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Desmodium Farming
Desmodium is a vine like legume which can attain 2-4 feet in height. Its leaves look like a clover meaning they are trifoliate. Once established it has very good soil cover and is not affected much by weeds. It is good as a source of protein for animals and is also good as a cover crop in farming. It also is good for improving soil fertility as it fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil.
As a fodder crop, desmodium is easy to establish and maintain. Planting from seed requires a fertile well drained soil, with a fine tilth. This can be achieved easily during the onset of the rainy season or, if water is available, irrigation is also an option. Desmodium can also be propagated from cuttings, 3-5 inches is stem with a few small leaves, can be planted directly in well prepared wet soil. It has a crude protein value of about 12-20%. despite being less than lucerne, given that it produces more biomass per acre, I prefer it over lucerne.
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Lucerne Farming
lucerne is also known as alfalfa. It is a perennial crop that belongs to the legumes. It is good when grown as a fodder crop as it has a protein content of about 20%. As protein is one of the limiting factors in animal production, more so dairy farming, if a farmer is able to grow their own protein, they will be at an advantage.
We decided as a farm to try growing lucerne as the first on farm protein source. We went about researching and were able to source seeds.
In as much as lucerne is a very good crop and protein source when grown, establishing it is not very easy. For one the seeds require a fine tilth. This is because the seeds are quite small. Once the land is prepared, the plant requires fertile well drained soils which are not acidic. Most of the soils in Kenya tend to be acidic because of overuse of chemical fertilizers. We planted our lucerne in two seperate plots.
On the first plot, germination was sparse and poor. We came to find out this was because of the acidic soil. Despite ploughing and re-planting the section, the regrowth was not any better. This was also caused by the roots of the germinated plants. They emit some hormone that prevents seeds from growing.
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Butternut squash farming
Butternut squash is a type of pumpkin that has a pear shape and is a light brown or cream in colour, when mature. I began growing after talking with some market traders who told me that the butternut was popular among mothers weaning their children. It is thought to be very nutritious and a good combination with some mashed potatoes or plantain and some greens.
I thus figured that it would be a good plant to venture into as children are born everyday I figured. The butternut are sold per piece according to the size. Although the preference was the not so big ones. For some reason, very big size of farm produce at the local markets is not preferred. I have always wondered why this is so. Some market trader told me the larger sizes are only preferred by hotels and food eateries.
I found that the butternut varieties available weren't that may. I thus chose the one I could find and got to work. I did direct drilling, which is sowing the seed directly where it will grow without planting in a seedbed first. Spacing has to be done right as it is from the pumpkin family and thus they do get a lot of long vines.
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Farming Water source
Water is vital for life and this applies to farming too. Water is needed by both plants and animals.
The water supply on the farm has gone through a few changes. There is a small river that passes through the farm and is the primary source of water. It is pumped to the farm using various means.
My grandfather had installed a diesel powered water pump some years back. This was costly as the price of fuel, including diesel has been rising throughout the years.
Water flowing from a hydram
At some point there was a hydram pump(hydraulic ram- a kind of pump that only uses the flow of water to pump water) installed by the settler farmers who once inhabited these here parts. It is a very cheap system to run as it doesn't consume any power or fuel, being powered only by the flowing of water.
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