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Building Rural Income through inclusive Dairy Business Growth in Ethiopia

The BRIDGE project contributes to the development of an inclusive dairy sector in Ethiopia, increasing incomes, and producing safe, nutritious food for all.

The BRIDGE project (2018 - 2023) brings together the experience of Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and SNV to contribute to the development of an inclusive dairy sector in Ethiopia, which produces accessible, affordable, quality, nutritious and safe dairy products. The project, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ethiopia, started in 2018 and will continue until 2023.

BRIDGE builds on the SNV EDGET (2012 - 2018) and the WUR DairyBISS projects.

Ethiopia's economy is growing and the demand for quality, nutritious foods is increasing. At the same time, many people still suffer from malnutrition and undernourishment. The dairy sector in the country struggles to scale up as the sector consists mainly of smallholder famers, who use low productive breeds and suffer from a lack of access to resources and services, such as input supplies, veterinary and extension services.

Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, WUR and SNV combined their expertise to develop the BRIDGE project with the aim to professionalise the Ethiopian dairy sector, increase incomes and produce safe, nutritious food for all consumers. The project targets 120,000 farming households and has four main outcomes:

improving milk production,

improving collection, processing and marketing,

improving connection to consumer markets, and

improving the policy environment.

The project will explicitly make use of Dutch dairy (private) sector expertise and has targeted strategies on gender, climate change and youth employment. The project partners will define detailed activities during the first phase of the project.

BRIDGE is a follow-up to the EDGET project, which in turn is built on the Mass Hormonal Synchronisation and Insemination Project, the breed improvement programme of the Government of Ethiopia. EDGET supported 65,000 dairy farmer households to achieve 100% income increase from dairy within five years. To qualify as an EDGET programme participant, households needed to have at least 1 to 3 milking cows and they should be willing to allocate 0.25 hectares of land for fodder production and adopt improved technologies. The project also improved the nutritional status of 500,000 children, particularly in the first 1,000 days of their lives, through the consumption of milk products.

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Ethiopia National Dairy Development Strategy 2022–2031

Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa. According to a CSA (2021) livestock sample survey, the country possesses 70.3 million cattle, 42.9 million sheep, 52.5 million goats and 8.1 million camels. The livestock sector contributes about 45% of the agricultural GDP, 18.7% of the total national GDP, and 16–19% of the total foreign exchange earnings of the country (Behnke and Metaferia 2011). In Ethiopia, dairy production depends mainly on indigenous livestock genetic resources of cattle, camels and goats. Cattle are the largest contributors to the total national annual milk output, followed by camels (CSA 2021). Ethiopia has a huge potential for dairy development. The large and diverse livestock genetic resources, existence of diverse agro-ecologies suitable for dairy production, increasing domestic demand for milk and milk products, developing market opportunities, and proximity to international markets all contribute to the potential and opportunities for dairy development in the country. However, dairy development has been hampered by multifaceted, production system-specific constraints related to genotype, feed resources and feeding systems, access to services and inputs, and low adoption of improved technologies. An inefficient marketing system and absence of clear policy support, poor access to finance, weak regulatory system to enforce government rules and regulations are also among the systemic constraints to the development of the Ethiopian dairy sector. Moreover, the sector is constrained by poor rural infrastructure, high post-harvest losses, weak value addition and poor product quality and safety. The government of Ethiopia plans to increase milk production four-fold by 2031 through targeted interventions aimed at improving the productivity of dairy cows, camels and goats. Investment in the dairy sector has been prioritized in the ten-year perspective plan of the government. It is anticipated that the plan will contribute to unlocking major bottlenecks in genetics, improved technologies, feeding, health, input and output marketing, value addition, product quality and consumer safety. It is also envisaged to reduce post-harvest loss of milk and milk products and enhance use of improved technologies in the dairy sector. This strategy document aims to guide implementation of the ten-year perspective plan and associated initiatives such as the dairy project in the Ten-in-Ten and Yelemat Tirufat initiatives developed to transform the dairy sub-sector. It highlights key interventions to be implemented in the short-, medium- and long-term plan periods from 2022 to 2031. The document identifies strategic issues and priority interventions in the short-, medium- and long-term in dairy breed improvement, feeds and nutrition, biosecurity and dairy health management, milk quality and safety, dairy business management and market development, investment in commercial farming and processing industry, extension linkage, capacity development and some cross-cutting issues. It also highlights various roles and responsibilities of different actors.

• Leggesse, Getachew
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• Jembere, T.
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Business Plan on dairy farm at Agaro Oro

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Dairy Ethiopia

A sharing platform for the commercial dairy sector in ethiopia.

Business Plan Competition Guideline

DairyBISS (Dairy Business Information Service & Support) Business Plan Competition Guideline

1. DairyBISS background

Wageningen University Livestock Research as part of BENEFIT(Bilateral Ethiopia Netherlands Effort for Food, Income and Trade) promoted a project called Dairy Business Information service and support (DairyBISS)to stimulate private dairy sector development in Ethiopia with a financial support by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The project is designed in consideration of the following key issues:

• The specialized medium and large scale dairy farms could be catalysts in local dairy development and could facilitate the further commercialization of smallholder dairy farming, as well as input & service delivery in their vicinity, once the farms can serve as example.
• Most dairy development initiatives, including the government extension system, provide limited support on knowledge and innovations that are suitable to medium and large scale specialized dairy farms.
• The private dairy sector (commercial medium and large scale dairy farmers, milk processors, input suppliers) lacks up-to-date knowledge and advice, skilled staff, exposure to new innovations, and international linkages.
• Introduction of new innovations and improvement of management at farms and companies is still very dependent on foreign expertise. A broader base of expertise and qualified staff is needed for the sector.
• The opportunity for private advice to medium/large scale commercial farms is growing. However, the capacity and knowledge level (technical, business development) of Ethiopian private advisors is still limited.

Therefore, by setting up a dairy business platform for networking, business development support, and capacity and knowledge base development, DairyBISS is aiming to increase the number of profitable farms and firms in the Ethiopian dairy sector through realizing the following three strategic objectives:

• Develop and support a dairy business platform that becomes an effective private sector network for business development, B2B relations, business information, and learning;
• Develop quality business information and examples of successful business cases to support business development;
• Develop a pool of quality private business consultants/advisors for specialized commercial dairy farms and dairy related firms, as well as training modules for dairy business consultants/ advisors, farm managers, staff of milk collection centers, etc.

2. The ultimate for business plan competition

The productivity level of the commercial medium and large-scale dairy farms in Ethiopia is low among others due to poor management practices as result of lack of knowledge, application of outdated technologies and lack of proper management tools. The government extension service for dairy sector development mainly focuses to the needs of smallholder dairy farms and not on the right setup to serve technical advice to medium- and large-scale commercial dairy farms. The commercial dairy firms like dairy processing and feed processing industries, input and services providers and alike are also operating under their capacity due to absence of innovation, proper management etc.,. Access to sound business development and management advisory services also exist in low level that makes business to operate at low level of technical efficiency across most aspects of the business issues.

With this in mind, DairyBISS has conducted dairy advisors training and coaching program on dairy production, dairy business development and dairy processing streams. The training has been designed and implemented in a way to create vibrant dairy advisors pool in Ethiopia that could support private commercial dairy sector in ranges of technical and business development issues.As a follow up activity of the training and coaching, dairy business plan competition is organized by the project to create an opportunity for trained and freelance advisors to bring innovative dairy business cases/models as a result of training, exposure visits, and experience working as an advisor in the commercial dairy sector. The business plan completion is prepared with the following

• Encourage advisors to innovate business cases that could address systemic challenges of the commercial dairy sector that able the commercial dairy farms and firms to achieve high and consistent performance in their business
• Create linkage between dairy advisors and potential dairy business and market for long-term business as advisor and service recipients.

3. Networking

Following the selection process which stated under # 7,the networking event will be organized to create linkage between dairy advisers and the potential private commercial business. This networking event allows, each ten finalists will present his/her posters to the audience. Q&A session will follow by judge committee on each posters.

The poster presentation aims to create an opportunity to both business owners and finalists to reach in agreement for further implementation and test of business idea with the arrangements made between them (advisor and business entity). To this effect, DairyBISS trained dairy advisors and other dairy sector freelance consultants encourages to participate on the call and come up with innovative business models through combining the learning from dairy advisor training and coaching program as well as the experience have got in process of advising commercial dairy business.

4. Eligibility Criteria

• The applicant must be a graduate of one of the dairy advisors training and coaching program or working
• Freelance consultant working in the dairy sector is also eligible if and only if he/she should justify as he/she works as dairy freelance consultant.
• The project to be promoted by the applicant should be dairy oriented

5. General Rules

• Business plans may be submitted by individuals or by teams, but the prize amount is the same for both types of applicants.
• There is no limit on the number of people on a team
• Any area of dairy related business undertaking is valid
• The proposed innovation business model is prepared based on cases of dairy business entity which the advisor/s has/have been given an advisory service
• Applications should be sent to DairyBISS online with concept note. Partially completed applications will not be accepted.
• The concept notes and written business plans should be sent to DairyBISS before their respective deadlines
• All ten finalists will receive certificate of diploma and winning prize money as stated below in bullet
• The winner prize is as follows 1st ETB 100,000 2nd ETB 80,000 3rd ETB 70,000 4th ETB 60,000 5th ETB 50,000 6th – 10th ETB 5, 000/each  
• The prize money shall be paid to the recipients according to the terms and conditions indicated in Annex III.
• DairyBISS has right to cancel the competition fully or partially, or it can limit the number of winners if the quality of innovation business cases are confirmed do not as expected  standard

7. The Selection Process and Criteria Three stages screening and selection of the recipients will be conducted

The first screening step is checking the fulfillment of the eligibility criteria and the submission and preparation of the concept note by the applicant according to Annex I.Following the selection of concept note, qualified applicants are required to submit their full/complete business plan.

Second stage screening/evaluation of business plan that to be done by an independent jury of five judges to be constituted from experienced dairy business and dairy professionals.

The Third stage screening will be carried out by the same jury by evaluating the oral presentation of the applicants who have submitted written business plans and poster.

• Written business plan carries 60% while and poster and poster presentation constitutes 40%.
• The decisions of the judges are final, including interpretation of the rules
• All finalists (applicants who have submitted complete business plan and appeared for poster presentation) will be awarded certificate of participation.

8. The Concept Note

The concept note is prepared to inform the preparation of project that is designed and implemented to test the technical and commercial viability of an innovation. It shall focus on new products or in technologies and business/service models that increase efficiency and quality of current operations, preferably addressing systemic issues in the commercial dairy sector. Some of the systemic issues identified in DairyBISS are: Access to quality feed and fodder all over the year, feed preservation, feed rationing for production specific production target, improved private AI-service delivery, heifer supply, cow-productivity and milk quality, product diversification and safety in dairy processing, improved dairy processing industry technical and operational efficiency, improved access and affordability of dairy products by low-income groups to safe and nutritious dairy products and alike . The concept note should be prepared not more than 4 pages and cover the points indicated in Annex I.

9. Full Business Plan

The business plan shall clearly describe the innovative nature of the proposed activities and how this will address the identified systemic issues effectively and efficiently. It shall indicate an innovative activity or set of activities that form(s) a commercially viable business case, or is a clearly defined and essential (and innovative) part of a business case or business proposition.The business plan is prepared according to a format displayed in Annex II and not more than 16 pages excluding cover page, content page and appendices. Relevant appendices that are required to clarify or substantiate the business plan can be attached to the report.

10. Poster Presentation

The duration of the presentations will be 10 minutes with an additional 10 minutes allocated for questions from the judges. The presentation and Q & A time can be changed by the jury. The presenter has to deliver the presentation in a logical, persuasive manner, and answer questions well. The presentation may address the following issues:

• Situational analysis:briefly explain systemic constraints that could limit the performance of the private commercial dairy sector. Briefly explain the proposed innovation business model wants to promote (new product, new technology, system,)
• Assess the availability of inputs and means of production: raw material, land, labor, skilled manpower and how to acquire them to implement the innovation business model
• Describe the distinctive Competence: Distinctive benefits the innovation business model to the business owner, customers/consumers and competitive advantage of the product in the market.
• Market Prospective: Market potential, distribution channels and market strategy
• Management Capability: The required management team composition and capability
• Financial Feasibility : the financial requirements of the innovation business model and expected return from the business

11. Schedules

Deadline for submission of application with concept note: September 15, 2018

• Announcement of the accepted applicants for the next stage of competition: September 17, 2018
• Deadline for submission of complete business plan: September 27, 2018
• Announcement of 10 finalist of business plan completion for the next poster presentation, October 1, 2018
• Poster presentation and final Award ceremony: October 5, 2018.

12. How to apply

Eligible applicants should mail application with the concept note Click Here to [email protected] on or before the closing date of application acceptance.

For more Information Please contact the coordinator: Tel : 011 911694257, Email : [email protected]

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CSIRO Publishing

Managing High Grade Dairy Cows in the Tropics

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Dairy consumption in Asia has more than doubled over the last 25 years, and has led to more than 50% of the world’s total dairy imports now entering Asian markets. Consequently, Asian countries are seeking to improve their self-sufficiency in dairy produce by developing their local milk industries.

Asian livestock importers are looking for increasing numbers of high grade dairy stock from established dairy industries in countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, a major problem encountered throughout Asia has been the poor performance of these exotic high grade dairy heifers when exported from their country of origin to a new, more stressful environment. This has been due to a failure to prepare for their introduction. Exotic dairy cows, particularly those from farms with high levels of herd performance, have high management requirements. If subjected to local and traditional small holder dairy farm practices, they are unlikely to produce acceptable yields of milk or may not even get back into calf. Poor management practices can lead to low growth rates, delayed breeding, stock diseases and even deaths among imported stock both before and after first calving.

Managing High Grade Dairy Cows in the Tropics addresses the entire range of management practices found on tropical small holder dairy farms, highlighting those which are likely to adversely impact on heifer and cow performance, hence farm profitability. It is a companion volume to three other manuals written by John Moran: Rearing Young Stock on Tropical Dairy Farms in Asia, Tropical Dairy Farming and Business Management for Tropical Dairy Farmers.

• Table of Contents
• PDF Page iii Foreword By C. Devendra, PhD, DSc (Nott.), FASc
• PDF Page v About the author
• PDF Page vii Other books and technical manuals by the author
• PDF Page ix Acknowledgements By Dr John Moran
• PDF Page xi Acknowledgement of The Crawford Fund
• PDF Page xii Chemical warning
• PDF Page 2 Who are the tropical small holder dairy farmers?
• PDF Page 3 Dairy development and farm technology
• PDF Page 4 Genetic merit of imported stock
• PDF Page 5 Importing young heifers
• PDF Page 6 The renewed relevance of embryo transfer technology
• PDF Page 7 Outline of the manual
• PDF Page 8 The role of the manual in training programs
• PDF Page 9 The key task areas in any dairy production system
• PDF Page 12 What the customer wants
• PDF Page 13 What the customer needs
• PDF Page 13 What the customer gets
• PDF Page 14 Australia’s livestock export chain
• PDF Page 15 Rejection of dairy stock for live export
• PDF Page 16 Clinical indicators of transport stress
• PDF Page 17 Management of transport stress
• PDF Page 18 Post-arrival management
• PDF Page 23 Selection of forage species
• PDF Page 25 Fertilising forage crops
• PDF Page 26 Harvesting forage crops
• PDF Page 27 Harvesting tree legumes
• PDF Page 28 Wilting to improve forage intake
• PDF Page 28 Making quality silage
• PDF Page 30 Harvest the forage
• PDF Page 31 Wilt the forage to 30% DM
• PDF Page 31 Add a fermentable substrate at ensiling
• PDF Page 31 Chop the forage into short lengths
• PDF Page 32 Compact the forage as tightly as possible
• PDF Page 32 Complete the entire storage quickly
• PDF Page 32 Seal storage airtight
• PDF Page 33 Maintain airtight seal
• PDF Page 33 Feed out a whole face of the storage
• PDF Page 34 If silage is unsatisfactory, determine the reason
• PDF Page 34 Storing wet by-products as silage
• PDF Page 40 Colostrum feeding
• PDF Page 40 Early rumen development
• PDF Page 42 Weaning age
• PDF Page 42 Concentrate quality
• PDF Page 42 The high cost of milk rearing
• PDF Page 44 What is scours?
• PDF Page 44 Causes of nutritional scours
• PDF Page 45 Treating scours
• PDF Page 46 Preventing scours
• PDF Page 47 Fertility
• PDF Page 48 Milk production
• PDF Page 48 Heifer wastage
• PDF Page 48 Live weight
• PDF Page 48 Wither height
• PDF Page 49 Age of teeth eruption
• PDF Page 49 Energy and protein requirements for heifers
• PDF Page 49 Feeding heifers to achieve target live weights
• PDF Page 53 Describing feed energy
• PDF Page 54 Describing feed protein
• PDF Page 54 Describing feed fibre
• PDF Page 54 Nutrients contained in feeds
• PDF Page 56 Water
• PDF Page 58 Energy
• PDF Page 58 Protein
• PDF Page 59 Fibre
• PDF Page 60 From calving to peak lactation
• PDF Page 60 Peak lactation to peak intake
• PDF Page 60 Mid and late lactation
• PDF Page 60 Dry period
• PDF Page 60 Proportion of productive cows in the milking herd
• PDF Page 64 Deceasing marginal responses
• PDF Page 67 Immediate and delayed milk responses
• PDF Page 67 Guidelines for temperate grazing dairy systems
• PDF Page 67 Milk : Concentrate ratios in production rations
• PDF Page 69 Some indicators of unbalanced diets
• PDF Page 69 Metabolic disorders and unbalanced diets
• PDF Page 70 Lactic acidosis
• PDF Page 71 Feed toxicities
• PDF Page 72 Other feed additives
• PDF Page 72 Troubleshooting feeding problems
• PDF Page 73 Monitoring manure consistency
• PDF Page 73 Optimum stocking capacity
• PDF Page 77 Other tools to diagnose diseases
• PDF Page 78 Parasites
• PDF Page 78 Microbial agents
• PDF Page 78 Nutritional and metabolic diseases
• PDF Page 79 The importance of good record keeping
• PDF Page 79 Nursing and support
• PDF Page 80 Scours
• PDF Page 80 Responsible drug handling
• PDF Page 81 Biosecurity when purchasing new stock
• PDF Page 82 Animal and human health
• PDF Page 82 Health and reproductive performance
• PDF Page 84 Assessing cow lameness
• PDF Page 85 Causes of mastitis
• PDF Page 86 The importance of the teat
• PDF Page 86 Environmental mastitis
• PDF Page 87 Contagious mastitis
• PDF Page 87 The dry period
• PDF Page 87 California mastitis test (CMT)
• PDF Page 88 The role of mastitis therapy
• PDF Page 89 Lactation therapy
• PDF Page 89 Dry cow therapy
• PDF Page 89 Preventing mastitis
• PDF Page 89 Recommended milking procedures
• PDF Page 91 Recommendations for milking machines
• PDF Page 92 Controlling mastitis
• PDF Page 93 Heifers
• PDF Page 93 Establishing goals
• PDF Page 96 Collecting permanent records on each cow
• PDF Page 97 The fertility timetable for the milking cow
• PDF Page 97 Introducing 100 day-in-calf and 200 day-not-in-calf rates
• PDF Page 99 Submission rates
• PDF Page 99 Conception rates
• PDF Page 102 Heat detection in tropical herds only using AI
• PDF Page 103 Energy intakes and balance
• PDF Page 104 A simplified system for feeding management
• PDF Page 105 Management in late lactation
• PDF Page 105 Dry cow management
• PDF Page 105 Management during the transition period
• PDF Page 105 Protein intakes
• PDF Page 106 Intakes of minerals
• PDF Page 106 Herd management
• PDF Page 107 Setting priorities to address fertility issues
• PDF Page 107 Some important decisions to make
• PDF Page 111 Jerseys versus Friesians in the tropics
• PDF Page 112 Genotype by environment interactions
• PDF Page 113 Specially bred tropical dairy genotypes
• PDF Page 115 Breeding decisions to be made on the farm
• PDF Page 117 Cull cows
• PDF Page 119 Excess dairy stock
• PDF Page 119 Dairy beef
• PDF Page 121 Imported cows in lactation anoestrus
• PDF Page 123 The five basic freedoms of livestock
• PDF Page 124 Facilities and equipment
• PDF Page 124 Provision of feed and water
• PDF Page 125 Herd management
• PDF Page 125 Humane destruction
• PDF Page 126 Staff competency
• PDF Page 126 Preparation, selection, sale and transport of stock
• PDF Page 128 Problems of confinement
• PDF Page 128 Housing
• PDF Page 129 Feeding
• PDF Page 129 Management practices
• PDF Page 129 Transportation of calves
• PDF Page 133 Symptoms of heat stress
• PDF Page 135 Adverse effects of heat stress
• PDF Page 136 Clinical signs of heat stress
• PDF Page 136 Monitoring respiration rates
• PDF Page 138 Shed design
• PDF Page 138 Cooling cows
• PDF Page 140 Allowing cows outside overnight
• PDF Page 141 Feeding management
• PDF Page 144 Building for the cow
• PDF Page 145 Location
• PDF Page 145 Shed design
• PDF Page 145 Tie stalls or loose housing?
• PDF Page 146 Free stalls or open lounging?
• PDF Page 147 Free stall layouts
• PDF Page 148 Making the choice
• PDF Page 149 Considerations in flooring
• PDF Page 149 Water troughs
• PDF Page 150 Feed troughs and feeding strips
• PDF Page 150 Feed storage
• PDF Page 151 Preparing concentrate mixtures
• PDF Page 151 Additional health facilities
• PDF Page 152 Housing for young stock
• PDF Page 153 Calf cages
• PDF Page 153 Outdoor area for night-time
• PDF Page 153 Stock-handling facilities
• PDF Page 154 Storage of veterinary drugs and other dairy equipment
• PDF Page 154 Bull pen and mating yard
• PDF Page 154 Farm office
• PDF Page 154 Staff quarters
• PDF Page 155 Designs of milking parlours
• PDF Page 156 Milk room and cooler
• PDF Page 157 Effluent as a liability
• PDF Page 158 Effluent disposal systems
• PDF Page 158 A checklist for planning dairy sheds
• PDF Page 163 Milk composition
• PDF Page 163 Milk quality
• PDF Page 165 Factors influencing the growth of bacteria
• PDF Page 165 The principles of cleaning and sanitising dairy equipment
• PDF Page 167 Health and personal hygiene
• PDF Page 168 Environmental hygiene
• PDF Page 170 Milking procedures and milk handling
• PDF Page 171 Post-milking
• PDF Page 171 Milking machine components
• PDF Page 172 Testing milking machines
• PDF Page 173 Routine maintenance
• PDF Page 178 Constraints for cottage industries to add value to raw milk
• PDF Page 183 Production technology
• PDF Page 184 People skills
• PDF Page 184 Business management
• PDF Page 185 Making the best use of service providers
• PDF Page 188 Breaking down costs on small holder dairy farms
• PDF Page 194 Workshop objectives
• PDF Page 194 Developing a workshop program
• PDF Page 195 Practical issues
• PDF Page 196 Associated farm visits
• PDF Page 202 Other factors to consider
• PDF Page 202 Feed production
• PDF Page 203 Feeding management
• PDF Page 203 Herd management
• PDF Page 204 Housing
• PDF Page 204 Milking management
• PDF Page 205 General farm management
• PDF Page 205 Objective criteria
• PDF Page 206 Subjective criteria
• PDF Page 208 Feed production
• PDF Page 214 Feeding management
• PDF Page 218 Herd management
• PDF Page 225 Housing
• PDF Page 238 Milking management
• PDF Page 267 Temperature Humidity Index
• PDF Page 247 Abbreviations and conversion of units of measurements
• PDF Page 250 Expectation and evaluation forms for workshop
• PDF Page 254 Indonesian dairy small holder pamphlet
• PDF Page 258 Glossary
• PDF Page 261 References and further reading
• PDF Page 265 Index

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Aflatoxins levels in concentrate feeds collected from specialized dairy farms and local markets in selected urban centers of eastern ethiopia.

1. Introduction

2.1. frequency of occurrence of aflatoxins in dairy feed, 2.2. frequency of occurrence and level of aflatoxins in feed across study sites, feed sources, and feed types, 2.3. level of aflatoxins in feeds beyond different regulatory limits, 2.4. correlations between aflatoxigenic aspergillus isolates and aflatoxins level, 3. discussion, 3.1. occurrence and levels of aflatoxins in feed, 3.2. mean concentration and occurrence of principal aflatoxins in feeds, 3.3. level of aflatoxins in feeds beyond different standard regulations, 3.4. correlation of aflatoxigenic aspergillus isolates and aflatoxins level, 4. conclusions, 5. materials and methods, 5.1. description of the study area, 5.2. feed sample collection, 5.3. feed sample extraction, 5.4. iac feed sample clean-up, 5.5. hplc instrumentation, 5.6. method validation, 5.7. identification of aflatoxigenic aspergillus species, 5.8. statistical analysis, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Tesfaye, A.; Kurtu, M.Y.; Mummed, Y.Y.; Mohammed, A. Aflatoxins Levels in Concentrate Feeds Collected from Specialized Dairy Farms and Local Markets in Selected Urban Centers of Eastern Ethiopia. Toxins 2024 , 16 , 418. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins16100418

Tesfaye A, Kurtu MY, Mummed YY, Mohammed A. Aflatoxins Levels in Concentrate Feeds Collected from Specialized Dairy Farms and Local Markets in Selected Urban Centers of Eastern Ethiopia. Toxins . 2024; 16(10):418. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins16100418

Tesfaye, Angassa, Mohammed Yusuf Kurtu, Yesihak Yusuf Mummed, and Abdi Mohammed. 2024. "Aflatoxins Levels in Concentrate Feeds Collected from Specialized Dairy Farms and Local Markets in Selected Urban Centers of Eastern Ethiopia" Toxins 16, no. 10: 418. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins16100418

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Silva Ag Company

Growing up going to work with my Dad, it was always my dream to own my own cattle. When I graduated college, my parents gifted me one heifer that I have multiplied over the years to start my cattle operation. When I met my husband, Michael, our passion for agriculture was an instant bond. He grew up on his family’s dairy. Both growing up on farms, we fell in love with agriculture at a young age. Our passion for agriculture brought us together to start our own farming and custom farming operation, Silva Ag Company, in 2009. We farm oats, corn silage and alfalfa. We also have grown dry beans and grain corn in the past. The best part about farming is seeing our children develop a love for the earth. We know being third and fourth generation farmers would make our grandparents proud as well.

-Rosie Silva, Tracy, CA

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'Til the Cows Come Home: Marin’s Rich History of Dairying

These days, food-lovers flock to the northern San Francisco Bay Area to sample the best in restaurants and local produce, and to appreciate the fine rural scenery and ambiance. Leading attractions are our prize-winning local cheeses and other fine dairy products. We are seeing a renaissance in dairying, but Marin County is not new to the gourmet market: In fact, it is the pioneer in quality dairy food in the West.

Marin County is such a desirable place today because of its prosperity, good schools, proximity to San Francisco and— most significantly—natural beauty and vast open spaces. This has been the case for over a century. Recent decades of intense planning and activism have helped to preserve Marin’s sense of place, but the foundation of the county’s magic was laid in its earliest days by the plain and hardworking people, mostly immigrants, who worked the land and passed it on, sometimes stubbornly, through the generations.

Agriculture, specifically dairying, has dominated Marin County commerce and economics since the beginning, and still contributes in a major way. By the end of the 19th century, dairy ranches occupied almost every bit of non- wooded open space. Many members of early dairy families evolved into leaders in both business and politics, and their names remain in the modern public conscience: Freitas, Giacomini, Miller, Mendoza and Burbank, to name a few. Beyond providing pretty rural scenes and local color, it’s good to know that California’s dairy industry, now the nation’s largest, began right here in the North Bay.

The great California Gold Rush made it happen. Until that time, the rich pastures of the Marin Peninsula provided sustenance for rangy longhorn cattle that were tended in the laid-back manner of Mexican Alta California. With the arrival of thousands of gold seekers in 1849 and the years following, the new county to the north of San Francisco acquired significance: providing food to the newcomers in both the cities and the mining camps.

Imagine the Sierra-bound 49er who, soon upon departure from chaotic Yerba Buena in a steamer for the Sacramento River, gazed west at the pastoral and rich lands of Marin. There is no doubt that more than a few passengers thought, “I must return to this place and start a farm.” Some didn’t make it as far as the steamer; many early arrivals forsook the rigors of mining and instead stayed close to port.

Early on, local cattlemen like James Black (Black Mountain) and Lorenzo White (White’s Hill) drove their beef herds to the gold fields, but soon the Sierra foothills were stocked with cattle of their own. In this moribund moment, it took the foresight and intelligence of a woman to inspire an endeavor that would, within years, change history in California.

Clara Steele had settled in Sonoma County in the mid-1850s with her husband and various brothers- and cousins-in-law. Like hundreds of others, the Steeles had tried their hand at mining but were drawn to the verdant North Bay hills. The agricultural economy in the region had yet to gel, and the collective Steeles looked for opportunities. Clara noted the need for fresh dairy products on a visit to the bustling new city of San Francisco; she came home, caught and milked a wild cow, and made a cheese from one of her old family recipes. Returning to the city, she found ready buyers.

Clara was not the first in the area to milk a cow or to make butter or cheese; many people had their own dairy cows, but nobody had yet gone into business to the extent that an industry could be defined.

Much of the imported dairy products of the Gold Rush era literally reeked. The Eastern states were producing the bulk of domestic cheese and butter in the country, and very good stuff it could be. But after a journey on a slow ship, around the Horn—lumps of butter floating in some sort of brine, fine cheeses poorly stored, bad cheeses dishonestly labeled— the results were usually disappointing, if not an outright assault on the senses (or the health)! Clara Steele recognized the need for fresh products and spurred her family members to act before someone else did.

The Steeles traveled southwest into Marin County in search of good grazing land with water and a boat landing. They found it in the wilds of Point Reyes, and signed a lease on the Fourth of July, 1857. The Steeles invested in the creation of a vast, well-run, 10,000-acre dairy ranch on the coast, bathed in fogs that created pasture conditions that they termed “Cow Heaven.” Within years, the Steeles operated three busy dairy ranches and a schooner that made regular deliveries to San Francisco. Their cheese and butter grew in reputation and got top dollar; it put Point Reyes on the map. The Steeles had the first large-scale dairy business in California, and others quickly followed.

As “dairy fever” struck Marin County during the 1850s and 1860s, every available bit of grassland formerly grazed by elk and the Mexican longhorns became forage for dairy cattle. While the Steeles made cheese, most new dairymen produced butter, a commodity that became California’s other gold. Less than a decade after Clara first made her cheese, Marin County became the major contributor of dairy products in the state, and soon the Point Reyes dairy industry became famous.

The Shafter family of Oakland and San Francisco owned the most famous, successful and long-lived (1857–1939) agricultural entity in Marin County. Two brothers from Vermont, James M. and Oscar L. Shafter, arrived in San Francisco as attorneys in the early days of the Gold Rush. The Shafter firm represented a party in the struggle over ownership of Rancho Punta de los Reyes and its larger sobrante (leftover land), and ended up owning the entire 60,000-acre property. Among their inherited ranch tenants were the Steeles and, no doubt inspired by the successful dairy pioneers, the Shafters took personal control of the land grant.

With the help of Oscar’s son-in-law Charles Webb Howard, they divided up the peninsula into 30 dairy ranches. The partnership labeled the parcels with letters of the alphabet, built up-to-date ranch buildings and leased them out. By 1870, the entire Point Reyes Peninsula was one dairy ranch with 10,000 cows, referred to as the largest “Butter Rancho” in the country. The Shafters personally inspected the dairies and expected the utmost in efficiency, cleanliness and quality from their carefully selected tenants.

A thoughtful tenant could save the money to buy a ranch of his own somewhere else. Large land grants in Marin and Sonoma were gradually subdivided, offering new arrivals or former tenants small ranches for purchase. For instance, Henry Wager Halleck, Abraham Lincoln’s chief of staff during much of the Civil War, broke up his large portion of Rancho Nicasio into smaller 500- to 1,500-acre ranches and sold them. These small dairies established the pattern of land ownership that remains intact in the rural parts of the counties today.

By the end of the 19th century, the American gold-seekers of the 1850s were mostly supplanted by people from Ireland, southern Switzerland and the Portuguese Azores, all escap- ing poor conditions at home and searching for a good life in the United States. By 1900 most ranches in the county were operated by immigrants.

At first, certain areas attracted certain nationalities—for instance, the Irish preferred Point Reyes, the Azoreans southern and eastern Marin, while the Swiss congregated in the central part of the county and along Tomales Bay. These folks from the old country raised American children, were good neighbors and even intermarried at times. And most continued dairy work through the generations.

Life on a North Bay dairy ranch differed little from that on a dairy farm elsewhere, except for the fine climate and good conditions for pasturage and marketing. Summer fogs kept the grasses viable longer in the coastal area, and animals did not need shelter from freezing winters. Forward-thinking dairymen imported fine bulls and dairy cows from the East Coast or Europe.

Typically, the whole family pitched in with farm work, and most families were large: eight to 10 children were not uncommon. Not only did the cows need to be milked twice daily, they had to be gathered, doctored, separated and slaughtered. Most families tended vegetable gardens and orchards for their sustenance, as well as feed crops for their animals. Water systems and fence lines needed constant attention, not to mention the daily chores of washing clothes, tending chickens, repairing buildings and preparing food for the family and hired help.

Even decades into the 20th century, lack of rapid transportation prevented most North Bay dairies from shipping fresh milk to market. Butter and small amounts of cheese remained the major exports into the 20th century. Farmers produced butter by separating the cream from the fresh cow milk. Still- warm milk in the pail was carried to the creamery—a feature on all dairies—where it was strained and set out to separate in a wide pan. During the 1880s, power-driven DeLaval separators replaced the ancient pan-separating methods. The cream was then churned in large rotating boxes, invented on Point Reyes by Oliver Allen. Usually, a horse or mule powered the churn, later a steam or gasoline engine. No one was interested in the skim milk; it was fed to the pigs.

The buttermaker pressed the buttermilk out of the creamy mass, salted it and packed it in wooden boxes. It could be stored in the cool cellar or transported to market by wagon, schooner or train. Marin’s butter, especially that made in Point Reyes area, became the standard of high quality in gourmet hotels and restaurants in San Francisco. Some unscrupulous entrepreneurs took advantage of Marin’s good name and labeled inferior butter with the Point Reyes trademark.

And so Marin County, smallest of the original California counties, led the way in production of fine dairy products for half a century. As the industry and demand grew, Sonoma, Humboldt, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties joined the new “gold” rush. When large tracts became available in the Central and San Joaquin valleys, the Marin dairy indus- try lost its statistical stature, but not its life or reputation for quality. Marin’s dairies passed down through generations and many are still in business under the same name today.

Success in dairying led to the establishment of small rural towns and local banks with dairymen on their boards. These villages in rural Marin and western Sonoma counties each had their own character, much of which remains to this day. And not only were there cow ranches: The Novato Valley was blanketed in orchards; vineyards covered acres of hillsides around Fairfax, Larkspur, San Rafael and Novato; hay and grains grew in reclaimed marshlands on the eastern fringe of Marin and the southern sloughs of Sonoma, shipped to the city on flat-bottomed scows. Corn, wheat, potatoes, even a number of thriving commercial flower farms dotted Marin at various times.

In the 1920s, Point Reyes became a major growing area for artichokes, grown by Italian immigrants, and peas farmed by Japanese. World War II ended those industries abruptly, with coastal access restrictions for the former and internment for the latter.

Eighty to a hundred years ago California’s dairy industry experienced a number of upheavals with the tightening of sanitary regulations and leaps in transportation and technology. Sleek concrete and steel sanitary milking barns replaced the venerable wooden cow barns, and soon trucks came to take away fresh milk rather than butter or cream. The indus- try turned highly profitable for many dairymen, and organizations like dairy co-ops and private creameries offered often-lucrative production contracts. The industry grew in political power and also became more of a monoculture of Grade A milk with fewer signs of individuality. Some went into cheesemaking after 1900, but only a few survived. Jefferson Thompson’s family-run cheese factory at Hicks Valley, founded in 1865 and maker of the well-regarded Rouge et Noir brand, persisted in cheesemaking and is now the country’s oldest in continual production.

The Golden Gate Bridge and postwar development put Marin and Sonoma’s dairy industry under the gun, as large dairies like Freitas’s at Terra Linda, Bettencourt’s at Greenbrae and those in east Petaluma were transformed into suburban neighborhoods. The coastal ranchlands were to be next. Under such duress, a surprising but determined coalition of environmentalists, farmers and politicians worked to preserve what agriculture was left in Marin, first establishing A-60 zoning that restricted development on agricultural lands

in west and north Marin, and then creating an innovative organization whose success has inspired others all around the country: the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, or MALT.

In the 1970s, dairy farmer Ellen Straus and biologist Phyllis Faber sat at farm kitchen tables around the county and talked about the adversity being faced by dairy families. “Dairies were going out, the kids were leaving, and all of the dairies from east Marin were gone,” recalled Faber recently. “Ellen and I were watching helplessly and really wanting to find some answer that would put a stop to it.”

“Dairying is really hard work,” Faber continued, “and unless there was a future generation interested they were going to sell their land for their retirement. We needed to find a way to make that land secure, so that became our quest.”

To add to the stress, the state proposed stricter protective zoning on the coast that would effectively split the county in two, something that neither ranchers nor the county wanted. “It was a unique moment in time for this county, and without that gun to the head of the county they would have never picked up a crazy idea like buying development rights,” Faber recalled.

Straus and Faber founded MALT with a mission to slow or stop the disappearance of productive ranches for conversion into subdivisions, estates or hobby farms. They gathered interested and progressive people like dairy rancher Ralph Grossi, county supervisor Gary Giacomini, planning commissioner Jerry Friedman and supportive ranchers like Boyd Stewart and Willie Lafranchi. The organizers created a system that paid ranchers for agricultural easements that would keep the land for farming in perpetuity. Since its founding in 1980, MALT has saved over 44,000 acres and 69 family farms to date, but their work and that of other agencies and organizations is far from done.

“I think that MALT has played a role not always by design, but because of life,” said Faber. Ellen’s son, Albert Straus, took advantage of the program, using the money from MALT to convert his family’s dairy to organic (the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi) and establish a commercial creamery that is today known as Straus Family Creamery.

“Nowadays a dairy rancher almost has to be organic to survive; the productivity of the big dairies in the Central Valley just swamps them,” she noted. “The light bulb went on for our dairy ranchers, and so almost every one of the other ranchers has now indulged in some value-added program in their ranching operation. And it was a MALT dairy rancher [Albert Straus] that showed them how.”

Today, Marin and Sonoma’s dairy industry has diversified, with milk products originating not only with cows but sheep, goats and water buffalo. The North Bay now has the largest concentration of artisan cheesemakers outside of Vermont, and many more milk dairies are going organic. Some are new residents seeking opportunity in our green fields, and some, like the Lafranchi family of Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, can trace their roots back over 150 continuous years in Marin dairying.

As the birthplace of California’s dairy industry and an innovator throughout its history, most of Marin County remains a picturesque pastoral landscape after generations of productive use. Residents old and new appreciate the historic landscape and— hopefully—respect and honor the brave conservation efforts that effectively drew a protective line separating suburban east Marin and the agricultural open spaces of west Marin.

Preserving the agricultural legacy of Marin has ensured a more healthy and appealing place to live, and for that we should perhaps raise a glass (of milk?) to the memory of Clara Steele.

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