Tanzanian, Innocence Msunga, bought a cow as a last resort after her husband died in a road accident and her children were hospitalised with malaria. She hoped it would generate much needed income. Innocence had no experience of keeping cattle but, with help and advice, she built a boma (shelter) and learned about feeding and managing the animal. The cow produced plenty of milk but Innocence found 75 per cent of the money she received from selling it was being spent on concentrates for the cow.

Then she heard about a picture guide some people were using to help them manage their cows better. This guide – used with enormous success in India and Kenya – was the product of an extensive study on the daily nutrient requirements for dairy cattle in the tropics. When an extension worker talked Innocence through this simple, step by step guide, she found she could produce the same amount of milk with half the amount of concentrate.

Innocence says the guide has now helped her to manage her cow more productively in changing conditions and has even been able to increase the milk yield by two litres a day, while still spending only half the money she used to. She now plans to invest some of her savings in another cow. “The guide is as important to my dairy enterprise as my panga that cuts the grass.”

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