Reference Delivery
Smallholder dairy concentrate programme — Kenya
Illustrative scenario: Rift Valley dairy cooperative standardising a phase-fed bagged concentrate programme (challenge, production, late-lactation, dry-off) with extension-officer body-condition scoring, aimed at lifting cooperative-wide milk delivery and cutting reproductive loss.
- Kenya
- Country
- Dairy cattle (smallholder cooperative)
- Category
- 1,200 farms · 6,800 milking cows · bagged concentrate
- Scale
- 3
- Reference outcomes
Load requirements
Design loads used to size housing, utilities and equipment.
SKU 1 – Challenge
20% CP, high-energy, top-dressed at calving
SKU 2 – Production
18% CP, fed at 1 kg per 3 L above 5 L baseline
SKU 3 – Late lactation
16% CP, condition-recovery
SKU 4 – Dry-off
14% CP, close-up minerals + anionic salt
Forage baseline
Napier + maize stover + Boma Rhodes hay
Mineral programme
Loose mineral lick, cobalt + selenium fortified
System design choices
Why each subsystem was specified the way it was.
| Area | Choice | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| SKU design | 4 clearly named bags, colour-coded | Farmer-facing SKU clarity is the #1 driver of programme adherence in smallholder systems. |
| Feeding rule | 1 kg concentrate per 3 L milk above 5 L baseline | Simple lead-feeding rule beats blanket 'add 2 kg' — matches concentrate to actual production. |
| Forage | Napier cutting calendar + hay conservation training | Concentrate can't fix a broken forage base; the calendar de-risks dry-season feed gap. |
| Extension | Monthly BCS + body-weight scoring by cooperative field officer | Objective scoring triggers SKU moves and prevents late-lactation over-conditioning. |
| Reproduction | Heat-detection SMS + AI on cooperative schedule | Nutrition programme only pays back when it shortens calving interval — reproduction closes the loop. |
Results
Representative KPIs achieved on projects of this scope.
Milk delivery / cow / day
9.4 L (was 7.9)
Calving interval
405 days
Concentrate cost / L
KES 8.20 (−12%)
BCS at calving
3.25 avg (was 2.9)
Cooperative churn
−22% farmer dropout year 1
Representative outcomes
- Typical scope: 4 concentrate SKUs + BCS extension programme
- Typical outcome: cooperative milk delivery +18%
- Typical outcome: calving interval 465 → 405 days
Note: This case study is an anonymized reference scenario. Specific client identities, contract values and commercial terms are withheld under NDA. Figures reflect typical outcomes for projects of this scope and are not a guarantee for your project.
