If you knew what abattoir meant without having to look it up, you were ahead of me; and I now have the job of leading a livestock business. An abattoir is a slaughter house and a very necessary part of the grassland-to-market cattle supply chain.

Livestock are the backbone of the pastoralist culture and economy. Pastoralists are semi-nomadic because they must follow their cows as they forage for food. Almost 100% of pastoralists’ wealth is tied up in their animals. Whenever a family has cash they buy an animal, whenever they need cash they sell one: they sell a sheep or goat when only a small amount of money is needed – for cooking oil, grain or sugar – a cow for something major like school fees or doctor bills.

Meat truck outside the abattoir.

To sell a cow, a herder typically has to walk 2 – 4 days to reach a market. His already scrawny cows get skinnier and less valuable with each step. Once there the herder has no choice but to sell his cattle and is at a disadvantage to the hard-driving traders who have the cash.

NRT has developed a “Livestock to Market” business that shifts more of the profit back to the pastoralist and the pastoralist communities. NRT buys livestock out in the Conservancies reducing the distance people and cattle have to walk and we pay a fair price based on the ultimate value of the processed meat. NRT’s herders walk the cattle to Lewa – which has abundant but not particularly nutritious grass – where the cows are quarantined for about a month to make sure they don’t have any diseases. Next the cows are walked up into the lush foothills of Mt. Kenya to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a 90,000 acre rhino sanctuary much like Lewa. There they spend 4 – 12 months getting fat on Ol Pejeta’s rich green grass and then take their final trip to the abattoir. Because these cattle are now “fat cows” rather than “skinny cows,” they weigh more, taste better, are awarded a higher grade and fetch a higher price in Nairobi. Most of that benefit goes back to the community.

Discussing carcasses with Giles, the NRT cattle buyer.

As part of my education into the beef business, I took a trip to the abattoir. Frankly, I was not looking forward to watching cows killed, gutted, skinned and cleaned. Fortunately, by the time we arrived the messy work was done. Surrounded by newly slaughtered carcasses, we discussed fat quality and meat grading; something that didn’t turn my stomach. On Tuesday I fly out with our cattle buyer, in a little two-seater airplane, to watch a NRT cattle market in Biliqo Bulesa, one of our poorest and most remote conservancies. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ol Pejata’s CEO’s luxurious office