The pace has really picked up in Kenya on our Global Focus Program. Nuffield scholars who have previously mentioned that the Nuffield experience is not a holiday have been proven right.

We've had many 5am starts with formalities often ending after 11pm. Travelling with eight other people and their personalities is proving both enjoyable and challenging. I can best describe it as a six-week long Macra meeting.

The national average calf/cow/year for Ireland in 2013 was 83%. This week I met a farmer who had a calving percentage of 82% of females put to the bull. That's not much to write home about you might think. However when you realise the biggest risks to calf mortality are lions, leopards and hyenas you change your point of view.

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Grifrid Powys runs a herd of pedigree Boran cattle, a native African breed at Suyian ranch. Bred to survive in harsh conditions, it has high fertility levels and is extremely docile.

We were able to walk through all the stock with no animal panicking, a stark contrast to Irish beef herds. It is a small animal with a mature cow weight of less than 500kg. Steers are finished off grass at 450 kg live weight at three years of age.

Three or four stockmen accompany the stock at all times with portable accommodation and cooking facilities. Stock are corralled at 5.30pm every evening into a portable boma. This is a mobile predator proof fence. Animals that wander off and don't make it into the boma by nightfall have a 10% chance of surviving the night.

Grifrid has adopted a policy of under stocking the land with cattle. He has no choice as it's not unusual for large herds of grazing animals such as buffalo, zebra and antelopes can arrive at any point. Part of the philosophy of the ranch is to make best use of its assets. He runs herds of sheep and goats to eat grasses the cattle wouldn't eat. A herd of milking camels forage on trees. Honey is produced from the available plant life and tourist lodges help convert the benefit of having wildlife into cash.

A lesson for us all to make the most of what we've got.