Simply the best: Black Sea and Mandela emerge winners at Nakuru ASK show

The second-to-last day of the ASK show was full of students in school uniforms, moving from pen to pen with notebooks in hand.

They hurriedly wrote down details about different animal breeds, their feeds, and how much milk they produce, notes they would later use for school presentations as proof that they had learnt something.

But by afternoon, the crowd had changed, and adults now walked slowly through the livestock section, eager to ‘source' the best animals.

At the heart of the admiration stood nine‑year‑old Black Sea, tagged 5LN 63. She is an Ayrshire matriarch who reserve champion, Keismoor calved six times and still yields about 28 litres of milk a day.

“This is our Supreme Champion,” said Michael Kariuki, from ADC Lanet, who spent the day fielding questions beside the stall. “She’s productive and, more important, consistent. Even at her age, she keeps the same structure and udder we want in a high‑class dairy cow.”

At roughly 600 kilograms, Black Sea is fed twice daily on a mixed ration of 25 kg of silage, up to 15 kg of dry hay, 6 kg dairy meal, and a kilo of Lucerne, equivalent to about four per cent of her live weight. If its heifer is sold, it goes for over Sh. 200,000. 3-4 percent butterfat content

A few steps away stood the reserve champion, Keismoor 21LN10, a four-year-old Guernsey that has calved twice. Weighing about 450 kilograms, she produces 25 litres of milk daily and boasts the highest butter fat content among the show animals, at five per cent.

“This Guernsey is very docile. You can touch and milk her comfortably,” said Kariuki, adding “She is fed twice a day on a total mixed ration of 23 kg silage, 4 kg dairy meal and 1 kg Lucerne, amounting to about 3-4 percent of her body weight.”

A key characteristic of a Guernsey breed is that they are generally taller than Ayrshires and have a light brown coat. They can also tolerate hot areas and areas with a lot of ticks, which cause East Coast Fever.

ADC sells in-calf heifers of this breed at around Sh215,000, depending on size and pregnancy stage.

The line-up’s third star, Cayana 9LN48, represented the Friesian breed. At six years old, she matches Keismoor’s yield at 25 litres of milk a day but has the lowest butter fat content among the top winners. She carries the classic black-and-white markings Friesians are known for.

“This breed is the highest milk producer overall,” said Kariuki. “But it also eats the most and does best in cooler climates. In hotter areas, we recommend full zero-grazing units so you can manage heat stress.”

Cayana weighs about 350 kilograms, which is considered small for a Friesian—some can grow up to 700 kg. She is tall, big-framed, and fed twice a day on a total mixed ration made up of 20 kg silage, 15 kg dry hay, 3 kg dairy meal, and 1 kg lucerne, calculated at about 3–4 percent of her live weight.

Still holding his title this year was Mandela, tag number 22175, a Boer goat of South African descent who once again emerged as the champion in his category, running unopposed.

Now just under three years old, Mandela weighs over 100 kilograms and has already sired more than 100 kids.

Given his record as a breeder, Mandela is now being used exclusively as a sire, with his offspring fetching at least Sh. 50,000 each.

With Boer bucks typically used for breeding until around five years of age, Mandela has roughly two more productive years left before he transitions into meat production.