Chipo Mwanawasa; young lawyer passionate about ranching

While many young ladys are busy over the weekends attending kitchen parties and slaying, Chipo gets busy with her cattle deep in the heart of Chibombo district.

She smoothly strokes the cow’s back more like calming it amidst the blazing heat that leaves one dehydrated.

Chipo Mwanawasa a Lawyer during the week and rancher by weekend covers about 347 kilometers from Chingola on the Copperbelt Province to Chibombo district in Central Province and another 110 kilometers of gravel road to get to her farm.

                                                         Chipo feeding a bull at her farm

Aside from offering legal advice to the mines where she plies her trade, Chipo runs Cattle Wealth Management Firm a company that “farms” cattle for clients who buy from them. The company works on a principle of keeping cows for clients for four years at no extra cost but with a promise of doubling their stock at the end of the four year contract.

“If you buy a cow for K6,500 and allow us (CattleWealth Management Firm) to keep it for you, we don’t charge you any extra costs for vetting, feeding and labour but we guarantee you a calf after four years,” said Chipo adding that “you can then choose whether to get your cows if you have managed to secure land or enter into another four year contract with us to keep them."

                During an interview with ZNBC's Brian Mwale at the Central Province Expo in 2018

Clients also have an option of opting for money instead of livestock and they would be given the value of their cows at that particular time.

Chipo is the daughter of Zambia’s third President late Levy Patrick Mwanawasa whose tenure had a strong focus on stumping out corruption in the country. He died in 2008 after suffering a stroke while on duty in Egypt and was flown to England where he died.

Late President Mwanawasa was a farmer himself traits that Chipo picked. However livestock was not so much part of her father’s passion but she picked it at school in the Mkushi Farm block Zambia’s biggest farm block from her classmates, children of established farmers.

                              Chipo with one of her mentors Mkushi Commercial farmer David Moffat

When asked why cattle, Chipo quickly compares them to gold. “A kilogram of gold today will still be a kilogram next year or after five years, but the value for cattle increases with time as their weight increases,” she says. 

The deficit in beef production in the country is one of her driving forces to venture into this agriculture sub sector. 

“In my few years on earth I have never heard of beef prices slumping, they are always on the increase,” says Chipo while spotting a round farmers’ hat and cowboy boots.

Being the daughter of late President and mother still an influential Lawyer, one would have thought the starting for Chipo was all rosy and smooth. Her first shot at ranching was with a bulll bought with a K10,000 her late father left her and only got a cow as complimentary out of pity and inspiration by the seller for a young lady who seemed to be passionate about the journey she was embarking on.

Securing land was also a hustle as her father’s chiefdom did not see any vision in what she wanted to do.

“If I tell you that I have slept in the bush, in the remotest parts of the country looking for land you would not believe it. Even my late father’s chief could not give me land but a Chief in Chibombo district believed in me and gave me land,” says Chipo.

Eight years after first venturing into cattle farming, Cattle Wealth Management Firm was born in January 2018 with financial support of her business partner Joel Chitambala.

She says business has been steadily improving as the initial 10 clients per month having double. Without a second thought or doubt, Chipo confidently notes that she may have to abandon her legal career and venture into full time cattle farming soon.

                              Chipo with one of her mentors renowned Kitwe Lawyer Elijah Banda 

The soft spoken lawyer also assures clients that her company provides water tight contracts that protect their interests which include insurance for their catle incase of any unforeseen eventualities.

Her vision is to expand into retail sales for beef and play in the same field as Zambia’s biggest multimillion dollar agri business Zambeef. 

“Zambeef should watch out, we are coming,” says Chipo bubbling with confidence.

Asked how big her head is, Chipo is hesitant to say but offers a tour of her farm to the author to find out on their own.

 

At the farm with some workers

Layers management and egg production

Proper  layer care for consistent supplies of high quality eggs requires knowledge and patience to ensure hens are well housed, fed and watered, and suffer as little stress as possible. 

There is no secret to successful egg production. Carefully selected hens, well housed, fed and protected against disease reward poultry farmers with a continual supply of high quality, marketable eggs. 

Welfare starts from day one when newly-hatched chicks are bought in and taken through the growing phase into laying hens. Then, a careful producer will provide warmth, space, dry litter, recommended vaccines, clean water and appropriate feed, over the next 18 weeks.  

Higher protein (20 per cent) and lower crude fibre (5 per cent) feeds (containing coccidiostat) for chicks up to eight weeks old eventually make way for the lower protein (18 per cent), higher crude fibre (7.2 per cent) feeds for growers at 9-18 weeks. Grower rations are cheaper but producers should watch out for wastage by ensuring feed troughs are not overfilled and tube feeders not fully opened. Farmers can make or buy feed troughs custom designed for spillage reduction.
Failure to take these steps can result in feed wastage levels of up to 25 per cent and transform a potentially profitable egg production enterprise into a loss-making venture even before the first egg is laid. After the growth and development phase, birds are ready for their egg-laying environment at 18 weeks of age.

Successful management of laying flocks hinges on the following factors:
• Housing and light management
• Feed and water management
• Heat stress management

Housing and light management

In the interests of disease management, layers’ quarters should be located at least 100 metres from houses where chicks and growers are raised. Choice of housing is wide and includes intensive (battery cages) and semi-intensive (Californian type battery house, slatted floor housing, deep litter housing and the aviary type house). Producers should be aware that the textbook economic advantages of housing layers in intensive battery houses can be outweighed by loss of production through stress. Where space is not restrictive, producers can opt for the half inside/half outside system that reduces heat stress on birds during the hot season months. Where land is plentiful and predators not a problem, they can use the field ark which is moved onto fresh and clean parts of the pasture every day. In countries with high rainfall, chickens can be kept on pebble yards, which are washed clean daily by rainfall.

Appropriate length of the artificial day used in the house can be manipulated to stimulate egg production. The artificial day may be lengthened in one step or by a series of steps until it reaches 16-18 hours, at which stage maximum number of eggs laid in the shortest possible time should be achieved. More usually and sensibly, the natural lighting of the open type housing traditionally used in the tropics is augmented two hours of artificial light, administered in two 1-hour periods, one in the early hours of the morning (03.30) and the other in the early evening (19.30). Comparative studies show this light regime is economical with electricity and compares favourably in production terms with the conventional programme of continuous lighting (natural and artificial) from 03.30 to 20.30.

Feed and Water Management

Feed and feeding advice for laying hens may seem contradictory. Feed restriction is essential, especially for heavier breeds, if hens are to start laying at the best time and in the best condition. At the same time, birds should never be deprived of feed, and feeders should never be empty i.e. feed should be provided ad lib.
Hens should start to lay no earlier than 22 weeks old and in the ideal condition (not too fat and not too young). If sexual maturity is attained too early, the length and quality of overall performance will suffer. Eggs will be fewer and smaller with more prolapses towards the end of the laying period. Such birds lack vitality, die early and are more likely to be culled. These problems can be avoided by carefully restricting feed at the right time and in the right way as advised for specific breeds by the farms that sell day-old chicks. Feed restriction should only be used under the following guidelines:
• Use expert advice from the breeding farm relating to the particular breed you have purchased
• Do not start before the birds (at grower stage) are at least 9 weeks old
• Supply feed in a restricted programme based on regular weighing of birds to obtain an accurate live-weight average for the flock:
1. Weigh birds weekly
2. Sample one in 10 of the flock; half from the front of the pen and half from the back
3. Take birds at random using a catching wire
4. Weigh at the same time each week just before feeding
• Provide adequate feeding space so that all birds can feed at the same time
• Make feed change periods gradual. When 10 per cent of egg production has been achieved (at about 23 weeks), the flock should be on layers’ mash
• Stop restrictive feeding if birds become ill or show symptoms of stress; return to feeding ad libitum

The mechanics of restrictive feeding are varied. Farmers can adopt a once-a-day feeding method and, if automated, replenish the troughs at night. Others may prefer to use the ‘miss a day’ method but this carries the risk of increased cannibalism due to the combined effects of boredom and hunger. This is overcome by offering extra rations based on high fibre cereals such as millet or using ‘greens’ that keep the birds ‘happy’ without adding the calories. Feed restriction practices can save the farmer up to 15 per cent in feed costs although potential savings should not enter into the equation when deciding whether or not to embark on this course.  Reducing feed wastage (up to 12 per cent in laying flocks) is a safer and more sensible way of saving money.

Layers’ rations must contain 3-4 per cent calcium, needed for extra strong bones (calcium phosphate) to cope with the stresses and strains of egg production and egg lay, and as a vital ingredient for production of the shell that is mostly of calcium carbonate. Feed lacking in calcium must be boosted with supplementary supplies in the form of grit (e.g. oyster-shell grit). Farmers must ensure that these high calcium levels are present in the diet at least two weeks before laying starts. This timing coincides with the hormonal changes that allow extra calcium to be laid down in the bones, especially the medullary bone tissue from which calcium is mobilised for egg-shell formation.

Poultry require the full range of vitamins, nutrients and amino acids, but Vitamin D in particular has a crucial role in the metabolism of laying hens. Hens lacking in Vitamin D are unable to utilise calcium and phosphorous with serious consequences for bone tissue and egg shells. Ample supplies of cool, clean fresh water are essential for laying hens, especially in the tropics where they will inevitably suffer problems with heat stress. Any lack of water results in loss of production and a higher mortality risk.

Heat stress management 
Chickens are better adapted to keeping warm than keeping cool. Normal internal body temperature is 41.3ºC which is just a few degrees centigrade below the temperature at which enzyme inactivation and tissue death begins. The ideal environmental temperature for hens is 12.8ºC, a long way short of the typical daytime temperatures in tropical Asia where heat stress is a huge potential problem. Hens actively maintain their body temperature by:
• Reducing heat absorption by staying in the shade
• Reducing heat production by reducing feed intake and activity
• Increasing heat loss through evaporative cooling

Birds do not have sweat glands and therefore rely on panting (passing air over the moist surfaces of the respiratory tract) to dissipate heat. This causes excessive loss of carbon dioxide, needed to make calcium carbonate in the uterus. The net result is lower egg shell quality with soft shelled eggs a common occurrence. Failure to maintain body temperature leads to a general fall in egg production.
Farmers can help their layers to keep cool by:
• Locating hen houses in the shade
• Providing shade by planting fast growing trees and establishing grass in a 6-metre strip right around the building
• Using open-sided houses orientated east-west to avoid sun shining directly inside
• Constructing wide roof overhangs and placing the roof angle north and south to avoid the direct rays of the sun
• Providing air movement and evaporative cooling

Source: Rich Farm Kenya

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