Success Story from St. Charles Lwanga SS - Mubende
It gives me a great sense of happiness to witness Kiyinda-Mityana Diocese Integrated Cow Program grow into what it is today. With profound joy and immense pride, I speak about the splendid projects KMD introduced. The Diocese has concerted efforts to promote and emphasize agricultural practices in schools through this program.
Project Beginnings
Having received information about the program, the school immediately started preparation activities such as construction of a standard heifer unit and planting of pastures such as elephant grass. The school sent teachers for different workshops organized by the Kiyinda-Mityana Diocese projects office. These later transferred the skills to learners during the lessons.
On 04th January 2022, St. Charles Lwanga SS - Mubende was gifted two in-calf cows by the diocese. The school then started a remarkable job that was later named the Heifer Project. The two in-calf heifers were later named DDEMBE and SANYU.
Growth and Multiplication
As time rolled on, the project bore fruits of multiplication as we got new members of the family:
- Valentino - calved on 14/02/2022
- Flavia - calved on 12/05/2022
- Lucia - calved on 18/10/2023
- Paba - calved on 14/07/2024
- Chief - calved on 06/01/2025
- Joyous Centenary - calved on 14/09/2025
- Ssubi - calved on 27/02/2026
- Ruby - calved on 16/03/2026
By: Nalubiri Irene, S.6 Sci Class (BCA)
Management of the Heifer Project
At our school, different students are selected to perform daily activities in the heifer project in form of house work. Early morning, sweeping, feeding, scrubbing, silting and cleaning of the troughs is done to ensure maximum sanitation. At lunch time, collecting dung from kraal and feeding is done. Milking is practiced in the morning and in the evening.
By: Mulisa Jane, S.4 Class
Feeding Practices
Cattle are fed on a variety of feeds to meet their nutritional needs such as elephant grass, silage, hay, maize bran, mineral licks, water etc. The school planted different pastures using part of its land in the staff quarters such as elephant-grass.
More pastures were planted in a leased land of two acres in Kaweri and these included elephant grass and Sugar graze. To increase milk production, we later planted Calliandra and alfalfa in the staff quarters majorly to provide proteins to the lactating cows. As the cattle increased in number, the school administration bought more ten acres of land in Kisuna village and we planted good varieties of Napier grass which has boosted the forage production.
We provide the cattle with silage to bridge the feed gap in the dry season. At the beginning of the rainy season, we plant maize and it is harvested after 5-7 weeks before it starts flowering. We harvest the maize at the vegetative stage, chop it into small pieces, pile it in a silo and cover it completely for about 80 days.
We further supplement the animals with concentrates to boost the growth of the cattle such as maize bran as an energy concentrate. The cattle are provided with mineral licks to provide them with essential minerals such as calcium, phosphorous, zinc and iron. Water at our project is an essential requirement that is highly needed — to keep the continuous supply of water, the school extended water pipes to the heifer unit.
By: Okot Morish, S.6 Sci Class (BCA)
Milking
Milking is a daily activity done here at school. We milk in the morning and evening hours. Three cows are milked in the morning and two cows are milked in the evening — Sanyu, Lucia and Flavia. Before milking, the place is cleaned free of dust, milk man puts on a protective attire i.e. clean overall and gumboots. The cow to be milked is brought to the milking parlor. The udder and teats are washed with warm water and wiped using a towel. After milking the calf is given milk by bottle feeding. The milking materials are later cleaned using clean water and towel.
By: Otafiire Ezra, S.2 Class
Animal Disease and Parasite Control
At our school disease and parasite control is highly practiced where spraying is carried out usually twice a week using a knapsack sprayer. During the spraying, the animal body parts like udder, ears, head and between the hooves are well sprayed since they are the major hiding places of ticks. Usually the school invites the veterinary doctor who regularly checks the health of the cattle and treats them where necessary.
By: Ryigyema Odrine, S.2 Class
Improvement of Breeds Using Artificial Insemination
The school highly adopted insemination to breed the cattle on the farm. This has enabled the school to easily use semen of improved dairy breeds such as Holstein-Friesian. This enabled us to grade up the breeds to high quality standards. Heat detection supported by proper record keeping has been made to ensure timely insemination of these animals as it leads to high conception rates. Returns after service has been a major challenge during insemination as it has been costly to the school to repeat the procedure.
By: Tr. Musiimenta Brair, H.O.D Agriculture
Rise of Crop Projects Out of the Heifer Project
The project growth inspired the school to utilize the animal wastes such as cow dung, animal urine which have been used to make liquid fertilizers and some used to start up different crop projects such as vegetable growing, banana plantation, and coffee growing.
Vegetable Growing
As a model school we have proven best in fulfilling the Diocesan agricultural development program by having vegetable gardens that comprise of cabbages, eggplants, tomatoes, amaranths and Sukuma Wiki. These vegetables are added to student's meals in order to attain a balanced diet.
Banana Plantation
Still in the light of agriculture ideas, the school went further and introduced a banana plantation where it was in position of acquiring banana suckers of highly productive species and these were planted covering part of the school garden. The banana plantations are managed by the students who carry out weeding, mulching to control weeds, staking to prevent wind damages, application of fertilizer and thinned to maintain good growth of banana plants.
Coffee Plantation
Still with abundant resources from the heifer project such as manure, the school under the KMD integrated project introduced a coffee plantation of 1.8 acres. Teachers went to different workshops organized by the KMD PROJECTS OFFICE. Students were taught about coffee establishment practices, management practices and harvesting practices of coffee. Students under the guidance of the teachers planted the coffee and management started straight away.
By: Namusisi Noeline, Patron Heifer Project and Gardens
Record Keeping
For four years St. Charles Lwanga SS Mubende has run the school heifer project. It is not about rearing cows, it is about teaching responsibility, entrepreneurship and how to care for God's creatures. We have been taking and keeping records because without records there is no accountability, without accountability there is no growth.
In the heifer record book, we record: Date of visit, Name of the veterinary officer, Purpose of the visit, Drug administered, Recommendations given. In the milk sales and production book we record the date and cow name, amount of milk produced daily, amount sold daily. The amount sold is handed over to the school bursar for banking which is withdrawn for buying supplements, drugs and payment of attendants motivation.
Benefits of the Program
Students and teachers are able to regularly enjoy milk from the heifer project and I proudly say we enjoyed a bull called PABA on Easter of 2026. This was a manifestation of a saying "you reap what you sow".
- Learners have gained practical skills such as feed making, garden management, fertilizer making and application, disease and parasite management hence embracing the demands of the new curriculum
- The heifer project has been a source of income to the school as some of the milk is sold at the school canteen. The money has supported the school in various activities
- The project has supported our vegetable gardens, banana and coffee plantation by its constant supply of manure
- The program has boosted the performance of students in agriculture as a subject evidenced by the good results
- Of now the project has been used as a model farm by the diocese to educate different people from institutions i.e. Head teachers, teachers, students and support staff about agricultural practices hence becoming a learning center for all institutions
- We are glad that as students during the holidays we are able to improve the farming practices at home
By: Nakaggwa Dorothy, S.3 Class
Challenges
Throughout the course of the project we have faced a number of shortcomings some of which were avoidable and others were unavoidable:
- We faced death of our beloved cattle i.e. Ddembe and Valentino. Ddembe suffered calving difficulties which eventually led to its death. Out of what I can call carelessness by us the students, Valentino swallowed a rope that was left around its pen which led to its death
- There has been a noticeable shortage of pastures usually in the dry season and has resulted in reduced milk production
- There has been difficulty in finding the artificial inseminators in time and this has resulted in low conception rates by the farm animals as insemination is done late
- Due to the increasing number of the cows, there is limited space around the heifer unit which has demanded us expansion
Appreciation
I agree with John C Maxwell who says that everything rises and falls on leadership, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to our mother Kiyinda-Mityana headed by a man who doesn't set out to be a leader but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent — our Lord Bishop Joseph Antony Zziwa for the introduction of the project and its influence towards agriculture in schools.
We appreciate the school administration through our Chairman Board of Governors as well as the program coordinator Fr. Simon Peter Kyambadde and our beloved Head teacher Miss Grace Lwanga for fulfilling the diocesan idea of promoting and embracing practical agriculture in schools and more so its endless support in all the projects that benefit us as students.
Above all is the Almighty God from whom all blessings flow and in him we live, move and have our being.
By: Nalubiri Irene, S.6 Sci Class (BCA)