Fodder conservation using a manual baler
Arid Land Information Network
Storage
Bales should be stacked in a place protected from the sun, rain and pests. This could be on a raised
platform covered with grass or a polythene paper. Organic pests repellant such as ash may be used.
A bale so stored can be kept for up to six years without losing nutritional value or dry matter. Where
there is no shed the bales can be stored in the open in a pyramid shape. However the top bales may
be wasted.
Bailing for pastoralists
The improved baler can reduce the distances livestock have to travel for pasture. Using donkeys
or camels, farmers can transport the baler as they move with stronger animals to where grass is
available. They can then bale the grass and transport it back to watering points to feed weaker or
lactating livestock.
How the baler was developed
Three acres of grass were going to waste at the SACDEP - Kenya demonstration farm in eastern
Kenya at a time when a bale of hay was selling for up to Ksh. 200. Efforts to find a tractor hay baler
locally were unsuccessful. Faced with this challenge, SACDEP, an indigenous NGO, sponsored the
development of the first wooden prototype of the improved manual baler at a cost of Ksh. 15,000.
At the testing stage, the prototype made 200 bales weighing 9kg each in two weeks. The NGO sold
the hay for Ksh. 30,000 making a profit of Ksh.10,000 after deducting Ksh. 20,000 that had been
spent on developing the baler and farm labour. The success of the baler motivated the innovators,
Steel head Engineering, to commit more time to research. The improved baler was devised after six
months of trying out different options. The improved baler was developed by a Kenyan company,
Steelhead Engineering, in 1999.
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