Five Farm KPIs That Separate Profitable Farms from Struggling Ones

Walk into a profitable Kenyan farm and ask the owner five questions. They will answer each one in under ten seconds — from memory, because they check these numbers weekly.

Walk into a struggling farm and ask the same questions. The answers are "I think about..." or "Let me check my notebook" or silence.

The difference is not land, not breed, not luck. It is five numbers.

KPI 1: Production per unit

For dairy: Litres per cow per day (herd average) For poultry: Hen Day Production percentage For swine: Average Daily Gain in kilograms

This is the most fundamental measure of whether your animals are performing. It answers: "Are my animals producing at their potential?"

What good looks like in Kenya:

• Dairy: 12-20 litres/cow/day (Friesian), 8-15 (Jersey), 10-18 (crosses). Depends on genetics, feeding, and management.
• Layers: 85-95% HDP at peak, declining predictably with age
• Broilers: 55-65g ADG, reaching 2.0kg at 35 days
• Swine: 0.6-0.8 kg ADG from weaning to market weight

If your numbers are consistently 20% or more below these ranges, something in your management — feed, health, housing, or genetics — is limiting performance.

Why it matters: Production drives revenue. Every litre, every egg, every kilogram of weight gain is money. You cannot improve what you do not measure.

KPI 2: Feed cost per unit of production

For dairy: KES per litre of milk (feed cost only) For poultry: FCR (kg feed per kg eggs or meat), or KES per egg For swine: KES per kg of weight gained

Feed is 60-70% of production cost. This KPI tells you whether your largest expense is under control.

What good looks like in Kenya:

• Dairy: KES 18-28 feed cost per litre (depends on feeding system — zero-grazing is higher, pasture-based is lower)
• Layers: FCR 2.0-2.3 (feed cost KES 7-9 per egg)
• Broilers: FCR 1.6-1.8 at 35 days
• Swine: KES 80-120 feed cost per kg gained

Why it matters: A farm can have high production but thin margins if feed costs are too high. This number tells you whether you are converting feed into product efficiently — or burning money.

KPI 3: Mortality and health cost rate

For dairy: Annual veterinary cost as a percentage of milk revenue For poultry: Cumulative mortality percentage per flock cycle For swine: Pre-weaning mortality percentage per litter

Animals that get sick or die cost you twice — the direct cost of treatment or replacement, and the lost production while they are unproductive.

What good looks like in Kenya:

• Dairy: Veterinary costs under 8% of milk revenue. Zero deaths in a normal year.
• Layers: Under 5% cumulative mortality for a full 72-week cycle
• Broilers: Under 3% per batch
• Swine: Under 10% pre-weaning mortality per litter

Why it matters: High health costs indicate systemic problems — poor biosecurity, inadequate vaccination, bad housing, or nutritional deficiencies. Fixing the root cause is cheaper than treating symptoms repeatedly.

KPI 4: Reproductive efficiency

For dairy: Calving interval (target: 365 days) and services per conception For poultry: Not applicable (commercial layers are not bred on farm) For swine: Litters per sow per year (target: 2.3-2.5) and born alive per litter

Reproductive performance determines your farm's future production capacity. Poor breeding management today means poor production 9-12 months from now.

What good looks like in Kenya:

• Dairy: Calving interval under 400 days. First-service conception rate above 45%. Services per conception under 2.0.
• Swine: 2.3+ litters per sow per year. 10+ born alive per litter. Wean-to-service interval under 7 days.

Why it matters: A dairy herd with a 450-day average calving interval produces 15-20% less milk over the cows' lifetimes than a herd at 365 days. A sow producing 2.0 litters per year instead of 2.4 gives you 4 fewer piglets — worth KES 20,000-40,000 at market weight.

KPI 5: Profit per animal per month

For dairy: Net profit per cow per month (revenue minus all allocated costs) For poultry: Net profit per 100 birds per month For swine: Net profit per sow per month (including piglet sales)

This is the bottom line. It combines all the other KPIs into one answer: is each animal paying for itself and contributing to your income?

What good looks like in Kenya:

• Dairy: KES 3,000-8,000 net profit per cow per month (varies hugely by system and scale)
• Layers: KES 20-40 net profit per bird per month during peak production
• Broilers: KES 40,000-80,000 net profit per 500-bird batch (KES 80-160 per bird per cycle)
• Swine: KES 5,000-15,000 net profit per sow per month (amortised across litter cycles)

Why it matters: This is the number that tells you whether to add more animals, maintain your current size, or reduce. If profit per animal is negative, adding more animals makes the problem worse, not better.

How the five KPIs connect

These five numbers form a chain:

1. Production drives revenue
2. Feed efficiency determines whether revenue turns into margin
3. Health costs erode margin from the expense side
4. Reproductive efficiency determines whether production continues at a high level
5. Profit per animal is the final scorecard

A problem in any one KPI affects the others. Poor feed efficiency (KPI 2) can cause poor production (KPI 1). Poor reproductive management (KPI 4) eventually reduces production. High mortality (KPI 3) reduces revenue and increases replacement costs, cutting profit (KPI 5).

The weekly review

Set aside 20 minutes every week — same day, same time. Open your farm records and check all five KPIs. Write down the numbers and one sentence about what you will do about any that are below target.

That is it. Twenty minutes a week of intentional management based on data. The farms that do this are the ones that are profitable.

Track all five KPIs at shira.farm.