A dairy farmer feeds his cows in a zero grazing system. PHOTO/nmg
Experts from the National Animal Genetic Resource Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB) have urged dairy farmers to trace the history of their breeds if they are to increase their production.
In an interview with Seeds of Gold this week, Dr Jackson Mubiru from NAGRC&DB said that livestock farmers should consider the breed they are having on their farms to know the capability and the previous production of their parents.
“Cattle farming has several capabilities which include milk production with longevity, fertile to provide calves every year and beef for sale” he said.
Parental breeds
He added farmers should consider parental breeds were animals comes from so that they pass on their capabilities to their new breeds and identify the right product they want.
“Although parents meets through artificial insemination or natural breed, you must look for that animals and take data which can explain the capability of the new product depending on the a farmer’s interest,” he said.
According to Dr Mubiru, famers should take data seriously because it helps to recognise the type of animal you have on health, feeding and production.
“You have to evaluate all the animals you have by their parents and performance so that you can assess and help people who need them to know the type of product they have,” he said.
Farmer’s training
Farmers have to evaluate, register and certify for the purposes of revealing the type of breed.
Ms Easter Nakajubi, vice chairperson of Cattle Generation Association who spearheaded a recent two-day training in Namulonge at Sight farm revealed to Seeds of Gold that farmers need continuous training.
“Through these trainings people share experiences with farmers which can create impact in their dairy farming as well as spreading the message to other farmers,” she said.
She added that in dairy farming they share knowledges within the country and abroad where they benchmark other countries on how the operate and earn more from dairy farming.
Ms Nakajubi said since other countries are more advanced than Uganda especially in management, farmers need to go there physically and learn how they are operating and managing their farms.
“We want our farmers to start practicing what they have learnt from other countries with experience and see how they can create impact in their production,” she said.
Ms Nakajubi advised farmers not focus on one product because dairy farming has several benefits with value addition.
“We have also embarked on organising groups of dairy farmers into cooperatives where we can be able to create markets for our products which are viable and sustainable for the farmers,” she says.
Farmer’s perspective
The Director of Information and Publicity from National Resistance Movement, Emmanuel Dombo who is also a livestock farmer was among the dairy farmers that attended training. While speaking of the benefits of the training, Dombo told Seeds of Gold that farmers needs regular trainings because systems keep on changing especially in agriculture.
“Knowledge is the only resource which multiplies when you share it therefore we have attended this training so that we can improve our farming practices,” Dombo said.
He added that though Uganda is endowed with very good climate and agriculture materials, many people remain ignorant about the capability the country has.
“At times we import milk from Kenya because our production is very low, as a country we need to train our farmers on how to produce excess products and occupy the available markets,” he said.
“Leaders in central region concentrate more on politics instead of how to transform the people they lead, it is our plea that in addition to politics let people also talk about people’s welfare and what they can do to change their lives,” said Dombo.
Advice
The Director of Information and Publicity from National Resistance Movement, Emmanuel Dombo, who is also a livestock farmer, was among the dairy farmers that attended training. While speaking of the benefits of the training, Dombo told Seeds of Gold that farmers needs regular trainings because systems keep on changing especially in agriculture.
