On June 4, June and I flew out of Toronto at 6:00 pm via Amsterdam to Nairobi, Kenya arriving there about 7:30 pm on June 5 (about 18 hrs). We were met there by a driver who delivered us to the home of Ted and Sue Alleyne who were to be our hosts for 5 days. They operate a small holding on the outskirts of Nairobi where they milk a few Jerseys. Sue toured us around the area on Tuesday, including the Nairobi Safari Walk, The Sheldrick Wildlife Nursery where they raise orphaned elephants and rhino, and a local giraffe park - all very interesting.

The Jersey show took place over the next three days. Show rings for the dairy shows were outside in a very nice setting. The weather for the three days also was very cooperative being sunny and warm but not too hot. The first day we saw all of the animals in milk and one class of dry cows. We noted quite a large variation in size over the animals exhibited. Almost without exception, breeders here are not interested in a large cow but rather mid-sized to smaller is the preference. Almost all cows are pastured, many on small holdings and the smaller animal is felt to fit in this environment the best. Most of the animals exhibited were very dairy with good quality udders. The population here has been strongly influenced by New Zealand and Jersey Island genetics. Some U.S. bulls have been used to some degree. Canadian sires are also being used to a lesser degree. Meadow Lawn J Imperial was the dominant sire on this day. We chose a 5 yr. old daughter of a J Imperial son as Champion cow. She is a cow of average size but beautifully well balanced with an exceptionally shaped and silky udder. She was also best udder in the show. For Reserve we picked a youthful 7 yr. old daughter of J Imperial, a slightly larger cow, great udder with not quite the balance of body and strength of loin of the champion. Sooner Centurion and a son of Berretta were also quite prominent throughout the show.

Thursday began with a class of bulls and continued with heifers and group classes. These classes were mostly what we are familiar with, changed somewhat in the numbers and age basis. We were also asked to choose the top showpersons for the show. Our champion heifer was a 12 month old daughter of Homestead Ernest out of a Centurion dam. This is an exceptionally dairy, well grown calf that I felt was a fairly easy Junior Champion. My Reserve Champion heifer came from the next class and was a daughter of Centurion. There were also 3 Production classes where qualifying animals were brought back out and placed, given points for conformation and then these were combined with points for production to identify the winners.

During the day, the Hon. Joseph Munyao, Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, visited the Jersey ring. I met him and was asked to briefly explain how we viewed the animals and made our decision as to placing the classes. We also were asked to conduct a brief showmanship clinic for all interested handlers. The great majority of people can speak English so this was not difficult to do. We found a great deal of interest in improving the way the animals were presented and all of the people involved were very keen to pay attention.

Friday was Interbreed day with all 4 dairy judges collaborating to choose winners. While it can be interesting, this usually gets somewhat political and I'm not sure that any interest is very well served in the end. After and almost embarrassing period of negotiating, our Jersey was declared Supreme Champion with the Ayrshire as Reserve. The Group class was won by a very uniform group of young Holstein cows sired by the same bull. The final decision in the interbreed production class went to our Jersey.

Saturday morning, Ted drove us to the Central A.I. Station about 45 minutes north of Nairobi. This stud services all of Kenya. All of the judges were there as well as about 25 visitors. Some surprises here as no one had told me that we were expected to comment on each of the bulls of our breed that are housed here. The infrastructure to prove bulls is just not available in this country and most breeders do not seem to understand the importance of sire proofs. We attempted to impart the value of accurate sire proofs as well as talk about the individual bulls. Probably the best young bull housed there at present is a Sambo son out of a J Imperial dam.

Our next hosts were Liz and Miles Coverdale who have a lovely farm fairly close to Mount Kenya. They milk about 30 Jerseys and market most of their milk directly off the farm. This farm uses AI, maintaining their own semen tank and hiring a neighbour to do the inseminating. Liz and Miles took us to their friends Rose and Toni Dyer who have a 35,000 acre ranch where we enjoyed lunch and toured their game park.

Monday we were picked up by our driver and headed for Nakuru to meet the Mills family. Joe and Janet Mills operate Rawhide ranch, a beautiful operation milking about 90 Jerseys and also handling about 150 thoroughbred racehorses. Their daughter Tanya manages the racehorse operation and the farm employees about 45 people. The milking operation is the most “modern” that we encountered in Kenya with a double 8 herringbone milk parlour and large bulk tank. The modern part ended at the tank outlet as there is no facilities to handle bulk milk in the country and all milk had to be canned for shipping. The Mills rely heavily on corn silage to carry the herd through the dry periods as well as making a lot of hay of which the surplus is sold.