Fattening Boran cattle on pasture

All right, good morning, good morning. Yeah, welcome to Farm Business East Africa. My name is Tony. And yes, today we are in Borana Conservancy. We are looking after the Boran cattle. The Boran, Boran. I hear South Africans call it Buran. It's Boran. It's actually indigenous to us. It's a Kenyan breed. And sometimes we like to say it's an East African breed because Kenya is in East Africa, obviously. However, it's important to be even more specific and say it's a Kenyan breed because it's named after a people called the Borana people that are indigenous to this country. We are in Isiolo. The border between Isiolo and Laikepe is just behind us. So, and from Isiolo upwards towards the north in this direction, that's where you normally, that's where the ancestral land for the Borana people. So, Boran here, it's at its home, the best environment that it can ever be at. So, that's what we are looking after. Yeah, so the Buran, the South Africans talk about, is a tiny bit different because it's this breed plus it's a dairy breed. These are the Burans, the Borans. What South Africans talk about is a bit different because it has been crossbred with other breeds from, I think, across the world, mostly in America. And it's different from this one. This is the original Boran as it was. Hasn't been crossed. There's no reason for us to cross the Borans here because it's at home, it's in its natural state. And it does perform very well, even in its natural state. It's like crossing our marathons with a Jamaican so that we get something different. There's no need to cross. We are happy running the marathons. So, yeah, that's the scenario here. Borans are underrated. Borans, they are the magic in this kind of climatic conditions because we are in a very hot and dry area. What you see here is not normal. We are irrigating. You can see some moisture in the grass. The rest of the pastures, because this is some sort of intensive grazing, some feedlot stuff, it's different from the rest of the farm. So we're only able to irrigate a small section. And the other flock is grazing on the other section. So a small sample or a small flock that is ready for market for beef is selected. It's brought here to be intensively grazed on these improved pastures, then proceeds to the market. So Boran, the Boran, why it does best here is that even in harsh conditions, it's still able to forage very well and put on a lot of weight. And it's highly resistant to the normal diseases that you find around, especially here. One trick about the Boran, or the Boran, is that you rarely find ticks on the Boran. I don't understand the chemistry, but there's something in the hides that just repel. Sorry, I think there's a sun. There's something, there's some chemical in its hide that just resists ticks, right? But here, you rarely find ticks. You rarely find ticks in this one, right? The other important aspect of the Boran that is rarely spoken about is how docile they are. These animals, they're really docile, and their mothering ability is great, really great. They graze together with donkeys to try and keep off small things like dogs and hyenas that might want to come and do some things here, right? So it's important to have those. Look at this one, it's a beauty. So what we are doing here is intensively grazing. Every morning, an acre is allocated, and as you would see, yeah, so an electric wire is done around using a solar. So at the end of the day, they will be at the end of this paddock over there where you can see some sort of a fence. I don't know if you can see clearly, but they've started where you see these trees. That's where the paddock starts. So this is about 50 by 100. These are like a plot of land, what you get in urban centers. About 120 animals are crammed here. They will cut this grass down to between four to six inches. Then in about two hours from when they start, they got into this paddock, then we will extend this to about another 150. So we just move this wire, this one, to about another 100 yards so that now they have a bigger area to play around. And there's water on the other side so that as they proceed, they'll keep on quenching their vests. Hello, how are you? Good, good. Good? Yeah. So this is how it looks. Have you set up a tent? Yes, I have. Oh, so you want to set up a tent? Yeah. Okay. Is it okay to see you on camera? Yeah. It's okay? Yeah. So this is a man who takes care of the Boran here. So he's moving the fence to another maybe 100 yards and then now they will have a bigger area. They do look a bit crammed, but because they're so docile and they're already aware of the sting of the wire, they rarely get to push it. They don't even touch it. So you see like right now it's off. You can tell the grass is different. Oh yeah. Yeah, so we move that way. It's about, right now it's about nine. They were here at about seven and we keep on moving until evening. That is five. The water will be on this pasture as well. I'll show you the water just in a minute, but this is where you want them to get. So this is a normal wire. It looks like a normal rope, but it has, sorry. You can see the shiny stuff. It's a wire that carries the current, zaps. So in another two hours, we'll extend this to another 100 yards. You could see that, you can't see it properly, sorry, but I guess I'll be around with you to show you. So they will cut it down again here. So what happens is that once they mow it down to the right stage that we would like, that is between six to four inches, we bring in water and try and irrigate. Water is pumped through solar. I don't know if you could see where they were yesterday. We are already irrigating. There's sprinklers doing that. So we are not able to irrigate the entire farm. So it's just a small group that is headed to market next that gets to enjoy these kinds of pastures. It's improved pasture. This is largely bomba rhodes, but bomba rhodes on top of the native grasses. The native grasses, it's very important to carry both. So you have the native grasses and you spread the seeds of the bomba rhodes grass. In fact, once you do it in one paddock, it tends to spread by itself because the seeds will be blown by the wind and it spreads to the entire farm. So bomba rhodes does well in diverse climatic conditions, even in hot and dry areas like these ones. And that's why it's, I think, one of the best pasture fodder crops around in this country. It's everywhere. It does well in almost everywhere within the country. But in this area, naturally it will not survive without this kind of, without some sort of irrigation or because sometimes it could stay for longer periods without rains. So it requires that kind of a boost. You build on that or on top of the natural or indigenous grasses or what these ones, eh? It's much shorter. It wouldn't be sufficient to do this kind of system without improving the pastures with the, with these rhodes grass. You see here, it's a bit thicker where they had their necks. This was also thicker and they'll mow it down in a few minutes and proceed to this other one. Yeah, Bourbons are, it's an interesting breed and it has sufficient milk for its young one. So you wouldn't do it for dairy. It's a meat breed. The kind of milk that it would produce would only be enough for the young ones, for the calves. So we don't bother milking. And though this group is mostly young bulls, yeah, steers. It's a group of steers that already have been castrated. If you could see like this one. Sorry, it's, see? Young steers ready for market. These are actually between, mostly about 18 months, a year and six months, but they are on pastures. They've grown on pastures. Never tasted grain a day in their lives. Never tasted grains. So they try to be organic in a way. And because of their resistance and just being in their natural environment, they rarely need drugs. Yes, because there are some Angus in this flock and some dairy breeds, the Ashers and the Jersey, sometimes they are forced to use acaricides to wash. The others are affected by ticks, but the Borans, no, not as much. So they are forced, sorry, plane passing. So they are forced to use acaricide, which is not particularly wrong, but for the purpose, yeah. So the farm is, I saw a question about whether the business model is to buy bulls and fatten. No, the farm is vertically integrated. There is a bigger flock that mothered these steers. And so these steers, once they get to age, depending on how the orders are coming, we select a flock that is ready for fattening. We'll be here for a minimum of three months. Then they'll start to go to the slaughter. And they are vertically integrated to the end. So even the arbiters that they will proceed to, it's like a partnership. So the end user, the person who is going to consume these meats knows exactly how these Borans were, his stake was raised. That is really important for this kind of business nowadays. You want, if you're into organic farming and you want to consume organic foods, traceability is almost, it's definitely a requirement. So they are really strict on that. And we are trying to keep that promise and make sure they get what they pay for. Yeah, it's a wonderful model. Now you see they are beginning to cramp on this area towards the wire. Yeah. I want to show you the electric fencing we are using. This is a super right, super right, speed right, sorry. Yeah. S1000. One wire goes, it's the earth. The other one is the live wire. Attaches to that fencing. And yeah, look at how this pasture, look at the body condition. Doesn't look as nice as the Borans. Look at the birds that are trying to get the ticks. You could see it's, they're really struggling here. Environment. Someone say that it's like trying to get a fish, that you know, the analogy of the fish and the trees. Yeah. And it's really, it's actually very true. We have a Jassi over there and it is the same case. It's a thing of beauty. You'd never get tired of observing this. So this is where they began. This is where the day began. You see this paddock, they were here for about two hours and they've already exhausted that grass to the recommended level. The recovery period for this grass is amazing because the stage at which it was creeped, it allows the roots to do what they're supposed to do or absorb a lot of water. There are a few leaves left to convert that energy from the sun and through photosynthesis and the growth rate will pick up quite fast. You in about, because we have sufficient, because in this area there is sufficient water for irrigation. You see here, there's a swell here. There's a swell. So even the spring class there, they will still have some runoff water. They'll be trapped in these swells and the ground now absorbs that moisture slowly by slowly and within no time, in about a month, a month and a half, you could get pastures back into this size, right? So today they will push this to the end. Then tomorrow we go back up. It's a very efficient and cost-effective method. If you were to allow them to roam free in all this pasture, what would happen is that we'd have them picking what they would like, what is tasteful, what is palatable, but the overgrown kind of grasses would not touch and that is how weeds get to invade a pasture. But now because they are creeping it almost like a machine, like you would imagine, you do it mechanically, you get the grasses growing at the same rate back up, which is really important. Now that is being intentional with your pastures. Even if your paddock is about five acres or two acres or six, because I know people who have done huge paddocks of about six acres, if you do it this way, with this kind of fencing, because the investments is just the initial investments of buying this speed right and the rest is just moving it around. If you do it this way, it saves you so much hassle with the pastures, makes way much more sense than just allowing them to roam free within the pasture. Yeah, so I don't know if I've mentioned this, but the borangs, the temperament of the borang is quite interesting. They rarely, I've never seen it headbutt anyone. The maternal instincts is also very nurturing. It's a brilliant breed of cattle to look after. So because there's some sort of a shade and the pasture is green, they've not started consuming water or requiring water, but we have a watering tank right here. It's connected with a pipe. It's automatic, has a ball valve. So we kind of push it with the flock as it continues into the pasture. It proceeds downwards. So yeah, this is where they get their water. Pasture is well serviced with the conduits. The infrastructure for irrigation is already developed because it's a kind of investment you do just once and it'll run you for a long, long time. So this is a dang, okay? What that dang tells you is that the pasture is nutritious. You see, it's kind of, it's not as hard and it's also not as soft. That is what you need when you're grazing in such a climatic condition. All right, I think it's, if you have any questions about these systems of grazing, intensive grazing, paddocking, and how it works, feel free to ask. In this kind of system, we observed able to gain about 500 grams a day. So about a kilo each two days. And it's not, that is like a quarter of what optimum gain would be. That would be, a cow would normally gain about two kilos a day in a proper feedlot. However, a proper feedlot, a kg of feeds will cost you anything between 35 to 45 shillings per kg. And a cow like this one will probably consume 20 kgs. So you're looking at about 600 shillings a day. So here it's costing nothing, nothing. Water is pumped by solar, electric fencing is by solar. So it's only the labor. So if you think about it, it only makes sense to do it this way. You get your quarter that is all yours, rather than dividing it with the, sharing it with the grains. Because this kind of system is very, very inexpensive, very efficient, makes way much more sense to add value in this manner. There are people who are into fattening without grains. They are doing the fodder crops that are high in protein. Yes, that can also be done. Like the lucernes and the dracaeas, the smodians. You could do that. Yeah, but now the cost of harvesting, running a machine to harvest and to chop it down, lock your animals into a feedlot system, it still costs some money. And if you understand the beef market in our country, you know why this farm has been able to do this consistently for the last maybe seven years. And some other feedlots are closing down. Well, and the condition is actually not that bad, they still have about a month to go. But not that they will live exactly in a month, but as the orders begin to flow in, because this kind of beef will eventually be matured. Once they're slaughtered, it is matured for a few weeks, then they're cut, then it proceeds to the consumers. Okay, that's it for me today. Hope to catch you soon. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer. Detachments tomorrow. For me, it's bye bye for now.