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Madison, Wis.- World Dairy Expo, held annually in Madison, Wis., brings dairy producers and supporters together from around the country and the world. Dr. Jerono Kiptanul, a veterinarian working for Nandi County, Kenya, attended the expo for the first time this year. After hearing about World Dairy Expo from a friend living in the United States, Dr. Kiptanul decided to make the long trek to Madison to attend the event.
While at World Dairy Expo, Dr. Kiptanul was able to tour local dairy farms and learn about Wisconsin agriculture.
"Your dairy farms are highly mechanized and the number of animals is larger," she said. "You also do a lot of feed conservation which is very nice. Most of our farmers are doing free-range grazing with a few supplementing them."
One of the biggest differences Dr. Kiptanul has seen between the United States and Kenyan dairy systems is the difference in scale.
"In Kenya, we have about 20 million cows, but only about four million are dairy," said Dr. Kiptanul.
The majority of those animals come from small scale farmers.
"In every homestead there is a cow," she said.
Cows are milked by hand with the milk mainly used for consumption by the family.
There are also a few large scale commercial farms with up to 1,000 head of cattle. The majority of the milk produced on these farms is sold to processors that process fresh milk and make yogurt.
"A few farms do cheese, but only a few," said Dr. Kiptanul. "Kenyans don't like consuming cheese."
Milk is sold raw and is pasteurized at home through boiling.
Dr. Kiptanul was able to get ideas on how to improve agriculture in Kenya.
"Payment of milk in this country is done on the quality of milk; not so in Kenya," she said. "We sell milk in terms of liters only, not so much in terms of quality, but I believe that is where we need to go as a country."
Another area of improvement needed is in genetics.
"I believe our genetics are still low compared to what you have here," she said.
Dr. Kiptanul and her staff supervise the private breeding service providers in Kenya.
Another problem in Kenya is disease control. Dr. Kiptanutl works as the veterinarian county director where they work to prevent disease, implement food safety, and oversee meat inspection.
"We have a major problem with foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease in Kenya," she said. "We also do veterinary extension work. We organize seminars and meetings with farmers and train them; maybe on a new technology to prevent diseases or something like that."
Dr. Kiptanul spent the entire week at World Dairy Expo, collecting ideas to take back and implement in Kenya.
"[Expo] is fantastic and there is a lot to learn," said Dr. Kiptanul. "I wish more of my countrymen could come and see it. We can see what they are doing and what we need to improve on."
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