Dairy Record Keeping in Kenya: How to Know What One Litre of Milk Costs You

6 min read

Ask a dairy farmer what the co-operative or the milk buyer pays per litre and they will tell you immediately. Ask what it costs them to produce that litre and most cannot say. Without that number, you cannot tell whether your dairy is making money or quietly losing it, whether a new feed is worth the price, or which cows are paying their way.

This guide explains how to calculate your cost per litre, the five records you need to do it, and how to use those records to make better decisions about feeding, breeding and culling.

The only formula you need

Cost per litre = total dairy costs for the month ÷ litres produced that month.

Costs include everything you spend on the dairy herd: fodder, silage and hay, dairy meal and concentrates, minerals, vet services and drugs, artificial insemination, labour, water and electricity used for the dairy, transport of milk, and repairs to the cow shed and equipment. If your cost per litre is higher than what you are paid, every litre you sell loses money.

A worked example

The numbers below are for illustration only. Your own costs and prices will differ.

• Cows milking: 4
• Litres produced this month: 1,800 (about 15 litres per cow per day)
• Dairy meal: KES 21,000
• Silage and fodder (bought or valued at what it cost you to make): KES 18,000
• Minerals: KES 2,500
• Vet, drugs and AI: KES 4,500
• Labour: KES 10,000
• Other costs: KES 2,000
• Total: KES 58,000

Cost per litre = KES 58,000 ÷ 1,800 = about KES 32. If the buyer pays KES 50 per litre, the margin is about KES 18 per litre, or roughly KES 32,000 for the month. If production drops to 1,200 litres because two cows are drying off, the same costs give a cost per litre of about KES 48, and the margin almost disappears. That is why the number has to be calculated every month, not once.

Five records that pay for themselves

1. Daily milk per cow, morning and evening. Two numbers a day per cow. This is the most important record on the farm.
2. Breeding dates. Heat dates, service or AI dates and the bull used. From these you can predict repeat heats, pregnancy-check dates, dry-off dates and calving dates.
3. Treatments. Every drug given, the dose, and the date the milk is safe to sell again.
4. Every expense, written down the day you spend it.
5. Every sale: milk, calves, culled cows and manure if you sell it.

Using milk records to feed better

Feed is usually the largest cost in a dairy. Daily milk records let you test feeding decisions instead of guessing. If you increase dairy meal for two weeks, compare litres per cow before and after. If the extra milk is worth more than the extra meal, keep it. If not, go back.

A common rule of thumb is to feed concentrate in proportion to milk production rather than the same amount to every cow. A high-yielding cow in early lactation needs more; a cow near the end of lactation needs less. Your milk records tell you which cow is which. Your feed supplier or extension officer can help you set the right amounts for your breed and fodder.

Good forage reduces cost per litre more than anything else. Well-made silage and good Napier, Boma Rhodes or lucerne mean you need less bought concentrate for the same milk. If you make your own silage, include the full cost of making it, including seed, fertiliser, labour, chopping and polythene, when you value it in your records.

Using breeding records to keep cows milking

A cow only produces milk after she calves. Every month a cow spends empty and dry is a month of feed with no milk. Breeding records let you watch the calving interval, the time between one calving and the next. Many farmers aim for about 12 to 13 months. Long calving intervals are one of the most common hidden costs on small dairy farms.

Use the records to:

• Watch for heat about three weeks after a service if the cow has not conceived.
• Arrange a pregnancy check after service, as advised by your vet or AI provider.
• Dry off about two months before the expected calving date.
• Prepare a clean calving area and watch the cow closely near her due date.

Which cow should you sell?

Once you have daily milk per cow, look at each cow’s average over two or three months. Cows that stay at the bottom while not in early lactation or sick, and cows with long calving intervals, are costing you feed without paying it back. Records turn a hard, emotional decision into an easy one.

A simple test: estimate what each cow eats in a month, multiply by your feed cost, and compare it with the value of her milk. If a cow consistently produces less than the value of her feed, she is a candidate for selling, and the money can go towards a better heifer.

Treatment records protect your milk buyer and your name

Milk from a cow treated with antibiotics must be withheld for the period stated on the drug label. Selling it puts consumers at risk and can get your milk rejected by buyers who test for residues. Write the safe date in your treatment record the moment you treat the cow, and tell anyone who milks for you.

Keeping it simple

• Hang a milk record sheet in the shed and fill it at each milking.
• Keep a small notebook for expenses and sales, or record them on your phone the same day.
• At the end of each month, total litres, total costs and total sales, and calculate cost per litre.
• Every three months, look at each cow’s average yield and calving interval.

The farmers who do best in dairy are rarely the ones with the most cows. They are the ones who know their numbers and act on them.

Farming outside Kenya? The Global Edition works in any currency.

Keeping poultry too? The Poultry Profit Tracker does the same for layers, broilers and kienyeji: laying rate, mortality and cost per tray.

Want every farm tool in one go? The Farm Records Mega Bundle has the silage guide and calculator, dairy and poultry trackers, and goat, chicken and beekeeping record books for KES 1,499 (worth KES 2,647).

Tools for this topic

Record books and calculators I use on my own farm. Pay with M-Pesa and download instantly.

• 

  Farm Records Mega Bundle – Dairy, Poultry, Silage, Goat, Chicken & Bee Record Tools

  $11.57 Add to cart
• 

  Pit Silage Made Simple – Step-by-Step Guide + Silage Planner & Cost Calculator (Excel)

  $3.85 Add to cart
• 

  Beekeeping Hive Inspection Log – Printable Apiary Record Book (PDF)

  $3.47 Add to cart

See all tools & guides →