Assessment of uses, special qualities and management aspects of Iringa Red Zebu cattle in Tanzania

S W Chenyambuga, S M Nalaila and S H Mbaga

Department of Animal Science and Production, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3004, Morogoro, Tanzania
chenya@suanet.ac.tz   or   chenyasw@yahoo.com

Abstract

A study was carried out in Iringa Rural and Kilolo districts of Iringa region, Tanzania to assess the roles, desirable traits, management practices and traditional breeding activities of Iringa Red zebu. In each district four villages were surveyed and five households per village were sampled. Data were obtained through individual interviews using structured questionnaire and focused group discussions guided by a checklist.

The major economic activities of the people in the surveyed area were crop and livestock production. Cattle were ranked as the most important livestock species in the households, followed by local chicken, goats and pigs. In 90% of the households, husbands owned cattle. Adult males were responsible for herding (25%), purchasing (70%), selling/slaughtering (70%) and treatment of sick animals (97.5%). Milking was done by both females (35%) and males (22.5%). Making (92.5%) and selling (80%) of dairy products were the responsibilities of adult females. The main purposes for keeping Iringa Red cattle were to provide manure (100%), draught power (87.5%), milk (87.5%), cash income (47.5%) and meat (45%). Most people (95%) still prefer to keep Iringa Red cattle. Iringa Red cattle were preferred because of their medium body size, good conformation and red coat colour. The Iringa Red strain was reported to be good draught animal (95%) and has good meat (90%), temperament (80%) and good tolerance to drought (67.5%), heat (65%) and diseases (60%). Cattle were herded continuously on natural pastures in communal grazing lands without being supplemented with concentrates. Most farmers (90%) practiced controlled breeding by choosing the best bulls from their herds and castrating the inferior males (40%). The farmers were choosing breeding bulls basing on size (77.5%) and conformation (67.5%). East Coast fever was the major problem (77.5%), followed by helminthosis (22.5%) and Foot and mouth disease (12.5%). Feed shortage during the dry season (27.5%), theft, high price of veterinary drugs and shortage of grazing lands were the other problems facing farmers.

It is concluded that Iringa Red cattle have multipurpose functions, good attributes and are preferred to other types of zebu cattle. Therefore, there is a need to keep a reservoir of their genes and deliberate efforts are needed for proper management of the strain and the feed resources in communal rangelands where they are fed.

Keywords: breeding practices, desirable traits, production system, purposes of keeping cattle

Introduction

In Tanzania the population of cattle is estimated at 18.7 million and over 95% of them belong to the indigenous breeds: Tanzania Short horn Zebu and Ankole cattle. The Tanzania Short horned Zebu (TSHZ) is the major type of indigenous cattle in the country and is comprised of a number of strains, which include Iringa Red, Maasai, Mkalama Dun, Singida White, Mbulu, Gogo, Chagga and Pare (Epstein 1971; Rege and Tawah 1999). The distribution pattern of these strains reflects differences in adaptability and preferences of their traditional keepers. The Iringa Red is adapted to the cold conditions prevailing in the southern highlands. The strain has a predominant red brownish coat colour (Msanga et al 2001). It is believed that this is the result of earlier attempts by local communities to breed for red coat colour. The chief of Hehe people, the traditional keeper of Iringa Red, insisted that his people should only keep red-coloured cattle (Rege and Tawah 1999). The Iringa Red cattle are concentrated in all districts of Iringa region. In 2004 it was estimated that there were 634,630 indigenous cattle in Iringa region. However, the actual number of Iringa Red cattle is not known since within the region there are other TSHZ strains which have been introduced into the region by immigrants from other regions, namely Gogo, Maasai and Sukuma cattle. The genetic purity of Iringa Red zebu is diminishing due to interbreeding with the introduced zebu strains. Unfortunately, information on the unique qualities of Iringa Red cattle is lacking. Likewise, it is not certainly known what management practices and indigenous knowledge gathered and used by local communities for many generations to shape the Iringa Red cattle.

This study intended to determine the uses and special qualities of Iringa Red cattle in comparison to other strains found in the same area. In addition, the study aimed at describing the management practices, traditional breeding activities and to determine breed preferences of the local communities, which keep the Iringa Red strain. This information would assist researchers and policy markers in making rational decision on the conservation and improvement of Iringa Red cattle through active involvement of livestock keeping communities.

Materials and methods 

Description of the study area

The study was conducted in two districts (Iringa Rural and Kilolo) in Iringa region, Southern highlands of Tanzania. Both districts lie between 7^o South of Equator and 35^o East of Greenwich. The Iringa rural district covers an area of 20,576 km² and Kilolo district have an area of 7,881 km². The study was carried out in the midland and highland agro-ecological zones of these districts. These locations were chosen because there is large number of Iringa Red cattle and also their climate and landscapes are distinctive. The lowland agro-ecological zone was not selected because in this zone there is a high concentration of other strains of TSHZ cattle, which have been brought by immigrant pastoralists. The highland zone covers a portion of Kilolo district and is characterized by a mountainous and undulating topography with an altitude ranging between 1600 – 2700 m above the sea level, a mean annual rainfall ranging between 1000 – 1600 mm and an average temperature of about 15^oC. The midland zone covers a portion of Iringa rural district and is characterized by an undulating topography and a plateau at an altitude of 1200 – 1600 m above the sea level. The mean rainfall ranges between 600 – 1000 mm with temperatures ranging from 15^oC – 20^oC.

Sampling procedure

In this study a multistage sampling technique was employed and the sampling frame was district, ward, village, and finally household, which was the sampling unit of the study. In each district two wards and two Villages per ward were selected, hence, a total of eight villages were surveyed. Purposive sampling was used to pick wards and villages with large numbers of Iringa Red cattle. Within a village the list of households keeping indigenous cattle was taken as a sampling frame from which respondents were picked randomly using a table of random numbers. Five households per village were sampled, giving a sample size of 40 households in the eight villages. The heads of the households were the main respondents; however, other members of the household were requested to attend the interview so as to supplement information.

Data collection

Individual interviews of selected farmers were conducted using structured questionnaires targeting household heads and herdsmen. Both closed and open-ended questions were included in the questionnaire administered to the respondents. The questionnaires were designed to seek information on households’ socio-economic characteristics, the uses of Iringa Red and other zebu cattle and their management conditions. In addition, the following information were collected: herd size and structure, preferred traits on Iringa Red cattle, breeding practices, ways of achieving the preferred traits, prevalent diseases, and production constraints.

In addition focused group discussions were conducted in each village to supplement the information collected through individual interviews. The discussions involved herd owners, herdsmen and other people familiar with indigenous cattle production so as to get an overview of the opinion of livestock keeping communities. A checklist was used to guide the discussions during interviews. Aspects such as main products obtained from Iringa Red cattle, social functions the animals play, trend of Iringa Red cattle with time and farmers’ preferences to Iringa Red cattle in comparison to other TSHZ strains were addressed.

Data analysis

Data from questionnaires were coded and recorded into the spreadsheets for statistical analysis. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 2002) computer software was used to generate means, standard deviations, frequencies and percentages. Other data based on group discussion were synthesized and summarized.

Results and discussion 

Household socio-economic characteristics

The majority of households (92.5%) were male-headed and belonged to the Hehe (80%) and Bena (15%) tribes (Table 1).

The dominance of males in heading the households and ownership of cattle concurs with Maeda-Machang’u et al (2000) who reported that in agro-pastoral communities cattle ownership and access to resources are governed by the patriarchal system in which males have dominance in decision-making. This is a result of strong traditional culture biased against women. Most of the interviewed people were between 31 and 60 years of age (75%), implying that most of the livestock owners were in the active working group and could make decisions and efforts to improve the management of indigenous cattle in their localities.

The major economic activities of the people in the surveyed area were crop and livestock production, this was mentioned by 90% of the respondents. Most of the respondents in Iringa district ranked crops as the first source of income while in Kilolo district livestock were ranked higher than crops. In terms of livestock ownership, the majority of the respondents (90%) said that cattle were owned by husbands. However, in very few households (10%) wives were found to own cattle. This is because, local customs and cultural practices in many farming systems in Tanzania make it impossible for a woman to own or inherit land and ruminant animals. Ownership of these assets is generally held in man’s name and inherited by sons within the family. With regard to responsibilities of household members on cattle management, the majority of the respondents reported that adult males were responsible for purchasing (70%), selling and slaughtering of cattle (70%), making decision on breeding (87.5%) and animal health issues (97.5%) (Table 2).

Herding, which is the main feeding method, was reported to be done mainly by adult males (25%), hired labour (30%) and boys (12.5%). Milking was done by adult females (35%), adult males (22.5%), boys (10%) and hired labour (10%). Making (92.5%) and selling (80%) of dairy products were mainly the responsibilities of adult females. In general, the observations of this study revealed that in the livestock keeping communities, although there is a considerable overlap, there is division of tasks into what are termed “men’s tasks” and women’s tasks. 

Livestock species kept

Local cattle were kept by all respondents with a mean herd size of about 23 animals per household and on average 53% of the animals in the herds belonged to the Iringa Red strain (Table 3).

Most of the Iringa Red cattle were found to belong to Hehe tribe, a dominant tribe both in Iringa and Kilolo districts. It is evident that their preferences for red colour have influenced the current status of cattle population in the study area. In addition to cattle, the majority of respondents (80%) kept local chicken and the average flock size were 13 birds. Also 35%, 30%, 15%, 12.5% and 7.5% of respondents had local pigs, goats, sheep, ducks and guinea pigs, respectively. The average flock sizes were 3.67, 12.5, 7.5, 4.0 and 20.67 for pigs, goats, sheep, ducks and guinea pigs, respectively. Only 5% of respondents had donkeys, rabbits and pigeon with average numbers of 3.5, 7 and 24 animals, respectively. The ranking of the different livestock species according to importance is shown in Table 4.

Cattle were dominant and were ranked as the most important livestock species in the household followed by local chicken, goats and pigs. The prominence of cattle in the study area reflects the importance of cattle to the livelihoods of the rural people. Cattle have multifunction, some of which cannot be obtained from other livestock species. For instance, milk is principally a cattle product and draught power is mainly provided by local cattle. With regard to meat production, cattle contribute 53% of the total meat consumed in the country (Melewas et al 2004). Therefore, cattle are preferred to other species and thus, have the largest potential for contributing to the livelihoods and poverty alleviation of the poor people.

Purpose of keeping cattle

According to the respondents, the main purposes for keeping Iringa Red cattle were to provide manure (100%), draught power (87.5%), milk (87.5%), cash from sales of live animals (47.5%) and meat (45%) (Table 5).

The other types of zebu cattle were reported to have more or less the same function as the Iringa Red cattle. When the respondents were asked to rank the functions of cattle in their households, provision of manure, draught power, milk, cash income and meat were ranked as first, second, third and fourth important uses of cattle, respectively. This implies that the primary reason for the agro-pastoralists to keep cattle is to get manure which they can use to fertilise soils in their crop fields and to use draught power to expand the acreage of crop land with the purpose of increasing crop production, and thus reduce the problem of food insecurity. This is contrary to Marstrand et al (2004) who said that indigenous cattle in poor communities have social and cultural functions, which include dowry payments, slaughtering for traditional feasts or religious ceremonies and serve as savings account and buffer against crop failure and other risks.

The ranking orders for the purposes of keeping cattle were different between the two districts (Table 5). In Iringa Rural district, the majority of respondents ranked manure, milk and cash from sales of live animals as first, second and third purposes, respectively, while in Kilolo district, first rank was given to draught power, followed by manure and milk. The differences in ranking order of purposes for keeping cattle can be attributed to the proximity of Iringa Rural district to the municipal town of Iringa. The availability of market for cattle and their products makes most farmers to be commercially oriented and thus depend more on sales of livestock and their products. This implies that livestock keepers who are near to town centres and municipal towns are integrated into cash economy. This may have adverse effect on the local cattle because, when communities become integrated into the market economy, livestock keepers tend to switch to breeds with higher outputs of milk and meat. In the long run this attitude may contribute to the extinction of local breeds through substitution with the improved breeds due to lack of competitiveness for the indigenous breeds (Köhler-Rollefson 2001).

Cattle management systems

All farmers practised extensive production system whereby cattle were herded continuously during the dry and wet seasons. Almost all farmers reported that they do not supplement their cattle and they relied only upon natural pastures available on communal grazing lands to subsist their cattle. This feeding system is disadvantageous because under communal grazing system, cattle owners are not obliged to improve the nutritive value of the natural pastures. Therefore, there is a need to promote and involve rural communities in planning and implementing proper land use and rangeland improvement strategies such as oversowing of legumes, rotational grazing and rehabilitation of overgrazed areas.

Cattle were housed at night in kraals made by untreated woods and bamboos. In both dry and wet seasons cattle trekked to watering points for drinking. The majority of respondents (77.5%) depended on rivers as their sources of water during dry seasons while during the wet seasons, only half of the respondents (50%) depended on rivers, the rest were using ponds. With regard to frequency of watering, 70% of respondents reported that they take their cattle to water once a day during the dry season while during the wet season 42.5% of the respondents reported that water was freely available to cattle and only 37.5% of the respondents provided water once per day. The distances to the farthest watering point during both wet and dry seasons were reported not to exceed 3 km.

Desirable traits of Iringa Red cattle as perceived by farmers

Despite having mixed types of indigenous cattle in their herds, the majority of respondents (95%) admitted that they still prefer to keep Iringa Red cattle. The desirable traits of Iringa Red cattle and other types of cattle as perceived by their owners are presented in Table 6.

The majority of respondents (95%) said that Iringa Red cattle were good draught animals and their meat (90%) was also good. Furthermore, most of the respondents reported that Iringa Red cattle had good temperament (80%) and good tolerance to drought (67.5%), heat (65%) and diseases (60). Out of the respondents interviewed, 52.5% mentioned that Iringa Red cattle had a medium body size, good conformation and good coat colour. Only 35% of respondents said that Iringa Red cattle were good in milk yield and growth rate, while 45% considered them to have good fertility. From these observations it can be said that Iringa Red cattle are important for draught power and serve multipurpose functions to the livelihoods of their keepers. According to Geerlings et al (2002) keeping multipurpose livestock is part of a survival strategy, which people have developed to cope with extreme climatic and environmental conditions. The farmers’ perception that their animals can tolerate diseases, drought and heat implies that Iringa Red cattle possess survival traits, which enable them to survive under local environmental stresses. This is in agreement with Anderson (2003) who reported that adaptive breed characteristics are important when animals are reared under unfavourable conditions. Therefore, in developing improvement programmes for Iringa Red cattle which are kept under poor management, the breeding strategies should take into account their adaptive traits.

Breeding management strategies

The most common mating method used by farmers was natural mating. Most farmers (90%) reported that they practice controlled breeding whereby they choose the best bull from their herds or borrow from their neighbours (Table 7).

However, some farmers practiced uncontrolled mating whereby they do not use their own breeding bulls, but mate their cows randomly with bulls from neighbours and other herds in the same village or nearby villages. The extensive system of grazing practised in the study areas led to uncontrolled mating of cattle. This is because 97.5% of respondents mentioned that bulls from communal grazing areas were another source of breeding bulls for their cattle. Random mating is advantageous for the smallholder farmers as it minimizes the problem of inbreeding, particularly for small herds, and it removes the cost of keeping bulls, especially to resource poor farmers.

However, random mating may have disadvantage in that, it is difficult to implement genetic improvement strategy and also it may lead to genetic erosion of distinct populations through interbreeding with other populations. Thus, random mating in communally grazed areas should be avoided in order to prevent further losses and conserve the purity of Iringa Red cattle.

In order to achieve the preferred traits of Iringa Red cattle, the majority of the respondents (70%) reported that they select superior bulls of Iringa Red cattle and castrate the inferior males (40%) (Table 7). Only 12.5% of respondents reported that they buy superior bulls of Iringa Red cattle as a means to achieve the preferred traits. For the other types of zebu cattle, more than half of respondents (57.5%) reported that they do select the superior bulls to achieve their objectives. This is supported by the observation that breeding was the primary reason for keeping bulls. This was mentioned by 67.5% of respondents. However, 27.5% of respondents indicated that they keep bulls for both breeding and draught power. The criteria for choosing breeding bull are also shown in Table 7. The Table indicates that 77.5% of respondents chose breeding bulls basing on size, while 67.5% used conformation or shape as criterion. When the respondents were asked to rank all the choice criteria for breeding bulls, they ranked size first and conformation second (Table 8).

This concurs with the findings of Mwancharo and Rege (2002) who observed that livestock keepers in southern rangelands of Kenya select male animals for breeding based on size and conformation.  

Production constraints

Animal health-related problems were the general concern of the livestock keepers. Most farmers mentioned tick borne diseases as a major constraint to cattle production. When asked on the most common diseases that occur in their herds, ECF was mentioned by 77.5% of the respondents, followed by helminthosis (22.5%), FMD (12.5%) and CBPP (12.5%) (Table 9).

This is in agreement with the observation by Kivaria (2006) that tick infestation is a common problem in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas due to lack of vector control measures. Data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture (1993) between 1986 and 1992 indicated that among the tick borne diseases (anaplasmosis, heart water, babesiosis and ECF), ECF is the major killer disease of cattle in Tanzania. With regard to disease control measures, all respondents (100%) mentioned that they provide CBPP vaccine to their cattle when need arises.

Ectoparasite control was not commonly practiced despite the heavy tick challenges. This was revealed by the fact that only 42.5% of the respondents were dipping their cattle routinely while 55% of the respondents were not (Table 9). This could be attributed to the fact that most dips in the country are not functioning as they have been abandoned due to changes in government policy whereby the role to provide animal health services has been left to private sector. This is unfortunate as in the present study it was observed that almost all livestock keepers in the surveyed villages depended on government veterinarians and livestock extension personnel for animal health services. Most private veterinarians operate in towns, hence, animal health services are not available in rural areas. To control worm infection, 60% of respondents reported to drench their cattle against intestinal parasites while 40% were not practising any control method. Apart from diseases, feed shortage during the dry season was another limiting factor to cattle production. This was reported by 27.5% of the respondents. Other problems mentioned were theft, high price of veterinary drugs and shortage of grazing lands.
 

Conclusions and recommendations 

• In the present study cattle were ranked as the most important livestock species among the livestock kept, followed by local chicken, goats and pigs. Iringa Red cattle are still the dominant zebu strain in the study area.
  
  
• The Iringa Red cattle are kept for provision of manure, draught power, milk and cash income. The strain has medium body size, good conformation, good coat colour, good temperament, good tolerance to diseases, drought and heat and are good draught animals.
  
  
• The most common mating method used by farmers is natural mating and most of them choose the best bulls from their herds basing on size and conformation or shape for breeding purposes and castrated the inferior males.
  
  
• Iringa Red cattle are at risk of disappearing because of the ongoing indiscriminate interbreeding with other TSHZ strains, despite the fact that they are preferred to other zebu strains. Thus, there is a need to establish a conservation programme for the Iringa Red cattle because of the high risk for being diluted by other zebu strains.
  
  
• For sustainable conservation of Iringa Red cattle, deliberate efforts are needed for proper management of the strain and feed resources in communal rangelands. The local communities keeping the strain should be sensitized and must be involved in all stages (planning, decision making, and implementation) of the conservation project.
   

Acknowledgement 

We highly appreciate the financial support from Belgian Technical Cooperation. The grant enabled us to carry out this study. We thank the District Livestock Officers of Kilolo and Iringa Rural districts for their assistance. Also we are grateful to the farmers and Village Extension Officers who participated in this study.

References 

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Received 12 June 2007; Accepted 19 August 2007; Published 1 February 2008

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