Author: acacialeakey

This quarter we prepared for the short rains, and harvested the first of our 2023 crops. 

Crops

Our first harvest is our bean seed crops planted in the long rains. We were delighted with our high germination rate of 96% (KEPHIS – the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service – requires a minimum of 80% for a registered seed crop). 

We also planted 3 bean crops – KAT B1, Chelelang and KK8, and have a sorghum crop growing for both seed and silage. 

We’ve also continued with our staple grass crop – both hay and seed Boma Rhodes, this provides crucial cash flow and is central to our crop rotations.

Livestock

Our cattle and sheep are thriving, having come out of the prolonged dry season in reasonably good health. We delivered a shipment of steers to Choice Meats, and have been continuing our work with artificial insemination (AI) to improve the genetics of our herd. You can read more about this here! 

We did have some disease challenges this quarter, especially “blue tongue” in calves, which comes about when the cattle and the sheep are in close proximity. We vaccinated for foot and mouth as there were some cases in the region. 

Life on the Farm

We’ve continued our tree planting efforts with eucalyptus and cyprus for timber in the future, and with fruit trees in the borehole compound, these have gone in with fairly wet conditions, and we hope the trees will be established by the dry season. 

The challenges we faced in Q2 with the borehole have not yet been fixed, but we hope for a resolution soon. The rain has abated some of the water stress we faced last year, especially as we’re mostly able to depend on the fruits of investing in more water harvesting infrastructure.

April, May and June mean one thing – planting in the long rains! This year we received moderately good rain, with 195mm in April, continuing into May before drying out in June.

Crops

In keeping with our ongoing crop rotation, we planted beans, sorghum and grass in April, taking advantage of the rain and the moist soil. These crops are planted with minimum tillage, with only our fallowed grass fields receiving deep tillage to break up compacted soil structure. The beneficial outcomes of many years of this practice are evident, in the first large storm of the year (40mm in one hour!!) we didn’t loose any top soil to erosion, with all the welcome rain water infiltrating into the parched soil. Additionally, soil analysis shows our soils have an organic matter content of 5%, which we aim to increase further.

All seed crops were registered with KEPHIS, whose inspections are on going. We also conduct daily scouting to monitor plant health and progress, and keep an eye out for any pest or disease threats that might need to be nipped in the bud.

Livestock

The extended drought took a toll on all of our pastures, this year we kept the cattle within their home bomas for two weeks to allow for the pastures to recover. This also gave us the opportunity to repair bomas, and generally maintain herds through weaning and organization.

After taking courses in the UK, both Nigel and Harry have been carrying out AI, this quarter we had our first AI calves! We also bought a new Angus bull from Marania, so we’re looking forward to seeing our herd genetics continue to improve.

With the rains we expect disease burden to reduce, especially major threats such as Foot and Mouth. However the next door farm had an outbreak of Anthrax, fortunately we were able to act quickly to vaccinate our herds and we’re grateful that we had no cases. 

This quarter we split the sheep into 2 flocks, each with their own rams, Jeremy and Caleb. We had a successful lambing season, with minimal losses, and a surprising number of twins, which is not something we’ve experienced at high rates in the past, we’ll aim to select for this in the future.

Water

The borehole finally started pumping water, the water storage infrastructure was completed and we were gearing up to transport water by gravity through the farm. However, disaster struck when the pump failed, we hope for this to be fixed in the next quarter.

Our dams collected some water, though due to the land management practices we actually have minimal runoff to fill them!

Trees

For an additional income stream and to meet growing demands for firewood and timber, we have are trialing commercial stands of Cypress and Eucalyptus trees. We also planted Avocado trees, however these are unfortunately being eaten by antelope and pigs, highlighting the ongoing need to adapt to farming along side thriving wildlife.

Life on the farm

We’re so pleased to have a respite from the drought, which was really taking a toll on people, animals and the landscape! The resident elephant, Lolotoo, left the farm and has been tracked to highland forests nearby. In his absence, we’re continuing to repair fences, collect trees he has knocked over and clear invasive lantana.

We’re looking forward to a successful growing season, hopefully with a bit more rain than we had last year!  

This year got off to a punishingly dry start! While January, February and most of March are usually dry, this dry season came at the end of a prolonged, crippling drought and really tested all of our systems!

We were fortunate to receive rain at the end of March, and this has happily continued into April. Our rain is usually associated with Easter, which is early this year.

Crops

With very little moisture in the fields we had no crops growing at all this quarter. Most of the fields were fallow, with even minimal grazing capacity.

We did have very good bean seed sales in Bomet, our stocks completely sold out within a month. 

We used the dry season to build up a little tree nursery with well over a thousand Acacia tree seedlings, which we will use to replace fallen and old trees, especially where Lolotoo (the resident elephant) has knocked over or damaged trees.

Livestock

The cows have come through these harsh conditions very well, maintaining condition and still looking very healthy. Some steers were sold to Choice Meats, all of which were graded as Premium. This is in large part thanks to our preparation for the dry season, especially, silage and hay.

The cows also benefited from Acacia siberiana seeds, which they absolutely love! The experienced cows know to run to the right trees, and will spend all day picking up the delicious seeds.

We vaccinated for Foot and Mouth, and were lucky not to have any other outbreaks, especially as there was a significant amount of Contagious Bovine Plural Pneumonia (CBPP) around in neighboring counties, and the dry weather led to a lot of movement of livestock around the country looking for grazing and water.

The Dorper sheep are in their element enjoying these conditions, this quarter we got a new ram from Borana to introduce some new genes to the herd.

Water

With the drought the cattle were drinking a huge amount of water, and with Lolotoo’s daily showers our capacity to keep troughs full was stretched! Each dry season this is becoming a more critical issue, as pressure on local water sources is increasing, with lorries coming all the way from Nakuru town. We were fortunate to be able to access borehole water from Kampi ya Moto, but the situation in the long term is untenable. 

To mitigate this, we continued with the preparation for getting our new borehole online, with a new pump, generator and piping infrastructure. This is complicated by the high temperature of the water in the borehole, which means that the motor and generator are over sized. We have been busy building a special generator house and security accommodation on the site, and have coordinated with the county to put a pipeline across to the main farm. The water will go to a stone tank, from which it will be pumped to elevated tanks for further distribution. 

We’re really excited about the potential for this new resource to unlock new opportunities, while ensuring we’re able to see livestock through challenging conditions. 

Wildlife and Environment

Lolotoo has been making his presence felt, both on the farm with lots of tree damage, and on neighboring farms where he went on a couple of nightly raids. We tried to stop this by putting an extra electrified wire along our southern boundary, while also making sure that neighbors were able to coordinate with the area Chief and KWS to access the appropriate compensation. 

We’ve been making use of the dry conditions to continue our efforts to combat invasive Lantana, the rains at the end of March show the impact this will have as newly cleared areas are coming back with lovely native vegetation that will make for good herbage lays. 

Life at the farm

We’re continuing staff training, with one new driver licensed and increasing computer and record keeping capacity amongst the management. Everyone is really relieved to have some reprieve from the drought, and we hope that 2023 will bring bountiful harvests for all! 

This year has been full of both success and challenges, we received 792mm of rain which is below average for the farm, this really highlights the importance of our holistic approach of minimum tillage and crop rotation.

Crops

Overall our arable activities have been limited due to the low rainfall. We had a disappointing season with another failed maize crop. However, our bush beans (Chelelang and KK8) were more successful with good crop yields for seed, however due to the sporadic rain we had to limit the area under cultivation. Demand for Leldet seed remains very high.

The Leldet sorghum E6518 produced a good silage crop, with a total of 805 tonnes (combined sorghum and grass silage) in storage to ensure we can get through what we expect to be a punishing 2022/2023 dry season.

Our Boma Rhodes Grass continues to be a key part of our rotation, the fields produced well with 8 tons of grass seed produced for Kenya Seed Company – which had a record germination rate – and hay bales being sold directly off fields due to high demand with the continuing drought across Kenya.

Product Development

We are committed to working with partners in industry, government and research to improve the crops varieties and practices in use – especially in marginally arid agriculture – to improve food security in Kenya and beyond.  

Leldet is a member of the Kenya Bean consortium, which is working to engage CIAT (the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture) to help release bean varieties under the Seed Harmonization Agreement, pending the supply of data to KEPHIS (the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate) to enable release of new varieties. The delay directly results in lost seasons for farmers for whom these improved seeds could boost yields and incomes. As we wait for this to be resolved, we are continuing with the bean trials, data collection and harvesting.

We’ve continued our Soybean Trials into a second year with a Soybean kit imported from Zambia. Our Trial Manager, David Omosula has been working with Illinois University, collecting data in the field with a “QuickTrials” app, which improves the accuracy of data, especially for disease and pest identification. We’re working with Qualibasic to manage the release of the Leldet Soybean through NPT trials with KEPHIS. 

The trials have expanded to include maize, this year we received AATF (African Agricultural Technology Foundation) maize parent lines (WH5375) and planted a small trial plot. The seed will be used for promotion and farmer awareness in the 2023 long rains with the intention of starting to sell seed in the 2023 short rains. 

In 2021 we trialled forage grasses from Alliance of Biodiversity, these continue to grow well and we have used splitting to propagate these grasses into larger plots, quite a labour intensive process! Our intention is to silage the plots in 2023 and start sharing these varieties of grass with our neighbours. 

In partnership with Agri Experience we started promoting the Leldet small packs using standard seed which is an exciting project we hope to expand in the long rains 2023 with yellow beans and forage sorghum.

Livestock

Our livestock operations have had a very successful 2022! This year we had 127 calves born, the mortality rate is down to just 7% and weaning weight at 9 months has been an average of 200kg. We’ve been fortunate to have limited disease challenges this year, having tightened up on hygiene and early diagnosis of illnesses. Despite the reduced rainfall this year, our silage feeding and rotational grazing have resulted in continued sales to Choice Meats with our cattle consistently grading between Premium and High Grade.

We’ve been improving the quality of our stock through intensive AI – artificial insemination – with both beef (Angus, Charolais and Simmental) and dairy (Jersey) genes. This has been enabled by both Harry and Nigel completing a DEFRA accredited AI course.

We transitioned the sheep into lambing seasonally by limiting access of our rams. This has helped enormously in controlling disease within the herd. The results of these efforts are clear – all of the lambs that have gone on to be sold have all been of the highest category, Premium!

Nature and Environment

Lolotoo the Elephant was officially named and collared thanks to Mark Goss at the Mara Elephant Project and KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service). We have been able to track Lolotoo when leaving the farm and ensuring on his return that the electric fence has been switched off.

We were privileged in September to host two eminent professors who were researching Human and Animal conflict for their latest book. They were able to experience first hand the damage and humbling experience of hosting an elephant while managing a commercial farm.

Elliot has been busy keeping the Night Cameras up, which has produced extraordinary pictures and videos of wild pigs, striped hyena, caracal, and owls at water troughs.

We’ve been increasing our Lantana clearing efforts, with both Harry and Elliot working with JCB. This has resulted in improved grazing and seems to be appreciated by the duiker and dikdik too. Elliot has also created water pans both for livestock and wildlife.

In 2022 we made a massive effort to increase the number of trees planted, both indigenous and fruit trees. We planted over 70 fruit trees, over 100 cyprus and gum trees, and started a nursery with over 300 indigenous acacia trees.

Water

One clear lesson of the prolonged reduced rain has been the need to increase the efficiency of water consumption and maximise our water harvesting and storage. In partnership with road engineers we have diverted run off from the Ol’Rongai road via a large trench leading to an earthen dam. The cattle have been in the dam to help with puddling after the rain, this compacts the ground and we hope this dam will be a good water storage resource. 

All of the stores have been fitted with guttering and tanks, this has proved invaluable not only with the water storage but also with erosion. 

The directors took the decision to try and drill a borehole having had two failed attempts in 2002. It was a heart stopping couple of months with the first hole completely dry, however with perseverance a second hole was dug and we hit water!! This is a very exciting moment for the farm! In due course we hope to start utilising this water after installing pumping and storage infrastructure, however it will be nontrivial as the water is rather warm at 61C! 

Staff Training

Our greatest resource is the incredible team we work with every day. We’ve been investing in capacity building activities to support continued professional growth. 

• Four members of the team completed a two-day Electric Fence course at Instarect in Nairobi, resulting in better fence maintenance and the construction of temporary fences around the key crops to keep out the elephant.
• Five staff did a Red Cross first aid training in Nakuru. 
• Harry and Elliot did a Captains Boat Handling course in Watamu which is necessary for compliance when using boats in Lamu.
• Three members were trained in computer skills, with our management team transitioning to being able to conduct more day-to-day admin.

Lamu

Harry, Rono, Maurice and Philip spent a month at the beginning of the year building the fence around the Lamu plot. This has reestablished the fence line and improved the security of the land. This will enable us to expand our fruit trees and protect the natural bush. 

Looking Forward

The future is bright for Rajwera! We’ve come through a challenging few years with Covid and drought, and developed resilience and new focus on key priorities. In the future we will be upgrading our farm infrastructure to enable increasingly professional administration, mechanical maintenance and livestock management. We will be utilising internationally cutting edge software packages to improve the farms efficiency and productivity. Finally, we’re looking forward to building on the new water resources and continuing staff capacity building.

Water

Coming into 2022 we were already feeling the impact of the worsening drought, this has really focused attention of securing water for domestic and livestock use. Guttering has been fixed to all the roofs and tanks bought for storage with a Maji Storage tank of 100,000lts being erected at the office compound for further storage before being pumped into a dam. The dam will be lined later in the year and also a further 100,000lt and a 200,000lt tank are being planned. Two borehole sites have been identified and drilling/abstraction permits granted.

Livestock

Despite the dry weather the sheep have had a successful birthing season with the loss of only three lambs and 55 surviving. The plan of putting the Rams (Jeremey and Caleb) with the ewes late September seems to have paid off with a batch of lambs ready for market later in the year helping cash flow predictions! The cattle were vaccinated against Foot and Mouth and dewormed and have been fed grass and sorghum silage in their night bomas every day. This has resulted in the cattle coming through a tough dry season without losing condition and being able to sell premium grade meat to Choice Meats.

Seeds

Leldet continues to participate in the Pan African Soyabean trials and with the assistance of Promasidor has entered an IITA soyabean variety into National Performance Trials. Production to start in 2024 if the variety is successfully released.

The Kenya Bean Consortium of which Leldet is a founding member has been busy with identifying varieties for commercial production. The Consortium will be requesting an exemption from the National release committee in May as the chosen varieties have been released in more than two East African Countries. If this is successful it will be a game changer for the Kenya Bean market and in particular the small holder farmer.  

The bean and sorghum seed have again passed their germination with percentages in the high nineties and will be ready for farmers to purchase in April, including small packs of Kat B1 which is a yellow bean. 

Crops

Preparation has been made for the coming planting season with a brand new Leldet maize variety WE5135 being prepared for planting, We are tremendously excited about this variety as it will be MLND resistant and offer our farmers a better option than what they have now.  

Harry and Kurgat attended an AATF training on seed maize in Ziwani, and they both found the training interesting and enlightening. We look forward to their input in the coming season. 

Our emphasis on regenerative agriculture using practices such as strip grazing, minimum tillage etc are paying off with soil samples showing that our organic matter is 7.2%. We hope that with the continued emphasis on ground cover and minimal soil exposure we will continue to grow our soils and keep them healthy. This is especially important with the raising cost of inputs and cutting back on fertiliser. It will be interesting to see the effect on the maize crops this year as it will be planted into a cover crop which was a mixture of millet and pigeon pea. 

Wildlife

The Elephant came back on Valentine’s Day though he was a bit late getting into the farm and was quite stressed when he eventually got through the fence. He went into the sisal and stayed there for a few days recovering before reacquainting himself. We would like to thank the Mara Elephant Project, Mark Goss and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) as they came and put a collar on the elephant who is now known as Lolotoo meaning wander in Masaai. Harry was on the farm to assist and managed to get a ride in the helicopter! We are now able to follow him on Wild Tracks app which when he moves off will be interesting to see where he wanders. The team collaring Lolotoo were impressed with his condition which Janey puts down to him eating the ratoon crop of Leldet sorghum E6518. 

Elliot and Nigel were able to rescue an egg eating snake and took the opportunity to discuss the benefits of snakes. 

This year we have been under enormous pressure on the north boundary as the neighboring farm has been unable to control opportunistic grazing herds of cattle which has led to attempts to invade our farm for grazing. So far, all efforts have been unsuccessful, but the fence team have had to be on their guard and respond to fence alarms etc. Alfred Rono and Harry went on a two-day Instarect fencing course and have come back with new ideas on how to keep the boundary electric fence better maintained. 

Lamu

In January Harry Rono Philip and Maurice went down to Mnazi Moya to build the boundary fence. It was extremely hard work with hot days but the team did a super job and managed to take in some sight seeing by going to Takwa Ruins on Manda island.

It has been another busy and successful quarter at Rajwera. We have been fortunate to have continued good rains, despite the regional drought, this has kept pasture growing and helped some of the short rain crops produce good yields. 

The resident elephant has left us for his annual Christmas break. We hope he is safe and sound wherever he is, and we are enjoying a respite in the destruction by fixing all of the broken fences. 

Sadly, we have seen an increase in the amount of snares being placed in the shamba, with 56 being removed in December alone. These target small antelope and birds (such as guinea fowls) and lead to a lot of suffering and damage.

Crops

The short rains growing season was successful, with good beans, sorghum and grass harvests. 

We turned some of our E6518 sorghum into silage, but due to its popularity, kept some of the crop back and harvested it for seed. 

We harvested our KK8 beans from the second, short rains growing season and were pleased to have record yields – we attribute this to using mixed base fertilizer including CAN and high quality seed. 

We’re excited to share that we have planted a dedicated cover crop for the first time. This crop is a mixture of millet, pigeon pea, cow peas, green grams and then volunteer beans from the first season’s bean crop. 

We have continued to produce hay, with a marked increase in demand due to the drought and the price per bale doubling. 

Livestock

The drought has increased disease burden in the region, with some cases of foot and mouth cases being reported. So far we have been fortunate to escape this, however we are being exceptionally cautious.  

We sent off another load of 24 cattle to Choice Meats, this regular shipment of high quality beef which is helpful for cash flow. 

In October we conducted a complete herd census, we are keeping discipline in retaining our target stock, removing older breeding cows as higher quality heifers come through. We’re seeing the impact of the improved stock, for example in our November weaning the majority of our weaners (aged 9 months) were over 200kgs. 

The new Dorper rams introduced in last quarter’s report came out of the herd in December for a targeted lambing cycle with the first crop of lambs in March through to May to coincide with the rains and subsequent good grass.

Life on the Farm

All staff who wanted to get vaccinated had the opportunity to do so through AVAT – African Vaccination Acquisition Trust. We welcome the protection this brings but the need for continued caution was highlighted in December, when the whole family came down with Covid. Fortunately no one was hospitalized, and no staff have been seriously ill. 

We have been increasingly investing in workshop equipment, we want to be able to do high quality fabrication and maintenance on site, the investment is key to help us move away from “jua kali” jobs. 

We’ve recently uploaded some new images to the website from our motion sensor cameras. The page can be found here.

We look forward to a safe and prosperous 2022, and wish you a happy new year! 

It has been another busy quarter on the farm. The elephant has dominated life on the farm over the last few months, he is becoming more and more comfortable which is both a privilege and at times, a nuisance. Daily routines have subsequently evolved to a round of repairs; fixing broken fences, rebuilding gates, chasing him out of crops and most importantly making sure everyone stays safe.

The Barn Owls have had another clutch of owlets in the house roof and we are starting to see some migratory birds return to the farm. The night cam footage in July and August showed a continued striped hyena presence on the farm and a host of other small mammals and birds.

Crops

This quarter has seen mixed results with our crops. We suffered the classic dry July which seriously affected our “long rains” bean crop, coming as it did at the point of flowering and pod set. Yields were only 10% of what we had expected. We’ve also suffered the attentions of the resident elephant, herds of bush pigs and seen unfamiliar challenges such as head smut on the maize. Thankfully, the crop base is wider now as we continue to diversify and we have been fortunate to have had beautiful sorghum, “short rains” bean crops planted in August and fantastic Boma Rhodes grass crops for seed and forage production. It has also been an exciting time seeing really promising results from our various trials; beans, soya and pigeon pea.

Due to our commitment to keeping ‘wild’ spaces on the farm to promote and sustain biodiversity, we inevitably have to battle with all of the animals that call the farm their home but also want to eat crops. Usually this is not a big problem, as a few nibbles from a reed buck or a few seeds picked up by a guinea fowl are not significant, however this year we have come up against wild pigs and most conspicuously, the elephant, which has been sampling all of the crops and doing particular damage to our maize seed crop. This is also the first year that the elephant has shown interest in the beans which is an unwelcome development.  This is now the 6^th year that we have had the elephant with us. We realize that we have to learn to live with him and indeed manage him if we are ever going to harvest our seed crops. Control methods continue to evolve and we are confident that we will succeed.  

In order to control the elephant we have:

• Installed temporary high voltage electric fences around the crops, which he doesn’t particularly like, but can get through. (This is most effective in keeping wild pigs out.)
• Laid bands of jagged rocks across known access points where he particularly likes to use to get into the field.  
• Lined the fence around the crop with chilli soaked rope. 
• Put up bee hives with wire triggers. 
• Slowly burned chillies along the fence line, the smoke turned out to be quite an effective deterrent.

After significant investment of time and capital spent in animal control, the maize crop was then affected by smut, a fungal infection that has been seen at unprecedented levels across the region. Left unmanaged, a high smut challenge can result in a seed crop being disqualified due to quality control. Management requires infected cobs to be removed, plants destroyed and residue burnt. The number of cobs removed was unprecedented. This was of course extremely disappointing, but as a quality seed grower and producer we cannot afford to compromise on quality. It appears that the high smut challenge was also attributed to the warm, dry and sunny weather in July. 

We planted more KK8 and Chelelang in August, this has had good rain on it and we are looking forward to a good crop. This was the first bean crop planted using the GPS system and the results were encouraging. Interestingly, during planting in August we blended the usual NPK 23:23:0 fertilizer with CaN (27% N) and have seen a huge positive response to the CaN in the bean crop.

The Bean trials conducted with Kenya Bean Consortium produced ten candidates, three red speckled (one a climber), one black bean, two white with black speckles, two small ruby red, and two pale purple. The next step is to register the varieties on the COMESA catalogue which would allow a faster release of the beans under the agreed Seed Harmonization Agreement. If this process is successful it would potentially be an exciting development for the OPV crops in Kenya.

The soya trials were fascinating, with a large variation in the maturity and performance of the different varieties. This would primarily be down to day length or photosensitivity. The data collected will now be used to select for a more refined testing with SIL (Soya Innovation Lab) with the view to release.

Trials on Pigeon Peas are on going and is an interesting crop, several varieties were tested and will be harvested in the next quarter. For our fellow farmers this is a good crop to diversify into as allowing cattle to graze through a small area prior to feeding improves weight gain and milk yields. This is particularly relevant with feed costs spiraling.

Our forage crops have been successful, Leldet’s E6518 forage sorghum is massive (as usual!) and some will be turned into silage to carry the steers over the dry season, and a seed harvested for sale. Next quarter we will report on our grass forage trails.

The boma rhodes has been a great crop this year, with incredible seed yields and hay sales supporting cash flow between other harvests.

This year we have also planted a trial cover crop for the first time. This is a complimentary operation to the No Till and other conservation agricultural practices being adopted on the farm. This trial used equal weights of pearl millet, green gram, cowpea and pigeon pea blended together and planted through the No-Till Piket planter at a seed rate of 18Kg/Ha, no fertilizer applied and the previous bean/weed stubble was then sprayed with glyphosate. The crop has germinated well at the time of writing this report and we look forward to reporting on the same next quarter. 

Livestock

Following a large sale of sheep into a decent market, we have decided to keep the 50 best ewes and purchase two new rams from Mpala Ranch in order to launch a new breeding program.  Our two new rams came on to the farm in August and have been christened Jeremy and Kaleb. We have also for the first time invested in marking harnesses and crayon blocks hoping to identify which ram had covered which ewe, only to quickly establish that both are intent on having a go. With two color patches on her rump, we can at least be sure that the ewe was ready for service!

The cows continue to do well and for the first year ever we managed to sell in excess of 100 fat stock to our main client in Nairobi. This is a significant uptick in the herd productivity and gives impetus to the continued investment in forage, conserved feeds and genetics.

The most exciting development in this department is the use of on farm AI. In August we invested in the equipment necessary to hold stocks of semen on the farm; Aberdeen Angus, Charolais and Jersey semen sourced through World Wide Sires. Now that we have Harry back on the farm and he has recently been certified in AI practice, we are hoping to administer AI to some of our Jersey and Boran-Charolais cross cows. We look forward to welcoming the results in 9 month’s time. Ultimately, the genetics of our main beef herd will tend towards Angus and Charolais cattle. We will also maintain the smaller nucleus Boran herd.  

Transition

Sadly we lost Mr. Jonathan Leakey in July 2021 after a period of illness. Jonathan was a Director and had previously been a majority shareholder in Chemeron Limited., always a keen supporter of the farm. His support and encouragement will be missed by us all. 

As part of this transition, this website will also in future include a section on Lamu under “Chemeron Lamu”. This is a new horizon for us and there are exciting plans in the pipeline for developing the Lamu assets with desalination, hydroponic crop production and other ideas being researched. There is also scope for some real estate development for rental income, thereby ensuring a sustainable cash flow.

Farm Developments

All our plans pertaining to the livestock enterprises on the farm depend upon reliable water supplies. The portion of the farm that was hived off and subdivided is now beginning to sell, thereby generating an income stream for CAPEX developments on the farm and water resources are now in focus. We have commissioned a study on surface water catchment and in the coming months hope to procure a range of rubber lined steel tanks to hold 400m3 of rainwater, several 20,000 litre plastic rain water tanks and we have plans to line one of the earthen reservoirs on the farm with an impermeable membrane. Rainwater harvesting from existing roofs and the dam should provide 60% of our annual needs.

Many years ago we attempted to drill two boreholes on the farm, these proved to be dry down to a depth of 280m. However, there is increasing evidence that our area does have water bearing aquifers but that they are generally below 300m in depth. In view of this and with improved analytical technology, we are encouraged to try again and this will proceed in the second half of 2022 once the surface water collection investment has been completed.

In a related investment, the farm has also procured a third hand JCB backhoe loader. This unit will be deployed to develop water pans across the farm and to dig drainage ditches with the express objective of filling the older dams that are in place on the farm. 

We have also been undertaking some accommodation improvements for our employees by constructing new staff housing, this will be complete before the end of the year. Additional plans include showers, changing rooms and the provision of lockers for the storage of clothes and PPE. 

Listen to Janey talking to PBS’s Plant Breeding Stories series about the importance of cover crops and orphan crops!

This great discussion covers the importance of soil health, challenges faced by both seed farmers and small holders, and the increasing impact of climate change.

The rains kicked off in April this year, bringing much needed respite from the annual dry season. We haven’t received as much rain as we would usually expect, but this means we are really reaping the benefits of minimum tillage and diverse crops.

CROPS

This year we’re growing seed maize for Corteva planting into last year’s bean field with minimum tillage. The maize was planted in a MMFFFFFF formation, with one of the male lines planted 1 week before the rest of the lines. In order to accurately plan the lines, we’ve installed satellite assisted steering, this is another step towards increased accuracy and efficiency on the shamba. The maize went into last year’s bean field, with no tillage. Minimum tillage – or as in this case no tillage – has a myriad of  benefits chiefly moisture retention (as we’ll explain in an upcoming dedicated post).

We’ve also planted beans, which went into a field that was previously grazed. The bean varieties planted are KK8, KAT B9 and Chelelang. These will be for seed in the short rains growing season, the demand for high quality Leldet seeds still outstrips production. The bean field was chiseled – this is a key component of our conversation tillage and crop rotation programs – chiseling reverses compaction caused by grazing by cattle and subsequently by sheep, and helps control established weeds.

Excitingly, we’re conducting several trials this year. 

We have planted 38 varieties of Soya Bean which are all part of the PanAfrican Soya Bean Variety Trials. This program seeks to address the relative lack of investment in research, breeding and deployment of non-GMO Soybeans across Africa.

In addition, we have also planted bean trials which are part of the Kenya bean consortium. We’ve planted 14 bean varieties in our trials, these have been released in two other East African countries, and the objective of the consortium is to leverage the seed harmonization agreement to fast track release of the varieties to the Kenyan market. The overall aim of the consortium is to create a platform for collaboration between seed companies with the end goal of increasing the availability of good varieties and high quality seed on the market.

We’ve also planted trials for forage crops, these could become critical components of our rotation program, the varieties planted include Brachiaria and Crotalaria, supplied by Alliance of Biodiversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).  

All of the trials are aligned with Leldet’s core objectives of ensuring appropriate varieties are available to customers who need them and are of a high standard. 

Other crops planted this year include sorghum – Leldet’s E6518 forage sorghum variety and Boma Rhodes grass, for a mixture of seed and silage. The first silage harvest is well underway.

LIVESTOCK

With all of the new pasture the cows are looking very good. The steers are still receiving silage, and showing very positive weight gain. With each new group of weaners we are increasingly appreciating the visible success of selective breeding, with the end result of larger, healthier animals.

Calving sequence – a Boran – Angus/Charolais cross comes into the world and is greeted by her father and some curious calves!

We are gradually phasing out Dorpers on the farm, if you are interested in purchasing Dorper sheep please feel free to contact us. The principal reason for this is that with a smaller herd we can refocus on best practice and high quality animals through careful breeding. There is also a chance that the sheep act as a disease reservoir for diseases that affect the cows, particularly Blue Tongue, which is quite lethal for calves as it results in swollen/rigid tongues which means they are unable to suckle or effectively swallow milk.

LIFE ON THE FARM

The resident Elephant has left the shamba and so we have been catching up with fence fixing and generally clearing up after him. We are populating the website with more images and information about the farm – the most recent addition being our post about birds – click here to read it!

We’ve also continued our clearing of Lantana camara (discussed in our Q1 2021 report).

Over all the past three months have been very busy with planting, but very successful too. We now wait for more rain to carry the crops over to harvest, and continue to adapt to the new normal under Covid-19. 

January, February and March are usually dry on the farm, and this year has been no different. While this puts pressure on grazing and increases the risk of fires, it also provides a respite in vegetation growth that allows us to get everything under control before the rainy season begins in April.

This quarter a real effort has been made to clear Lantana camara, an invasive plant that grows vigorously, including up into mature trees, smothering them. We’ve been removing lantana by hand from paddocks and conservation corridors in order to rescue the natural vegetation and also open up dense Lanata thickets to enable grass to grow for pasture.

Before and after clearing of Lantana camara.

Crops

We harvested beans in the last quarter of 2020, and have been busy sorting, dressing and packing these for sale. Sales really picked up in the Bomet area in March, and we anticipate this will continue as the rainy season gets under way. Our germination test results from KEPHIS were 96%. 

We’ve also been selling hay, so far this year we have produced and sold 20,895 bales of Boma Rhodes hay. The price has been low this year, but the sales are crucial for cash flow during the dry season.

As we gear up for the rainy season we have been busy prepping fields. Due to our minimum tillage approach, we usually plant directly into the previous year’s field, in which case a little mowing is all that is required. But in one year of our 7 year rotation we will put a chisel, plough or triple-K into a field that has been heavily compacted, for example after grazing. 

This quarter we got results that show that this approach is working, the levels of biological material in the soil are an impressive 5.6%. 

Cows

The cows have come through the dry season really well, with only older cows with young calves showing the effects of the dry conditions. We have been giving all of the cows silage, mostly grass, but steers and cull cows have been on sorghum silage to boost their weight. 

The cows have been vaccinated against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), and fortunately there have been no bad outbreaks in the area and no cases on the farm. We’ve also vaccinated against Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), though unfortunately we have still lost a few calves. LSD is a really horrendous disease which presents initially as lumps on the skin and becomes fatal when these lesions spread across the animal’s lungs. Both FMD and LSD are particularly distressing because the cows are clearly uncomfortable, which takes a heavy toll as we take their welfare very seriously. 

On an exciting note, we had our first ever set of twins on the farm! An older Jersey cow who had been given AI imported Jersey semen produced two adorable young calves who are completely inseparable!

Aside from our usual farm work we have also registered the farms airstrip – Chemeron. The airstrip is now 18m wide and 850m long. Registered private airstrips in Kenya are recognized by the Kenya Aviation Authority, but still require private permission prior to landing.

All of this has been going on with the resident elephant in the background. He is destroying fences on a nightly basis, though fortunately the cows are now so used to him they no longer run away and cause extra nighttime havoc. The elephant is also drinking copious amounts of scarce water, and just to show off, throwing a lot more water around as he bathes. 

KWS are aware of his presence, though unfortunately, their attempts to keep him away from cows, fences, and buildings have been unsuccessful. The situation is manageable at present, but will be of real concern if he targets valuable seed crops later in the year. 

Of course we’re all still dealing with the reality of Covid. We’re strictly adhering to all of the government directives and enforcing sanitation and face mask wearing, especially for visitors to the farm such as hay customers. The threat is still with us and we can only be too careful! 

Stay safe and well!