Livestock
Three animals, chosen for this ground
Galla goats, Dorper sheep and hardy zebu cattle, chosen because they do well on the dry plains of Kajiado.
- Goats
- Galla
- Sheep
- Dorper
- Cattle
- Boran · Sahiwal · crosses
- Kept for
- Breeding · finishing
We choose animals for how they do on this ground. They need to walk out to graze, come home in good condition and breed again.
Availability
What is ready changes through the season: finished goats and lambs, and cattle when they are ready. Ask what is available now.
Galla
Galla goats
Big, white, long legged goats from the dry north of Kenya, bred to walk far and keep browsing after the grass has gone.
Galla browse as much as they graze: acacia pods and leaves, shrubs, whatever the dry season leaves standing. That makes them the natural first animal for Isinya.
They carry good meat on a large frame and are calm enough to walk out and home every day.
- Kept for
- Breeding, meat and long term herd building
- Stays
- The best does as breeding and replacement females, and chosen bucks as sires
- Moves on
- Young bucks and surplus does, finished and sold for meat; culls sold in good condition
Dorper
Dorper sheep
Hair sheep with a black head and a white body, bred in the dry country of South Africa. They need no shearing, grow quickly, and the ewes lamb easily and mother well.
Dorper are grazers more than browsers, so they use the grass the goats leave. They shed rather than grow wool, handle heat well, and put on meat fast.
That gives them two roles here: a breeding flock that grows itself, and lambs finished on the farm’s own feed.
- Kept for
- Breeding and finishing
- Stays
- Ewes as breeding and replacement females, with selected rams as sires
- Moves on
- Lambs finished on home grown feed; older ewes culled in good condition
Cattle
Hardy cattle
Boran, Sahiwal and crosses between them: East African zebu with the hump, the loose skin and the heat tolerance that dairy breeds from cooler places lack.
The cattle are hardy commercial females: cows that calve every year, and raise a good calf on grazing and supplementary feed.
Boran bring hardiness, mothering and beef; Sahiwal bring heat tolerance and a calm temperament. Over time, the best of their daughters become a permanent cattle herd.
- Kept for
- Calves, and a permanent herd built slowly
- Stays
- Commercial breeding females and their best heifers as replacements
- Moves on
- Steers and surplus heifers grown on and finished; culls at the right time
Some stay. Most move through.
The breeding herd is kept for years and improved over generations. Other animals are grown on, finished and sold.
The breeding herd
Breeding females and the sires that run with them. Each year the best young females are kept as replacements, so the herd improves from its own stock.
- Breeding females
- Replacement females
- Sires
Moving through
Young males, surplus females and animals bought in lean are grazed, fed, finished and sold at the farm gate. Older animals are sold as culls while still in good condition.
- Kids, lambs and calves grown on
- Bought in, grazed, fed and finished
- Finishers sold at the gate
- Culls
Stock from the farm
Stock is sold when it is ready. If you buy finished animals around Kajiado, tell us what you need and we will let you know when we have it.