Farmer who sold Uhuru a Sh1 million cow makes appeal to President

John Njoroge a farmer who sold his prize cows for more than Sh2 million in 2018 has now appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to cushion farmers against losses that have now seen him quit the once-lucrative cow farming business.

Njoroge sold one of his Friesian bulls to President Kenyatta at Sh1.15 million, and three heifers to Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina at Sh850,000.

That day the president vowed that his government was committed to ensuring value addition to the farm products and his government had set aside Sh3 billion for agricultural products in the county.

Fast forward to September 2021, Njoroge has now called it quits after making losses in his business.

John Njoroge holding a picture he took with President Uhuru Kenyatta Pulse Live Kenya

The farmer had been making more than Sh40,000 daily from his animals that were producing 1,000 litres of milk but is now considering switching to pig farming.

“Despite the fall in milk prices, the cost of feed kept escalating, and it became a real challenge to sustain the animals,” said Njoroge in an interview with Standard.

In 2019, the price of milk dipped to Sh19 per litre and in 2020, many schools where he would supply his milk closed down.

“I had to hawk my milk at that little price of Sh19 per litre, yet the produce was at the same time flooded in the market and I felt so frustrated,” he decried.

By 2021, the cost of soya which is vital for dairy cows rose from Sh40 per kg to Sh110 per kg. Cotton cake also hiked from Sh25 to Sh65 per kg.

“The cost of producing a litre of milk is Sh40, while the cost of making a kilogram of dairy meal is Sh50. On average, a cow feeds between 8kg and 10 kg, when you add silage or hay, the amount gets to Sh800 which means a cow eats more than it produces,” Njoroge broke down the expense.

His milk production has now fallen from a high of 1,000 litres to 500 litres per day which makes it hard for him to maintain the cows and farmworkers.

Njoroge plans on selling off the remaining cows in October as the final nail in his dairy farming coffin.