A Trip to the North: the Naari
Dairy
We only have 2
weeks left in Kenya! Time has gone by very quickly. We have continued visiting
the nutrition study farms. This past week, I (Sarifa Lakhdhir) spent time in
Naari with two veterinary students from PEI who are representing Farmers
Helping Farmers (Emily and Krista) and two Kenyan veterinary PhD students (Joan
and Dennis). They are all starting a project in Naari similar to the one we
have been working on down here in Mukurweini. Our project has been of great
benefit to the dairy farmers in Mukurweini, and that is the reason for starting
the same type of project in Naari.
We visited
several farms during the week. Normally the PhD and veterinary students would
have a guide from the dairy to help them locate the farms in the study. On the
first day of my visit however, the Naari Dairy was having a general meeting and
all farmers and dairy employees were required to attend. Thus, we were left to
find study farms on our own. We managed to find the first farm and after we
were done, we asked the farmer for directions to the next farm. This worked
fine for the first few farms. But we had quite a time locating one farm in
particular. It was only after we had hopped around three farms that we managed
to get to the farm that we thought we were looking for. Upon arrival, we found
out from the farmer that we were at the wrong farm! The mix-up occurred because
this farmer’s name was the same as the name of the farmer we were looking for. So
we were back to square one! Looking for these farms while driving on dusty and bumpy roads definitely
did not help! After the exhausting search, we found the farm and managed to
examine the animals there. Thankfully we had a guide for the rest of the week.
At every farm that
we visited, we performed a physical exam of each and every cow and calf,
recorded some identification information for future visits, and collected some
baseline data. The number of cattle on the farms varied from as few as 1 to as
many as 10. I got a lot of practice drawing blood and performing rectal
palpations! The farms contained a mixture of both grazing and non-grazing cows.
Many of the non-grazing cows were tied via rope to a stake. It felt like a
rodeo trying to corral and restrain them!
Enjoying tea, eggs, and “malaria
oranges” with a farmer. Malaria orange is a fruit thought to prevent malaria if
eaten regularly. It tastes like bitter grapefruit with a lasting aftertaste. I
think I’ll stick to the malaria pills! Left to right: Dennis, farmer, Steven
(our guide), Joan, Emily, Sarifa, Krista.
I also had the
opportunity to attend to some interesting veterinary cases during my time in
Naari. During one visit, we examined a cow that had a growth on part of her
eye. It was a squamous cell carcinoma of the third eyelid. This is a cancer
commonly found in cows, especially those with sun exposure. In most instances,
it does not hurt or harm the animal in any way during the early stages.
Treatment is surgical excision of the affected tissues when the growth becomes
invasive and causes discomfort to the cow. In this case, the cow was still behaving
normally and there was minimal discomfort associated with the growth. Thus, we
did not need to perform surgery on her during this visit. Another cow we
visited had metritis, an infection of the uterus. The cow had recently given
birth but had not immediately expelled her placenta. So someone had manually
pulled it out of her. In cows, it is best to leave retained placenta alone and
let the cow expel it herself so long as she is still behaving normally. Pulling
out the placenta can harm her reproductive tract and introduce bacteria into
it. In this case, the cow had pus in her uterus due to the infection.
Thankfully, within one week of treatment, the metritis had improved
drastically!
Zebu bull in Naari. Cattle in
Naari tend to be more of the local Zebu breed.
Over the
weekend, two Kenyan members of Farmers Helping Farmers, Salome and Steven, took
us to visit some interesting places.
On Saturday,
Steven took us to some farms to show us screen houses and greenhouses. Many
people in the Meru area, with the help of Farmers Helping Farmers, own either a
screen house or a greenhouse and use them to grow crops, especially tomatoes.
Steven explained that a screen house is an area enclosed by screen cloth. Air can
freely pass through the enclosure, and the temperature inside varies with the temperature
on the outside. On the other hand, a greenhouse is an area enclosed by plastic
sheets. The temperature inside the greenhouse tends to be higher than that on
the outside, and this allows crops to grow much faster. The downside of a
greenhouse is that any disease brought in will tend to stay inside the
enclosure and spread rapidly to all the other crops.
I found it
interesting that tomato plants planted in screen houses must be grown and
maintained differently than those planted in greenhouses. Due to the
accelerated growth in greenhouses, it is essential that only one main stem of
the tomato plant is allowed to grow vertically up. All side branches must be
trimmed down regularly. Once the stem has grown tall and matured, it is laid
flat onto the ground and a new stem is allowed to take its place vertically.
This process controls the growth of the tomato plant. In screen houses, tomatoes
grow much slower and because of that, less maintenance is required as the plant
will not be able to quickly reach the size of the plant grown in a greenhouse.
Screen house (top) vs
greenhouse (bottom). Notice how the tomato plants in the greenhouse are bigger
than those in the screen house.
Later in the
day, Salome and Steven took us to visit the Muchui Women Group Business Centre.
This group of women grows crops such as tomatoes, kale, beans, and an
assortment of trees to sell to the community.
There are now around 110 women who are part of this group. I was
impressed and very happy to see how this initiative has helped to empower women
in the community to work together to make a living in order to support their
families.
On Sunday,
Salome took us to visit the Ngare Ndare Forest Trust. We hiked along the Ngare
Ndare river and visited some waterfalls and springs. The river has about 11
springs along it. These springs are often visited by elephants looking for a
drink or just to cool off. Elephants will tend to slide down steep banks to get
to the springs! Salome had packed us a wonderful lunch of chapatis (baked
flattened dough), cabbage, and chicken, which we all enjoyed sitting beside one
of the springs.
Group picture by one of the springs of the Ngare Ndare river. Left to right: Emily, Krista, Charles (our driver), Salome, Zablon (our guide), Carol, Sarifa.
In the
afternoon, we went on a canopy walk. This canopy was built in 2007 and is 500
meters long! The view from above was breathtaking. On our drive out of the
forest, we had to cross the river in our car. Thankfully we had a four-wheel
drive and the river was only one foot deep at that point! We also passed under
dangling live electric wires. I came to
learn that the wires are strategically positioned above the roads to keep the
elephants from crossing into areas inhabited by people.
On our way back
to Meru, we drove through the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. We saw so much
wildlife along the way, including giraffe, lesser kudu, ostrich, and even a
rhino and its calf! The mini safari was a great end to our productive and
adventure-filled weekend.
Beautiful drive to and from the
Ngare Ndare Forest.
Seeing
the Naari side was a great cultural and veterinary experience for me, but I am
glad to be back in Mukurweini for the last few weeks of the project. We have
continued our visits to nutrition study farms. The weather has been cold and
rainy, making for very muddy and slippery roads. We have had to hike to some
farms and push our car out of the mud a few times! And we occasionally got a
break from the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Our chef, Samuel, made us
some veggie sandwiches for lunch one day, which we very much enjoyed.
Unfortunately, our driver, Jeremiah, was not a big fan of the green, leafy
stuff. Priscilla, our translator, really enjoyed watching Jeremiah’s face as he
attempted to finish the last of his sandwich!
Walking to a farm near
Mukurweini.
I am excited to
see the project wrap up successfully as we near its end. We have received
positive feedback from the farmers and the dairy, and I am so glad that the
work we have done here has benefitted the community. I have really enjoyed my
time in Kenya, and I am already dreading the time when I will have to say
goodbye to our Kenyan friends and families. This amazing experience has been
life-changing and humbling, and the generosity and hospitality of the Kenyan
people has been second to none!
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