Since September 1st, 2019, Bles Dairies manages the large-scale dairy farm ‘Eswatini Dairy,’ in the Southern region of Africa, former Swaziland. Bles Dairies has the goal to turn this medium-scale dairy farm into a modern large-scale enterprise milking 1,500 cows.
Developments 2020
Developments have been moving fast and so a lot has been achieved over the past year, from increasing the pregnancy rate, to improving the cows’ body condition, land work – grass and maize –, purchasing good machinery, data collection, building a modern barn for more shadow etc.
In order to speed up the expansion of the farm’s herd, this summer, pregnant heifers have been imported from South-Africa. With a local partner, the cattle have been carefully selected. The heifers come from several dairy farms in the Eastern Cape, where climate conditions correspond to Eswatini’s climate.
Increasing the milk production
In less than one year, the average milk production per cow per day increased from 6 to 17 kg Milk. This was achieved by improving all aspects of dairy farming with a mayor focus on reproduction, pasture management, feeding and leadership/ farm management skills.
Into the future…
Although we have already made lots of progress, there is still plenty to do at Eswatini Dairy! So in 2021, we will continue optimizing and professionalizing the dairy farm.
