Diary Farming in Nigeria: Guide on How To Start (2024)
Dairy farms are money spinners for their owners that started them after doing their homework.
This means they did market research, saw a need, source for resources to that will help them in meeting those needs, manage those resources until it gets to a profitable level and they continue to manage it.
What’s my point here? For you to succeed in a business, you need to plan and execute those plans well for you to meet up with the target.
This is not peculiar to any business and in dairy farming especially in Nigeria, this is very important. Do your research well before venturing into it.
This post will show you how to start a dairy farm in Nigeria this 2024.
WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN
The first step to a successful business is planning and the second step is it execution.
To start a dairy farm, you need to plan and I don’t mean in your head, it has to be a written plan.
You need to know if there’s a demand for your products and where, how much will be needed to start the business and the source of the fund, how to manage the farm until it becomes profitable, who you’re selling to and how much are they willing to buy.
With these information, you will know if your business will succeed or not. After being convinced, you can then move over to the execution stage.
ACQUIRE A LAND
You need space to keep your cows and the size of the land at hand determines the number of cows you can have.
You need to consider having a grazing field and also shelter for them on the farm as well as the place where they will be milked and even slurry storage. This should decide the size of your farm.
BUYING THE EQUIPMENT REQUIRED AND COWS
From your market research and discussion with other farmers, you should know the equipment required at your own scale of production and acquire them.
The next step is acquiring the cows. There are various breeds of cows available such as the Ayrshires, Boran, Brahman, Bunaji, Friesians, Guernsey, Jerseys, Sahiwals, Tregian and White Fulani.
Read on them and make your decision. After that, or preferably before that, you should have your workers who would work on the farm.
Make sure they have the skills required and if they don’t, get them trained to acquire the necessary skills to run the farm.
FARM MANAGEMENT
Hygiene in a dairy farm is very important as it determines the quality of the dairy products from your farm, while also preventing your cows from getting sick.
You should thus take it very serious. All processes should be done with high neatness standards.
To make cleaning easier, you could cement every ground space apart from the grazing area, and have sufficient source of water close by. Feeding is an important part of the business.
Your cows should be feed about two times in a day with green forage from leguminous plants, potato vines, wheat straw, rice straw and maize Stover.
PACKAGING AND SALES
When it is time to start milking and selling your dairy products, you need to package them. You can package it in either an attractive bottle or bucket with your label on it.
Your branding increases the awareness. Go to the markets and source for buyers and get them to know of your product.
Usually, this should be done before you start milking your cows so you wouldn’t become stranded when your products are ready.
