acacialeakey

Fourth Quarter Update 2024

Ordinarily we expect the farm to dry off following the short rains, however, this quarter we have had plenty of rain so everything is still wet and green! 

Crops 

We’ve seen a strong demand for yellow beans (KAT B1) this season, we’re not entirely sure why, but we’re adjusting our planning to account for this change in demand. (Yellow beans are a low flatulence bean varity!) Our beans planted in August were successfully harvested, though the wet weather and cloudy days were a challenge during drying. 

Cleaned and sorted KAT B1 beans.

This year was the first year in 5 years that we planted a maize seed crop for Leldet Seeds. Seed maize is a tricky, labour intensive business and requires detasseling (removing tassels from “female” lines) and threshing by hand in order to ensure high quality seed. We’ve battled with the elephant and the pigs this quarter to keep our crop safe, and have had a successful harvest. This WE 5135 seed has passed all of it’s KEPHIS inspections, it is an MLND tolerant variety and will be on sale in 2025. 

Pig damage in the maize.

A very exciting update for us, we received a new Monosem planter, which will enable us to tighten up on our controlled traffic regime (where tractor tracks are restricted as much as possible, which is all part of our move to really take care of and grow our soils. 

The new monosem planter.

As part of this effort, Nigel and Janey took part in a training program with Nicole Masters, a soil expert from New Zealand, who discussed best practices for soil management in commercial agriculture.

Healthy living soil is the soul of any farm.

Livestock 

We sent 47 steers to Choice Meats this quarter, the quality and build of our cows is consistently at the premium grade. We’re proud to be able to sustain this high quality within a rotation that takes care of livestock, crop land and nature. 

Happy steers after a day of grazing and an evening treat of some silage.

To prepare us for the dry season, we have been making plenty of grass and sorghum silage, this boosts our milk production – for sale and for calves, and ensures that all of the animals maintain good condition through the dry period.

Silage making!

Life on the Farm

At the farm, we’re constantly maintaining the tractors and machinery that enable us to efficiently grow crops and serve the livestock. To professionalize this aspect of our activities, we’ve invested this quarter in a workshop, which will enable us to do dust free maintenance and have new upgraded stores for tools and spares. This is all part of our effort to foster an efficient and even safer workplace. 

A few of our team in front of the new workshop.

Looking towards Christmas, we’ll be selling deluxe Christmas trees for Christmas 2025. 

Thinking about Christmas 2025 already?

Lamu

We’re continuing to invest in Lamu, with more trees planted and a new Reverse Osmosis machine installed. This will reduce our reliance solely on rain water, and open up the possibility for new activities to maximise the utility of the space.

A new desalination system from Saltech.

The mangroves we planted earlier in the year are thriving, and are hopefully the start of rebuilding an incredible rich habitat on the beach.

Mangrove seedlings now established on the beach at Mnazi Mmoja.
acacialeakey

First Quarter 2024 Update

This year we’ve been off to a busy start, following the droughts in 2022 and 2023, we’ve been relieved to have had only a modest dry season, with a total of 150mm of rain in the first three months of the year. 

Patchy rain kept us reasonable green through the dry season.

We’ve now transitioned to using our borehole water for livestock and general operations, however as it’s not fit for human consumption we’re still using rainwater for all our drinking needs. In 2024 we aim to pipe the borehole water to all the main usage points, especially cattle troughs. 

Crops

We’ve had an exciting time with our beans this quarter, harvesting, dressing and packing seeds crops, with more in the field. We’re especially proud that our seeds produced outstanding germination results from KEPHIS: KK8 99%, KAT B1 97%, Chelelang 98%.

Our amazing Leldet beans!

These first class seeds are being introduced to new markets, through a field day in March in Timau where we reached farmers from as far afield as Meru and Maralal. We’ve introduced new packaging, including a new 1kg packet, to meet the demand of cash strapped farmers as we all adapt to the challenging economic conditions. Our sales throughout Mulot and Bomet remain strong. 

Leldet at the Timau Field Day, introducing our quality seeds to new farmers.

We’ve also been harvesting grass seed from our Boma Rhodes grass crops, and making hay. However, the light dry season has suppressed the hay market, which is a challenge for cash flow going into the pre-planting field preparation season. 

Boma Rhodes grass, cut for baling.

Field preparation has been going on in the lead up to Easter, and the expected long rains. We have bean and sorghum crops to harvest, and then we’ll be aerating fields that are going to be planted coming out of the grass phase in our rotation.

Livestock

Our cows and sheep have come through the dry season well, we’ve been topping up their grazing with silage in their bomas in the evening. The AI program has been ongoing, and we’ve welcomed our first AI Jersey calf. 

Our first Jersey AI Calf

Other work has included livestock chipping, in order to improve our records for better breeding and tracking for more productive and healthy herds. We’ve been keeping up with our consistent provision of beef cattle to choice meats, and our cows continue to rank at the highest quality. 

Our cows making it through the dry season in great condition!

We have faced some disease challenges this quarter, in large part due to the influx of cattle from a wide area onto a neighbouring farm, resulting in increased disease and pest – especially tic – load, and unfortunately some casualties. We’re continuing to build capacity within the team to recognize, diagnose and treat issues as soon as possible to maximise the welfare of the livestock.   

Life on the Farm

Loloto the elephant is back from his Christmas holidays, as ever, we’re pleased to have him back, but a little less thrilled to be dealing with the constant fence, tree and crop damage. We’ve had challenges this quarter keeping the farm safe for the wildlife we share the space with, especially from poachers who continue to set snares catching birds, hares and small antelopes, and cut down trees for charcoal production. 

Hares caught by poachers using snares on the farm.

We’ve been planting more trees, trying to make use of the borehole water to establish some fruit trees and other indigenous varieties. 

New fruit trees planted on the farm!

Lastly, we’ve slowly been building our workshop, so that onsite maintenance can be optimised. So much of our time is spent fixing tractors, planters, sprayers and other equipment, we want to ensure this can be done as seamlessly as possible. 

All in all, we’re looking forward to a productive 2024, mindful of the increasingly challenging economic conditions we’re facing alongside our team, neighbours, suppliers and customers.