On the 19th of July, we hosted our first Field Day on the farm in a long time! This wonderful event brought together over 100 local farmers from Ol Rongai giving us the chance to showcase all the exciting developments we’re working on!
As part of the day’s attractions people were able to see some of our latest crop trials, including cowpeas, potatoes, five varieties of beans, sorghum, maize and pigeon peas. We also had small packs on sale, crucially these enable farmers to try small quantities of new crops and varieties without taking financial risks.
We were also joined by external exhibitors, including KEPHIS – the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, who discussed the importance of avoiding fake seed on the market. As well as by CKL Africa, who showcased their wide range of animal health solutions, and Greenlife Africa who are experts in crop protection.
CKL exhibiting their products.
In addition to the crops we showcased, we demonstrated our silage production process, using our E6315 sorghum variety.
Janey showing off our silage sorghum
In a bid to increase discussions about the importance of healthy soils, we also demonstrated production of dynamic liquid fertiliser with the new Johnson Sue system we’ve been implementing.
Philip showcasing our Johnson-Su composting set up
As the driving force at the inception of Leldet seed was the marginal conditions we in Ol Rongai face, it was wonderful to bring together a group of enthusiastic and expert neighbour farmers to share our vision of what successful and sustainable farming in these conditions can be.
What another wet quarter! We’ve been blessed with more rain, our dams are full, the crops are thriving and the livestock have masses of grazing.
A wet quarter on the farm!
Crops
We planted another crop of beans for the short rains, this includes KAT B1, KK8 and Chelelang. This is critical to replacing our stocks as bean seed sales in the south rift (Mulot, Bomet area) were strong this quarter, with smallholder farmers making the most of the extra El Nino rain we received this year.
Beans growing after a Boma rhodes grass crop.
The rain was a mixed blessing though, as there is plenty of forage across the country (especially since livestock numbers haven’t quite recovered since the last drought) so hay sales were very poor.
This quarter we also harvested grass seed from our Boma rhodes fields.
Stooks of Boma rhodes grass seeds.
Livestock
Our Jerseys have settled in nicely and are producing great milk, we are in the process of setting up systems to professionalize the dairy, for now we are selling milk through our local Ol Rongai Milk Cooperative.
One of the first new Jersey calves born on the farm
Despite vaccinating all of our cows, we had quite a bad bout of foot and mouth that, unusually for us, especially affected the cattle’s feet. Ordinarily we experience most foot and mouth symptoms in the mouth, which we are accustomed to treating. We nursed the affected livestock back to health as quickly as possible, though the rain and muddy conditions were an added challenge.
This quarter we sent a lorry of lambs to Choice Meats, we’re proud that all of our lambs received the premium grade. The sheep are all grass fed as part of our rotation, this comes through in the high quality of meat!
Life on the farm
We’ve been investing further in water infrastructure, this will be key to the farm’s resilience in future especially during drought years and will reduce our reliance on trucking water on the farm.
Meeting a cow for the first time!
Our latest additions are some ridgeback puppies, who aren’t too sure about cows yet, but we know they’ll be getting along in no time!
The rains have come and we’ve been busy this quarter!
The whole country faced severe flooding in April and May, we were not immune as several catchments on the farm are fed by drainage from surrounding roads. Our main dam was full for the first time, but did not overflow.
Our dam, full of water but fortunately not over flowing
We were also really pleased to see no runoff from any of our own fields, unlike over grazed areas on neighbouring farms, proving our concept for crop rotation resulting in healthier soils able to maximise water retention.
Our field are sodden, but there wasn’t any run off or erosion due to the soil management regime, where lots of last year’s biomass is left on the field.
At the same time, we have been laying pipes for distributing water to cattle troughs and other points around the farm, this will reduce the cost in distributing water.
A new pipeline to distribute borehole water across the farm.
Crops
April always means planting, planting, planting! And we’ve been busy! This season as part of our usual rotation and in anticipation of good rains, we have planted seed maize, beans, sorghum and grass. We were flat out managing field preparation, planting and subsequent scouting and pest management.
A crop of fresh Boma Rhodes grass.
The crops are all doing well, with the maize seed crop ready for detasseling in June. We continue to monitor wildlife threats, especially reed buck and guinea fowl which love to eat shoots, and wild pigs which will eat freshly planted seeds and small cobs.
Our maize seed crop, post detasseling with males on the left and females on the right.
The beans harvested in Q1 have met our consistently high quality, with KEPHIS returning 99% and 98% for Kat B1 and KK8 germination tests respectively.
Livestock
We’ve had an exciting development this quarter, bringing in a new herd of dairy cattle from the Hairy Dairy. These beautiful Jersey cattle will join our existing dairy cows as we develop this aspect of our livestock program.
Hairy Dairy cows, on their way to the farm!
In another first for us, we’re going to start breeding from one of our own AI bred bulls, this young Charolais cross should fill out and provide great genetics for our beef herd.
Our first AI-bred bull being used in our general beed breeding herd.
Additionally, we’ve been managing Foot and Mouth alerts in the area, with a vaccination program for all cows.
Life on the Farm
Loloto left us again, giving us time to fix fences and collect trees he has knocked over, we hope he’ll be safe until he returns.
In 2023, we shared information on our efforts to clear Lantana, an invasive shrub that smothers pasture, we recently commissioned a wood chipper, which will enable us to further deal with this threat while producing mulch returning biomass to the soil.
Cows happily grazing in pasture that is growing in a field cleared of Lantana
Lamu
While we were planting on the farm, we were also planting at the coast! This year we planted 500 mangroves along the beach at Mnazi Mmoja, in line with broader efforts in Lamu county to conserve mangrove cover to reduce beach erosion and create more habitat for marine life.
Mangroves planted in front of Mnazi Mmoja.
We’ve also been planting fruit trees for several years now, and these are starting to bear (delicious!) fruit!
Rajwera Farm 