Upgrading livestock to Pedigree status in Kenya

For those who have livestock or plan to get into the livestock business be it Beef farming, Sheep farming, pig farming or Dairy farming to name a few. Well, the Graduate Farmer brings you direct information that you need when it comes to livestock pedigree upgrades in Kenya. You might have heard of Kenya Livestock Breeders Organization or you might be wondering what makes a cow be considered a pedigree? what class in the Up-Grading Scheme does your cow fall into and how can you Improve your cows to Pedigree status.

A farmer who owns a pedigree cow will fetch a higher price when he/she decides to sell the cow. The pedigree status justifies the higher price as there is a record of the cows linage history and production.

I had a chat with Mr. Stephen Juma , Technical Officer KLBO Eldoret Office and he got to tell me what Kenya Livestock Breeders Organization is all about and why it is an important part of the Livestock Sector in Kenya.

The Kenya Livestock Breeders Organization (KLBO), a farmers body formed under the auspices of the Agricultural Society of Kenya, with a specialized function of promoting and coordinating livestock breeding in Kenya.

It registers and maintains pedigree herd register and the grade register of cattle, goats and sheeps in Kenya.

The KLBO has two organs that carry out its functions namely the KENYA STUD BOOK (Charged with responsibility of livestock registration) and the DAIRY RECORDING SERVICE OF KENYA (Charged with responsibility of milk recording).

The Stud Book maintains a pedigree herd register and a grading up register for all breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, pig and camel. It has responsibility of maintaining a database of “births, deaths and marriages of Kenya’s livestock population”, Its other mandates are Setting up of livestock registration rules in liaison with breed societies, coordinating with breed societies over animal inspections and breed standards, registration and issuance of certificates for both pedigree and grade stock, promotion of proper animal identification, keeping track of all registered animals transactions by issuance of Livestock transfers and issuance of livestock export certificates.

So, how do you improve your livestock class? Simply by running the up-grading scheme.-This refers to an ordered system through which the genetic quality of a livestock population is improved through a procedure of consistent use of quality sires such that the progenies move to a higher class in each successive generation until a standard requisite for pedigree status is achieved.

Registration of animals is carried out by the Breed Societies through the Kenya Livestock Breeders Organization (KLBO), which is the secretariat to these breed societies.

These Breed Societies include for cattle Ayrshire, Friesian, Jersey, Guernsey, Boran among others. The Breed societies train their own inspectors to know the standards of their breeds.

The Inspectors are then mandated to inspect and register those animals for their particular Breed.

For further information you can get in touch with Mr. Stephen Juma, Technical Officer KLBO Eldoret Office on email: havilahjuma@gmail.com or phone 0720134612