The Origins of my Passion
My Name is Dr. Daniel Masaba and I am the Managing Director of Farm up.
My story starts a long time ago.
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I graduated as a Medical Doctor and while practicing medicine, my ambitions to get an extra source of income led me to try out a few different things.
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I was introduced by a mutual friend to a horticulturalist, whom I ended up hiring to help me set up a greenhouse garden. We spent days talking about how and what I should grow, but the most interesting thing about our exchange was when he said to me, ‘I think you will have better results doing chicken farming.'
Over the coming months, I spent day and night researching chicken farming and I found my passion for this topic growing exponentially, even though this information was ridiculously hard to come by.
It wasn’t long after I managed to convince my father to let me use a small section of his inherited land and I quickly used up all of my savings.
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I found that I could work for hours nonstop with the chickens, and it wasn’t unusual for me to bring out my guitar or ukulele to sing out to them, but there was always something at the back of my mind, bothering me. 'Why did I manage to get this far but no one I knew was able to achieve actually owning a chicken farm?'
The Epiphany to YouTube
Why was it that in this industry, most of the key information is kept secret?
Having had this epiphany, and already having started a consultancy programme for chicken farming, I knew I had to start a YouTube channel, which I did in 2019, naming the channel Farm Up. I consider this the pivotal moment in my farming career, since this single act unknowingly exposed me to others with the same passion as me, and it brought me great joy sharing in their successes.
On my Farm Up channel, I took the approach of showing both my successes as well as my losses. I believe this is what helped me grow to over 100,000 subscribers in less than a year, but it was clear to me that without my farm, this would not continue, and I realised how important the farm was in the grand scheme of things.
Then came the unbelievable thought, ‘What if I quit my full time medical job and spend more time on the farm, doing what I’m passionate about?’
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In early 2021, I quit my job as a medical doctor and now I fully direct my efforts towards growing the farm, helping others grow their farming passion and fulfilling their dreams.
Farm Up Today
What We Do
YouTube
We continue to offer free farming knowledge and tips on our YouTube Channel.
Poultry Breeder Farm and Hatchery
We produce and provide a reliable source of quality day old chicks. This comes as a result of I personally having had difficulties sourcing quality chicks from reliable suppliers.
We currently supply day old layer chickens, but will soon have day old broiler chickens, geese, and guinea fowls.
Goats and Sheep
We raise over 150 goats and over 400 sheep on complete organic pasture for production of meat.
Diary Cattle
We have over 140 heads of diary cattle which we raise on a purely organic level with green lush pastures.
The milk produced from the diary cattle is sold to the nearby community.
Bee Keeping
We have an apiary with over 50 bee hives, and a goal/dream of growing to at least 5000 bee hives. The goal is to produce the best honey anyone can encounter.