostpromising young farmers under Kiambaa Dairy Farmers CooperativeSociety. John started his entrepreneurship journey back in2010 where he was engaged in rabbit rearing having 834 rabbits.He did so well in this field as he was to later emerge the best rabbitfarmer in Kiambu County. This was however not to last long as therabbit rearing business became too crowded prompting him to sellhis rabbits for an enviable Ksh. 350, 000.POOR INVESTMENT CHOICESHaving landed on so much unplanned money, John bought himselfa car for Ksh. 150,000. “All I wanted at that time was to owna car. He says “You should have seen me then, I was the envyof the young people in my village. What I didn’t know was howunplanned investments was to ruin my life. In the 8 months afterbuying the car, I had spent over Ksh.100,000 in repairs and maintenance.What a poor choice of investment! The only saving Imade from the sale of the rabbits was Ksh. 50,000.”CHANGE IN DIRECTIONFast forward to 2012, John’s mother who had been a subsistencedairy farmer gifted him with a bull with the view to jump startinghis life all over again. John used savings left over from thesale of the rabbits to feed and mature the bull for sale. He sold thesaid bull for Ksh. 40,000 which he used to buy 2 heifers whichat maturity used to produce about 6 litres each. The now maturecows eventually calved totaling his herd to 4. “As was the normthen, I engaged in the traditional dairy farming where I wouldspend so much yet get so little in return” he says “ I really did notlike that and was on the look out for any advice to help change thissituation.”Luckily for John, his wish was set to come true when he wasselected to attend the Njoroge farm tour in Nyeri. There, he sawfirst-hand what good dairy farming management can do. He alsogot to interact with experienced farmers who encouraged him totry his hand at modern dairy farming informing him of the endlesspossibilities opened up by this venture. There and then he decidedto invest in modern dairy farming. “Upon return, I immediatelysold 2 cows and 2 calves at 115,000 and bought a mature cow fromNyara estate at Ksh. 110,000.” He continues. “The cow was just twoweeks from delivery. That was the proudest day of my life.”THE KIAMBAA FACTORJohn immediately started milking the cow whose initial productionwas 9 litres. Still optimistic, he wanted to put into practicewhat he learnt from the Mukuruei-ini trip but was financiallyunable to. “This is where Kiambaa Dairy Sacco came in” Johnquips “I took a loan of Ksh. 15,000 against my milk deliveriesfrom Kiambaa Sacco which I used to buy a plastic tank, fodder,maize germ and molasses to make silage. Within 1 month ofimproved feeding the cow’s production shot to 14 litres inthe first month to 28 in the second then to 32 litres in threemonths. Now the cow had reached the best production levels.”While all this was happening, John was now thinking ofincreasing his heard. After careful consideration, he appliedfor a much bigger loan from Kiambaa Sacco. Seeing that hiscredit rating was going up and his milk deliveries were consistent,he applied and got a Ksh. 110,000 loan which he used tobuy another cow. Now he has two high yielders under his belt.By putting what he learns into practice, John goes for highquality semen with the view to getting good high yieldingbreed. This is why John invested in a Ksh. 14,000 semen fromKAGRC, Kabete. With this, he has assured himself a smallmanageable yet high yielding herd.THE BENEFITSJohn proudly says that dairy farming has changed his wayof life as a whole. When he started delivering milk to thesociety, the pay per litre was 32 shilling as compared to thecurrent 38 shillings per litre. He is now able to comfortablycater for his financial need as well as those of his parents. Hewas able to acquire a car and build his house within his parents’compound. Why, we ask? He says “All though the yearsthat I have been with Kiambaa Dairy, they have always madesure that we get timely advice on new and improved farmingmethods. This goes a long way in ensuring our animals are ingood health and at optimum production. . This is real financialimprovement to the farmer.”THE FUTUREWhat does the future hold for John? He intends to transformhis farm into a model farm in Kiambu County where otherfarmers will come in to learn both technical and practicalskills on dairy farming. He also plans on becoming a cowbreeder from where he will supply high quality breeds tofarmers across the county and eventually the country.Through all these stages and phases in development, KiambaaDairy will walk with John as he achieves his dreams of becominga renowned dairy farmer.THE OFFICIAL KIAMBAA DAIRY FARMERS CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY MAGAZINE5