Our history

Send a Cow was set up by a group of UK dairy farmers over 20 years ago. Outraged at EU milk quotas, which were forcing them to slaughter healthy dairy cows, and in response to an appeal from Uganda for milk, they embarked on a project, which was set to become an innovative and practical charity.

Uganda was just emerging from a long civil war, communities and their farmland had been destroyed and much of the country's livestock wiped out.

Several of the UK farmers flew to Africa to investigate how they could help. Meeting with Ugandan farmers, the Bishop of Mukono, and a livestock expert, they saw how smallholder dairy farming in Africa could work. People there were unable to feed themselves and milk would provide an instant source of nutrition. They returned to the UK determined to help, and sent cows from their own herds to Uganda.

Send a Cow was born.

From day one, we knew that we needed to help rebuild communities if providing livestock was going to work for the long term. Without strong support networks, and lots of training, people simply wouldn't be able to manage a cow.

It quickly became clear that cow’s manure, rather than just the milk, would provide the long-term path out of poverty that communities so desperately needed. With 70% of Uganda's poor struggling to survive on infertile soil, manure provided the vital ingredient for communities to improve their land and work their way out of poverty for good.

Today, Send a Cow work in seven countries: Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Lesotho, Rwanda, Zambia and Kenya, and we source all livestock within Africa. Tailoring different solutions to meet the diverse needs of the communities we are working in, whatever the 'gift package', every person, family and community we work with receives training and ongoing support.