Gospel musician invests in dairy farming
Onanyang milking the cow, the calf was got using Artificial Insemination. PHOTO BY JOSEPH EIGU ONYANGO
Mathew Onanyang, an upcoming gospel musician in Teso, does not depend on music alone but small-scale dairy farming as well to earn a living.
Given that he keeps the cattle in Soroti town, he relies on Artificial Insemination (AI) to get the cows in-calved and to improve the local breed for better production.
He earns about Shs20,000 daily from milk sales and in a month, it varies from Shs600,000 to Shs1m. This helps him provide for his family and meet other requirements.
Impressed with how effective AI is, Onanyang has turned into an advocate of the technique. He calls for farmers to embrace the practice because it gives a dairy farmer a definite choice of the breed that he wants.
He owns four heads of cattle and practices the tethering method, so AI has enabled him have good breed thus increases productivity and income.
Adapt well
He said it is better to deal with cows for five to 10 years to acquire first crossing equivalent to 50 per cent from the local (Zebu) and the improved breeds; this improves the milk production.
“I love [artificial insemination] because it has improved my livelihood since 2006 when I began practising it. I started with Zebu and Holstein-Friesian cows,” Onanyang noted, adding that it was Soroti District Veterinary Officer, Patrick Eyudu, who introduced him to AI and guided him on how to carry it out.
Dr David Omongot, former veterinary officer, Amuria District, points out that any farmer can use AI because when the local cows are crossed with Friesian bulls, they have 50 per cent offspring—which can adapt the climatic conditions and grow faster.
“This practice is affordable for the farmers compared to keeping bulls in the herd, which requires daily management, for example, feeding and treatment,” he explained. “Whereas when artificial insemination is done, there are no management costs attached to the farmer.”
Benefit more
Dr Omongot is of the opinion that because of the technicalities involved, government should identify farmers to embrace AI and recruit more personnel to handle the exercise.
The liquid hydrogen machines should be purchased by government and positioned at the districts. This will deal with the shortage of liquid hydrogen, which has led to losses of straws used for storing the semen.
Recently, government distributed the cattle to beneficiaries in Teso under a restocking programme supervised by the state minister for Teso Affairs.
However, there are suggestions that if these animals are crossbreeds, it would benefit the herdsmen a lot more than keeping many poor breeds.
The advantage
In Artificial Insemination (AI), the ova and semen are separated using electro-magnetism. The semen is collected from the semen bank; It is found at National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC & DB) in Entebbe.
According to Mathew Onanyang, practicing AI makes the farmer choose the breed that he or she wants, for example, for dairy, beef or and dual purpose.
