The Dairy Series | Part 3

EDITOR’S NOTE

Good morning!

Hope you’re easing into the week well.

We’re back with Part 3 of our Dairy Series. We look at some of the traits worth paying attention to, and what those numbers in the catalogue actually mean.

Let’s get into it.

In Part 2, we got a chance to assess what the crucial element in your dairy breeding decision-making is, the bull catalogue. We touched on what makes certain bull catalogues worth your time and investment. Then we ended on a promise that we will fulfil today: We will discuss what traits should matter to you as a dairy farmer, specifically in Kenya.

Bull catalogues sometimes can feel like they were written for someone with a degree you do not have. They are dense with acronyms you have no idea about, and decimal figures that just appear like numbers on a spreadsheet as opposed to guidelines in bull selection. It is easy to skim past these numbers and ask our default question:

“Hii mbegu ni ya maziwa mingi?” (Is this the high-volume production one?)

So what do the figures and statistics actually mean? There are several traits you may want to consider when assessing what you would like to fix in your herd. Today, we’ll sit with the first three.

The first noteworthy trait of interest to most farmers is Production and Longevity.

The Milk (kg) figure tells you what a bull's daughters are expected to produce above the average cow, per lactation. Bigger number, more milk, right? Not quite.

A cow chasing extreme volume is under real metabolic strain because she's pulling calcium and energy out of her own body faster than her feed can replace it. That deficit shows up in her liver, her immunity, and eventually her fertility.

Extremely high producers often can't hold peak output for long, and many get culled after 3 or 4 lactations instead of the 6 lactations you budgeted with. The only workaround is a feed regimen tight enough to keep up the pace, which is not cheap. And that feed cost is one expense most farmers struggle to afford.

So the number worth chasing isn't the biggest Milk (kg) figure on the page.

It's the biggest one your feed budget and management can genuinely sustain, with a long productive lifespan in mind. A moderate producer who lasts six lactations will often out-earn a spectacular one that's gone in three.

The second number worth your attention is Fertility and Reproduction. A cow that calves every twelve months maintains her peak production, with each lactation building on the last. A cow that struggles to conceive doesn't just cost you another round of AI (Artificial Insemination) fees. She loses ground on milk with every missed cycle. And a difficult calving compounds the damage twice over by delaying her return to normal cycling. It also raises the risk of a stillbirth or a sickly calf that threatens your future herd's existence. Every drop of milk a cow produces is because she has a calf to nurse. If your cows are struggling to get back in calf, this is the number to prioritize above every other figure on the page.

The third concern is Health and Resistance. If you're running Holstein-Friesian genetics, then you most likely have two or more vets on speed dial. A sickly cow is a sunk cost. At best, she's dipping in production while under treatment, and by law her milk is withheld from the pool she'd normally sell into. At worst, you lose the animal outright. An investment well north of Ksh 100,000, gone. And that is just a single cow. A disease that wipes out your whole herd is a loss in the millions. 

No production figure on the page matters if the cow behind it doesn't live long enough to deliver it. If disease has been ravaging your herd, this is the trait to chase.

Production. Fertility. Health. Three numbers you cannot afford to walk past, chasing "maziwa mingi" alone. Next time, we open a fresh list with three more traits that are neatly tucked in the same catalogue that deserve your attention.