The 13,000-hectare Kapiti plains ranch, located in Machakos county, southern Kenya, was acquired in 1987 by the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases—a
predecessor of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), which currently owns the farm —to produce good-quality, disease-free cattle for research purposes, mainly the improved control of East Coast fever and African animal trypanosomiasis.
Kapiti ranch is located in Kenya’s semi-arid lands (550mm average rainfall) at an altitude of 1,650–1,900m above sea level. The soils of the ranch are mainly black cotton (in the plains) and red cotton (in the ridges); and they support diverse savanna grasses: tussock-forming Themeda (commonly known as kangaroo or red oat grass); Panicum (switchgrass); Chloris (windmill or finger grass); Pennisetum (fountain grass); Cenchrus (African foxtail grass); Setaria (foxtail or bristle grasses);Acacia (whistling thorn); and Balanites trees.
