Had Wilson Kyalo of Machakos embraced modern technology a bit earlier he could have immortalised one of the country's highest milk producing cows ever.
The Friesian cow used to produce 65 litres of milk a day and the top animal breeder in Machakos had ranked among the best performers nationally. However, because of old age, the cow had to be culled a few years back, permanently losing the top quality genes that made her such a high milk producer.
"If only I had adopted the then newly emerging breeding technology - Embryo Transfer - I could never have lost the genes," rues Mr Kyalo.
It is now a fact that if he had had the knowledge and opportunity to adopt this technology, he could actually have produced a whole herd from the super performing cow.
Mr Kyalo's loss is extremely significant, given that the average national milk production by both exotic and indigenous cattle stands at a paltry 5 litres a day. Exotic dairy cattle and their crosses with local cattle produce much more milk, averaging 25 litres, but zebus produce negligible amounts.
However, Kyalo says it is never too late, as he joins several elite farmers using this cutting-edge technology (Embryo Transfer - ET) to get more calves a year from their best cows.
Some of the farms applying the technology include Delamare Estates, Wangu Embori, Amboni Dairy and the government's Agricultural Development Corporation, among others.
The technology is relatively expensive and Kyalo remembers he spent over Sh 20,000 to get one lot of calves in 2001, compared to normal artificial insemination which then cost Sh 300.
A breeding expert puts today's ET costs at about Sh45,000 but says the benefits are immense. With the technology, a farmer can get up to 10 or more calves in one year from their best animals. A part from increased milk production, there is the added benefit of selling high quality calves without losing bloodlines.
"The technology also extends the productive life of some older cows, incapable of carrying another calf by producing further progeny through the use of surrogate mothers," says the breeder.
Other advantages of the technology include conserving genetics in their herd through the application of embryo freezing for export, domestic sale or future transfers on their own farms.
Kyalo's Ivaini Farm, situated 60 kilometres south-east of Nairobi along the road to Machakos Town, embraced embryo transfer in 1997 but obtained the first calves from the technology in 2001. Resultant heifers from the trials each produce 28 litres of milk per day.
The first successful embryo transfer took place in England in the 1890's by a Briton named Walter Heap, whose subjects were rabbits. Although that was a success, Embryo Transfer was not applied commercially until the 1950's.
Embryo Transfer involves two or more animals - the donor and recipient. The donor is your best cow but you don't want it to waste time carrying a calf to term while her eggs could be distributed to several other carriers (recipients) who act as surrogate mothers. This means you can simultaneously get several calves derived from your best cow while you continue to milk the mother.
The donor is given multiple hormonal injections to stimulate and multiply ovulation in the cow. The initial injections stops the cow from cycling by producing a hormone that makes the cow think that it is pregnant.
Consequent injections will then cause the cow to cycle (come into season). After this process, the cow will go into heat after which it is inseminated. Seven days later, the donor cow is flushed and the embryos are isolated and then inserted in to the recipients or frozen for future use.
With embryo transfer, an already fertilised egg is being inserted, which eliminates one of the steps of artificial insemination so the conception rate is 5 - 10 per cent higher than in artificial insemination, but a lot depends on the condition of the recipients.
Elsewhere, some heifers as young as eight months have been successful in flushing embryos as have cows as old as 18 years.
One cow can donate up to 30 or more eggs, with the average being around 4 - 6 depending on the breed, age and maturity. Nutrition is a very important factor, and donors should be on a special mode of nutrition in the month leading up to the flush.
Collecting the embryos is only half the job. Then the embryos must be transferred into the surrogate cow or frozen for later use. On average about 60 per cent of the embryos transferred result in pregnancies. Sometimes it can be as high as 80 per cent and as low as 20 per cent.
A recipient is best when it is slightly larger than the embryo calve's mother so that it will not have any trouble having the calf. Not all cows are able to be recipients, hence they must be checked by a veterinarian.
The recipient cow should be in good condition for there to be a good conception rate.
Embryo Transfer is now accepted as the quickest and most cost-effective method of increasing the rate of genetic improvement within a herd. There are indications that the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development is considering starting an ET programme to be run throughout the country.
Currently, farmers keen to use the technology have to seek the services of private veterinarians.
