The CAIS, Lower Kabete, was established in 1946, as a central station for the production and distribution of semen throughout the country. The Colonial Government donated the Lower Veterinary Farm for the station and met the cost of the buildings.

The station initially started with four Guernsey bulls and one Jersey bull imported from America and Scotland respectively.  Ayrshire and Friesian breeds were later introduced.  The Hereford breed was introduced in 1951, followed by the Sahiwal in 1956, Red Poll in 1957 and Short Horn in 1959.  The Charolais and Simmental breeds came later in 1967 and 1968 respectively.  Boran and Santa Getrudis came in 1970 while Brown Swiss came in 1977.

From its establishment CAIS undertook the task of production and distribution of semen mainly to white farmers in Nairobi area and later the rest of the country.  A.I services were first made accessible to African farmers in 1952 with the objective of upgrading the indigenous zebu cattle.  This made little progress.  However, with introduction of storage of semen in dry ice in 1957 and 1958, the AI services to African farmers improved and by 1961, 50% of semen from CAIS went to them.

CAIS produced fresh semen up to 1964 after which production of Room Temperature (RT) semen commenced.  The French straw method of packing Deep Frozen (DF) semen in Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) was introduced in 1966.  This new technology of semen preservation enabled the station to preserve the semen for a longer period of time and facilitate its distribution in view of the growing demand.

Early in 1964 plans were prepared to establish a National A.I service subsidized by the Government.  Negotiations with the Swedish Government for assistance were made and an agreement was signed in May 1966 and on 1st July 1966 Kenya National A.I Service (KNAIS) was launched.

KNAIS was formed for the purpose of expanding the coverage of A.I service provision in the country to meet the increasing demand.  In addition it was aimed at minimizing the risks of introducing notifiable diseases such as Foot & Mouth disease into the CAIS, which is a quarantine station.  This was made possible through the support of SAIP-K.

Before the formation of KNAIS in 1966, A.I fees ranged between Kshs. 30 and Kshs. 40.  With formation of KNAIS, the fee was reduced to Kshs. 10 for a grade cow and Kshs. 5 for a zebu.  In 1971 the A.I fee was further reduced to Kshs 1 for all breeds.

Prior to privatization, KNAIS was the major user of CAIS semen carrying out up to 97% of inseminations in the country with the peak figure of 548,000 inseminations being achieved in 1979.  After 1983 there was a tremendous decline of KNAIS performance with insemination figures dropping to 385,000 by 1984.  This was due to inability of KNAIS to sustain the highly subsidized A.I. services.  This was further worsened by the unfavorable economic conditions prevailing then.

In 1986 there was a major policy change, which introduced cost sharing in A.I service that were hitherto subsidized.  The policy change was in Sessional Paper Number 1 of 1986 on Economic Management for Renewed Growth. This set the framework for privatization of A.I services with Dairy co-operative societies, A.I self-help Groups, Private Veterinarians and Private Inseminators providing the services.  The performance of KNAIS continued to decline even further and by 1992 the number of inseminations had dropped to 200,000.

Private A.I. service provision commenced in 1991.  As privatization intensified the demand for semen by Private A.I services providers increased and superseded that of KNAIS. 

Since its inception the station has grown in stature over the years.  Its functions include the following: -

i.        Recruitment and rearing of bulls for semen production.

ii.        Production and distribution of superior quality disease free semen.

iii.        Availing A.I equipment to customers at full cost recovery.

iv.        Rendering specialized services to customers such as own-farm semen collection and collection of samples for testing of reproductive diseases.

v.        Training students from tertiary institutions and farmers on semen production and handling.

The bull stud has a total of  96 bulls comprising 34 Ayrshire, 45 Friesians, 5 Guernsey,

6 Jerseys, 2 Borans and 4 Sahiwal.  Out of these bulls, 80% are in production while the rest are immature (below one year).  On average, the Station spends Kshs. 350 per day to feed one adult bull.

Inventory of Bulls from 1981 - 2007

YEAR        BREEDS

       Ayrshire        Friesian        Guernsey        Jersey        Boran        Sahiwal        Hereford        Simmental        Charolais        B. Swiss        Total

1981        38        41        20        12        5        5        3        2        2        1        129

1982        38        38        18        12        5        5        3        2        2        1        124

1983        35        41        24        12        8        4        2        2        0        1        129

1984        37        41        23        19        7        6        2        2        2        1        140

1985        37        39        22        16        7        6        2        0        3        1        133

1986        40        36        27        16        10        6        2        0        3        1        141

1987        32        35        25        15        8        6        2        0        2        1        126

1988        30        31        25        11        7        5        2        1        2        1        115

1989        30        34        22        12        6        6        1        1        1        0        113

1990        29        34        22        15        9        4        1        1        0        0        115

1991        30        36        22        16        9        3        1        1        0        0        118

1992        34        34        20        23        4        2        1        1        0        0        119

1993        30        36        22        20        2        1        0        0        0        0        111

1994        31        38        20        20        2        1        0        0        0        0        112

1995        23        35        20        17        2        3        0        0        0        0        100

1996        24        35        21        17        2        12        0        0        0        0        111

1997        26        29        21        16        2        6        0        0        0        0        100

1998        22        30        20        17        0        6        0        0        0        0        95

1999        23        31        17        12        2        6        0        0        0        0        91

2000        22        28        15        13        2        2        0        0        0        0        82

2001        22        27        9        14        2        2        0        0        0        0        76

2002        24        28        8        13        2        2        0        0        0        0        77

2003        27        27        7        14        2        4        0        0        0        0        81

2004        27        27        6        12        2        4        0        0        0        0        78

2005        28        30        6        12        2        4        0        0        0        0        82

2006        28        35        6        5        2        4        0        0        0        0        80

2007        31        41        6        5        2        4        0        0        0        0        89

Source: CAIS bull list

The Simmental, the Hereford, Charolais and Brown Swiss bulls were phased out by the year 1992 due to decreased demand for their semen. However there is an increased demand for Brown Swiss  of  late and we are thinking of re-introducing them.