Mkulima today smart agricultural practice is the best way to have sustainable farms, especially in animal farming. With better yielding inputs like hybrid seeds and animals, you can reduce your operating costs and increase your yields. Learn how to get high produce by choosing the right type of animals for business and taking good care of them.

Quality breeds are good for business as they give higher produce. E.g. improved kienyeji chicken lay more eggs than local kienyeji.

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Animal farming

Quality animal breeds for business have a lot of benefits to you as a farmer.

Some of the benefits of quality animal breeds include

  • they can cope well in different climatic conditions,
  • mature fast and be
  • resistant to pests & diseases.

These are traits that you can witness easily in poultry farming from birds like the KALRO improved Kienyeji compared to the kienyeji chicken that has a low yield.

Having a high quality animal is not the end of the road. After getting the right breed that is suited to your local needs and climatic conditions, it’s important to provide appropriate nutrients through a balanced diet to ensure the animal’s good health.

You can feed your animals regular animal feeds that are cheaper but they may not provide all nutrients required. Therefore supplementary feeds should be given.

Supplementary feeds can be bought or grown. In your day to day activities, you will notice a dairy farmer buys salt for minerals while a poultry farmer grows kales for vitamins.

When using bought feeds, be sure to strictly follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Do not give more or less than is recommended. This might lead to devastating effects and losses at worse even death to the animals.

Commercial feeds should be given to animals they’re intended for. For example, broiler feeds shouldn’t be given to kienyeji chickens.

To ensure animals remain healthy and productive, they should be given enough clean water daily in clean containers.

Protect your animals from pests & diseases by spraying with pesticides. Always vaccinate & consult vets when they fall sick.

To succeed in animal farming kindly follow some of these tips;

  • select quality breeds,
  • use supplementary feeds,
  • provide enough water and
  • control pests & diseases.

Having an agribusiness question? Do you know of a successful agribusiness venture or story that you wish to share? I would like to hear from you. Send me the TIP(s) at mkulimatoday@gmail.com

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