Dairy goat farming is emerging as a high-return option for Kenyan small-scale farmers, although it remains hobbled in some regions by marketing and distribution challenges.
To overcome this we have set up a resource center where you can get everything to do with dairy goats
We is located in Ongata Rongai in the outskirt of Nairobi 30 minutes from the city center, 
Our farm is a leading resource center for existing and upcoming farmers. 
Contact us on 0722979075 for any requirements

Cancer, Positive use of Raw Goat’s Milk

Cancer, Positive use of Raw Goat’s Milk by Val Reynolds http://inbalancemagazine.com/2011/09/25/cancer-positive-use-of-raw-goats-milk/ 
This feature, first published in 2002, was lost when an earlier version of the In Balance Magazine website was irretrievably corrupted.
 We recently rediscovered the feature on an archive website and decided to republish. Goat © Pintail Goat © Pintail A diagnosis of cancer and its subsequent remission were what made Natalia Markelova, a 49-year-old divorcee set out on the road to establishing her the goat farm in Togliatti, Russia, and ultimately receiving national accolades for her work as a businesswoman When a friend organised a visit for me to someone whom I would end up referring to as ‘the goat woman’, I expected a tough wizened old goat farmer. Instead, I met a large, plump woman with friendly cornflower-blue eyes, a halo of silver-grey hair and a gentle smile.
 Natalia explained that she had been diagnosed with uterine cancer and subsequently decided to refuse conventional chemotherapy. Instead, she embarked on an intense research programme concerning the medical benefits of drinking goat’s milk.
Convinced she was on the right track, she doggedly stuck with her preferred self-treatment of drinking goat’s milk only to find that her cancer was in remission.
 Inspired by her own self-cure, and because the only way to obtain goat’s milk in this city of almost a million people was to own a pet-goat, she vowed to set up a goat farm with a view to producing milk for fellow sufferers of cancer and other ailments. Goat herd France © Pintail Goat herd France © Pintail Thirty eight of Natalia’s goats produce 110 litres of milk every day.
This doughty woman has the help of four workers, two of whom work at a time on one of two shifts. Milk is sent to kindergartens, hospitals and orphanages. After a tour of her the barn where the female goats were separated from the male goats and the bleating kids, Natalia explained that once her illness had been diagnosed she cut out cow’s milk altogether and switched to goat’s milk. Since the day she was told that she had only six months to live, she has now extended her life by another seven years.
 She believes that as a society we need to be closer to nature and more in tune with its benefits. Indeed, judging by her close companions: a nervy toy poodle, a sleepy black cat, a fluffy white cat, and the fact that she says she knows all her goats by name, it is evident that she practices as she preaches.
 It took her three years to start the farm from scratch and fulfil the promise once given to her pet goat: “I will help others as you helped me”.
Natalia has visited nine states in the USA to learn about goat farming and to import specific breeds that were superior to native stock. She has also visited goat farms in the UK. She has been elected the leader of the Russian Goat Farmers’ Association which she helped to found. I asked her what her thoughts were on receiving a diagnosis of cancer. “I was afraid for three days at first, but then decided that I was not going to accept the diagnosis and that I would find some way to fight it,” she says, adding that her three children had been her main motivation for staying alive. “I wanted to prove to them that there is nothing in life that can take you out of life’s saddle, if you are not prepared to get out if it first, yourself.” Natalia explained that scientific research showed that goat’s milk takes 15 minutes to be digested in contrast with cow’s milk which takes some 45 minutes.
Goat milk is also said to be the only product that helps rid the body of metal products. She also believes that it helps to kill allergies in children, and helps to calm ulcers. I asked her if when she received her diagnosis, she changed her diet in any other way. “I eat anything I want, in addition to all goat products including meat, milk and cheese.” Regarding other cases where goat’s milk cures cancer she referred me to the work of Dr Bernard Jensen PhD, an American physician who was diagnosed with cancer at age 35 but who went on to cure himself with goat’s milk and lived to the ripe old age of 96.
She is a devotee of his book: ‘Goat milk magic’. (This book is still in print Ed.) She then takes out a thick file filled with letters which she tells me are from people who say how they have been saved by goat’s milk. Natalia suggests that if someone has cancer, she would advise them to read up on the healing benefits of goat’s milk and then make their own decision about whether or not to use it. Contributing authors: Martine Self and Anna Garmash, martine.self@ntlworld.com Editor’s Note: Growing interest in alternatives to cow’s milk is reflected in the availability of pasteurised goat’s milk now widely available in UK supermarkets. There is a proliferation of goat’s cheese from France, especially sourced by Tesco. Some goat’s cheeses are made from unpasteurised milk. A huge amount of information was discovered in a general search on Google using unpasteurised goats’ milk.

Goat keeping proves success for Kenyan farmers

Goat keeping proves success
for Kenyan farmers

massive education campaigns on goat improvement using
Galla breeding bucks in an effort to reverse the trend

SPECIAL REPORT BY XINHUA CORRESPONDENT Ejidiah Wangui
.

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- With diminishing land size coupled with increased population and rampant cattle rustling, farmers in Baringo County are embracing Dairy Goat keeping for food security and poverty reduction.

The enterprise which is a cheap source of protein and income at the household level is being promoted through the ministry of Livestock Development and other stakeholders.

The Dairy Goats introduced into the district in the past two years by two leading NGOS operating in the region, World Vision International (WVI) and Christian Children Fund (CCF) have become more popular with farmers especially in the highlands.

The nongovernmental organizations working mostly with the poverty stricken members of the society have continued to play a key role in the promotion of dairy goat rearing in the area.

Prior to the introduction of the improved goat breeds, the livestock sub sector in the County had been dominated by the Small East African goat whose production in terms of milk and meat has remained low.

According to a report from the Ministry of Livestock Production inbreeding which has been practiced by farmers for a long time has resulted in the emergence of small bodied goats in the district.

Through intensive promotion of the dairy goats, the population of the new breed has increased tremendously and so far there are 2, 295 dairy goats in the four divisions of Baringo Central.

District Livestock development officer Richard Bundotich in his annual report for last year indicate that Kabarnet division leads in the population of dairy goats with 1,680 animals followed by Sacho with 270, Salawa with 230 and Tenges in the fourth position with 115 goats.

Bundotich said the department has carried out massive education campaigns on goat improvement using Galla breeding bucks in an effort to reverse the trend.

Dairy goat farmer, James Kurui Limo, a retired security officer with 15 goats, says he started dairy farming in 2006 after borrowing the idea from Obai Progressive Self Help Group, an initiative of Njaa Marufuku Kenya.

“We were twenty members and each of us was given 10 goats each costing 12,000 shillings and from then I have never turned back,” he says with a lot of smile.

Limo, also a proud owner of dairy cows, says currently he has 15 dairy goats out of which five are giving him three litres of milk per day. “Each litre of goat milk goes for 100 shillings unlike cow milk which retails at between 30 shillings and 40 shillings due to its high nutritive value,” he adds.

The father of eight says since he started the project he has sold 15 goats fetching good money.

“I like the goats because they give birth twice a year and if you are lucky to get all of them females then you will always smile all the way to the bank because each of them goes for  15, 000 shillings,” Limo with his beloved wife Anne Kurui standing behind him explains.

He says dairy goats mature after seven months compared to indigenous breeds which take more than a year to reach maturity.

The retired officer says he uses the money accruing from the sale of the dairy goats and their products to pay fees for his five children in various learning institutions apart from paying his farm workers.

Limo who encourages other local farmers to adopt the new enterprises says that dairy goat project is easy to start since it only requires small capital outlay and materials for setting the structures area readily available.

He added that incase of disease outbreaks, dairy goats are easy to treat since they have been trained by livestock extension officers on how to vaccinate the goats against rampant diseases every six months.

“Twenty litres of acaricides is enough to spray 15 animals which I find very affordable,” Limo maintains.

The county commissioner Bernard Leparmarai recently urged local livestock farmers in the county to diversify into other emerging livestock production like poultry, beekeeping, camel rearing and fish as they can significantly boost their farm incomes.

The commissioner also urged the farmers to make use of livestock extension services to exploit the huge potential in the region to expand their economic base and boost their incomes at household levels.

Leparmarai noted with satisfaction that the inland water lakes in the county can be used for fish production besides the huge potential existing on individual farm holdings.

The government, he stated, last year under the fish farming enterprise productivity program of the Economic Stimulus Project allocated 30 million to promote fish farming through fish ponds construction in the county.

“I therefore urge you to commercialize your fishing activities in order to take advantage of these opportunities,” Leparmarai advised the farmers.