Pastoral indigenous breeding practices and their impact on cattle reproduction performance: the case of Kilosa and Gairo Districts

F O K Mgongo, M K Matiko, E K Batamuzi, R M Wambura, E D Karimuribo, D G Mpanduji, L B Massawe, R S Silayo, E Kimbita and H Kiwia*

Sokoine University of Agriculture, P O Box 3020, Morogoro, Tanzania
fmgongo@suanet.ac.tz   ;   fredmgongo@yahoo.com
* National Livestock Research Institute Mpwapwa, P O Box 202, Mpwapwa, Tanzania

Abstract

Breeding methods used by pastoral (traditional) cattle keepers in Kilosa and Gairo districts were studied to establish their influence on reproduction performance. One-to-one interviews guided by coded and pretested structured questionnaire were conducted to 220 livestock households in 31 villages. Checklists and researchers' diary provided additional information.

Results reveal that key methods of breeding rely on animal identification, recording and separation (castration) of animals. At birth, cattle receive collective and individual names based on genealogy. The recording of such information is mental. All females are used for breeding save in cases of extreme poor health. Bulls are recruited into breeding or non – breeding groups on basis of performance of ancestors and individual’s outlook. The method of recruitment into “breeding animals” facilitates continuous use of animals of same lineage for over a long time. In Kilosa district, 75.5% of bulls were kept and used by same house hold for over 15 years while in Gairo district bulls were kept for over 10 years. Only a small per cent of bulls was introduced from outside. Thirty two per cent of bulls unsuitable for breeding were castrated and used for activities other than breeding. The large herds (n = 300 animals) kept by pastoralists made it difficult to remember identity of individual animals. Consequently recruitment into a breeding group was incorrect and lead to inbreeding evidenced by genetic defects (i.e. 40% calves born in Mikumi herds had atresia-ani).  It is concluded that pastoralists have a rich body of indigenous knowledge on breeding which must be ameliorated before any improvement in cattle breeding is attempted.

Keywords: breeding, cattle, pastoral, practices, reproduction performance

Introduction

Pastoralists practice extensive communal systems of animal husbandry (FAO 1974, Galaty 1982) and depend solely on livestock products for a significant level of their livelihood (Blench 2001, Otte and Chilonda 2002). Pastoralists in Tanzania while using livestock mobility to their advantage practice pure pastoralism with no crop farming at all and agro-pastoralism with some form of cultivation (Ndangala 1990, Mung’ong’o and Mwamfupe 2003). In the case of Kilosa district, pastoralists practice mostly transhumant pure pastoralism whereby herds are temporally moved from a permanent homestead to exploit seasonal availability of pastures and water in neighboring areas (Mung’ong’o and Mwamfupe 2003, Selemani et al 2012). In the case of Gairo district, pastoralists practice mostly agro-pastoralism (Ndangala 1990, Mung’ong’o and Mwamfupe 2003). Pastoralists have their own experiences and a highly developed knowledge as well as culture about livestock (Blench 2001, FAO 2003) that fit well with their type of livestock husbandry and in many places have even developed traditional strategies for some traits. In the case of reproduction traits, strategies used include selective breeding of livestock (i.e.-segregation of young bulls through castration; Blench 2001a, Terefe1 et al 2012). However because of the many forms of pastoralism that exit, strategies for controlling reproduction and breeding in pastoral herds are variable and largely depend on economic environment, indigenous knowledge and geographical area (Blench 2001, Otte and Chilonda 2002).

In pastoral systems, selection includes grading of livestock and involves identification of potentially productive animals through the use of an ingenious rational way of keeping records (Otte and Chilonda 2002. Written records in pastoral systems do not exist. Pastoral communities rely significantly on indigenous knowledge to memorize events and activities in a sequential way to acknowledge individual animal and ancestors’ performance. However pastoralists are able to memorize information on livestock up to a point and often forget some characters overtime especially when change of certain local conditions claim part of the herd, in such cases as drought, theft, disease epidemics and natural disasters (Blench 2001).

It is acknowledged that scientific information on record keeping in pastoral communities is patchy and therefore pastoral communities have continued to rely on their systems of indigenous knowledge to manage their livestock.  Information available to date reveal that pastoral indigenous knowledge has  complex features reflecting the interrelationships between societal (cultural) knowledge and preference for certain characteristics as well as behavioral patterns which are not necessarily related to performance. According to Rege et al (2001) ranking and selection of livestock in modern production systems is key for obtaining animals for breeding and have a strong influence on reproductive performance of the herd. However, the effects of ranking and selection of livestock in the pastoral systems are not well documented. With the aforementioned observations and as part of a beef and milk value chain program, the objective of this study was to determine practices which have effects on breeding of pastoral cattle as well as to determine usefulness of indigenous knowledge in complementing existing scientific knowledge for livestock advancement.

Materials and methods

Study area

This study was conducted in areas of Morogoro region with the highest population of livestock, namely, Kilosa and Gairo districts. Kilosa district covers 14,245 square kilometers of land while Gairo district covers 4,811 square kilometers. According to the 2012 Tanzania population and housing census, Kilosa district had a total population of 489,175 with 219,797 (44.9%) people being male and an average household size of 4.2. Gairo district had a total population of 193,011 with 99,805 (51.7%) people being female and an average household size of 5.2 (URT 2012). The study area is located in East Central Tanzania and is bounded between latitude 5^º55ʹ and 7 ^º53ʹ south and longitude 36 ^º 30 ʹ and 37 ^º 38 ʹ east. Most parts of Kilosa district have a sub- humid climate while most parts of Gairo District have a semi-arid climate. The districts experience an average of eight months of rainfall (October – May), with the highest levels between February and March. The rainfall distribution is bimodal with short rains in October – January followed by long rains in mid- February – May. Mean annual rainfall ranges between 1000 and 1400 mm in Kilosa district while it ranges between 500 and 800 mm in Gairo district. The average annual temperature ranges between 18°C and 25°C in Kilosa district while it ranges between 20°C and 25°C in Gairo District. The landscape, soil types and other climatic conditions of the study area are described in detail elsewhere (URT 2010, Morogoro Region 2012, Batamuzi et al 2013).

Study type and sampling procedure

A cross-sectional study was carried out between April and September 2012. It involved purposive selection of 31 villages out of 164 in the study area. The 31 villages practiced either pure pastoralism or agro-pastoralism. A total of 220 household-head (HH) respondents out of 3,612 inhabitants were selected using a ‘snowball’ sampling technique (Biernacki and Waldorf 1981). The technique involved initial contact with the Village Executive Officer (VEO) who introduced the research team to the first HH respondent. The HH respondent in turn, introduced the research team to the next HH respondent and finally it culminated to a total sample of 220 HH respondents.

Data collection

A coded and pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from household-head (HH) respondents. Data collection was preceded by conducting training of all enumerators in order to standardize data collection protocol. Interviews were carried out by the trained enumerators under supervision of research team members. The interview was conducted directly using Kiswahili except in few cases where a HH respondent was not conversant with the language, in which case, it was carried out through an interpreter. Data collected included social-economic characteristics of pastoral HH respondents, herd structure in terms of age, breed and sex of cattle kept, criteria used for cattle selection and culling, source and purpose of keeping male and female cattle and other types of livestock kept. In order to compliment data collected using questionnaire, checklists and researcher’s diary were also used. Checklists were used to collect primary data from key informants who included District Government Officials, politicians, extension officers as well as village leaders. Researcher’s diary was used to collect secondary data from documentary sources (e.g. electronic and print media, office and village files) and researcher’s observations.

Data processing and analysis

The primary data collected from pastoralist HH respondents were entered in a database, collated and analyzed using Epi Info statistical program (Bendix et al 2013) in order to generate descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and percentages. Data collected from other sources (key informants and documentary sources) were processed manually and analyzed using content analysis techniques.

Results and Discussion

Social-economic characteristics of HH respondents

Social-economic characteristics of household-head (HH) respondents are summarized and given in Table 1. The household survey showed that 94.0% of HH respondents in Gairodistrict and 87.8% in Kilosadistrict were within the age of 20 and 60 years. There was no HH respondent below the age of 20 and very few were above 60 years. The majority of HH respondents were between 30 and 45 years. This implies that the majority of the household heads are of average age, strong and able bodied persons. This confirms the fact that pastoral societies use age to define the role of individuals within the community (Blench 2001). At 20 years, persons have completed various forms of both informal and formal training and have enough experience to play a leading role in livestock keeping. Overall this agrees with information on persons responsible for performing most of activities related to livestock (Table 1) and reports by Blench (2001) as well as by Otte and Chilonda (2002) that most pastoralists leading herds are strong and very active people.

The social-economic household survey also revealed that 64.9% of HH respondents in Kilosadistrict and 60.9% in Gairodistrict had no formal education. In both Kilosa and Gairo districts, all female respondents had no formal education. Amongst those that went through formal education 11% of HH respondents in Kilosa and 10% in Gairo had education beyond primary school level. The absence of formal education in many pastoral households poses serious implications when facing the challenges of record keeping through writing. This is however in agreement with typical features of pastoralism which directs youth-life to learning indigenous pastoral knowledge (Blench 2001). It is however worth noting that some pastoral communities are changing and have adopted modern way of life which gives more consideration on formal education (Ndangala 1990, Blench 2001). Majority of the communities in Kilosa and Gairo Districts are still pastoral as far as literacy is concerned. However, group discussion indicated that a small per cent of the HH respondents had an opportunity to attend at least an organized training on livestock husbandry.

This study revealed that 84.7%HH respondents in Kilosadistrict and 100% in Gairodistrict were males. Amongst the female HH respondents in Kilosadistrict about 50% were widowed suggesting that they were once headed by a male. This observation is in agreement with the fact that gender is among the criteria used to define the roles of individuals within the pastoral communities. According to Blench (2001) as well as Otte and Chilonda (2002) most pastoral societies are patrilineal and male dominated. According to Maeda-Machangu et al (2000) and Ngowi et al (2008) roles of females in pastoral communities are spelt out by males and forbid females owning property or livestock in that matter. It is for the same cultural perception that females are not allowed to head viable herds but are required to work within a family. Pastoralism gives significant importance to family-life. This is supported by the fact that almost all 89.3% HH respondents in Kilosa district and all in Gairo districts were married and belonged to a family. In other words for a pastoral household to be viable there must be a husband who owned cattle, a wife who milked cows and children to carry out various activities including herding of livestock.

Important herd characteristics and traits

The results of the type of livestock and breeds of cattle kept in Kilosa and Gairo districts are given in Table 2. Household head respondents in Kilosa and Gairo districts owned cattle, goats, sheep and other animals in that order of decreasing numbers. Pastoralists of the two districts raise mainly cattle. The mean number of cattle possessed per household was 81 in Kilosa and 43 in Gairo districts. Overall Kilosa people who are pure pastoralists keep significantly (P ≤005) larger herds per household than Gairo people who are agro-pastoralist. The high numbers of cattle kept reflects the importance of cattle to the livelihood of pastoralists in Kilosa and Gairo districts. This identifies Kilosa and Gairo pastoralists as cattle pastoralists in contrast to other pastoral communities of Africa where other livestock species such as camels and goats are preferred (Blench 2001). The number of goats in Kilosa and Gairo districts was relatively small but higher than that for sheep, possibly due to the ease of handling and management. The practice of keeping various types of livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep observed in this survey is a typical feature of pastoralism. Pastoralists never keep a single type of livestock in order to optimize species diversity and as a risk management strategy (FAO 2007).

Herd structure based on sex of cattle in the study area is given in Table 3. It was observed that a large number of calves were kept by households. In proportionate terms, female calves comprised 13.0%of the total cattle population in Kilosa and 9.30% in Gairodistricts. The ratio between female calves to male calves in herds was approximately 1:1 and therefore implied that distribution of gender at birth was equal between males and females. The total number of adult females (heifers and cows) was 56.0% of the herd in Kilosa and 54.7 % in Gairodistrict. The number of breeding bulls kept was fewer in the herd than adult females. Overall adult female to adult male cattle ratio was 3:1 for Kilosa district and 2.5:1 for Gairo district. Out of the adult population of females, heifers representing the replacement stock contributed 16.3 % of the herd in Kilosa district and 15.1 % in Gairo district while cows contributed 39.7 % of the herd in Kilosadistrict and 39.6 % in Gairodistrict. It is observed that cows form the largest part of the pastoral herds. Group discussion revealed reasons for the large population of cows as absence of culling. Unlike other age categories cows are never culled and with age contribute proportionately to the largest population of the herd.  This implies that poor performing as well as infertile cows are kept in the herd and used as production animals. Although this practice is regarded as a coping strategy to maintain herd size (Blench 2001), the increase in herd size is uncontrollable, involuntary and becomes a disadvantage to the herd in the long run.

Breakdown of age into classes show that 8.9 % of bulls in Kilosa and 12.7 % bulls in Gairo districts were less than 4 years, while 34.2 % in Kilosa and 12.7 % in Gairo districts were over 10 years old. This implies that majority of bulls used are old and some are over 10 years. Group discussions revealed that cultural perception dictate that once chosen bulls are not to be culled. This infers that the same bulls are used within the same herds over and over again for a long period. The perception that breeding should involve high quality males and that exotic stock would increase output is known within the pastoral societies. However, pastoral societies fail to implement it. As it is with female cattle, both poor performing and infertile males are used within herds for breeding purposes. This simply indicates inbreeding. Group discussion revealed that inbreeding disorders such as atresia-ani and cryptorchidism are very common and may make up to 40% of calves born in pastoral herds. According to household survey conducted by Kashoma et al (2001) in pastoral herds in nearby district of Mvomelo (Kambala village) in Morogoro region, up to 65% of bulls in pastoral herds were infertile. This strongly indicates that non-culling of bulls contributes to keeping of infertile bulls and poor reproduction performance of pastoral herds.

In order to limit inbreeding one would expect breeding bulls to be sourced from outside herds. Table 4 shows that the majority of breeding bulls in Kilosa and Gairo districts were sourced from within household herds. Seventy eight per cent of bulls used for breeding in Kilosa and 70% in Gairodistricts originated from within the herds and 14.6% of bulls in Kilosa and 21.7 in Gairo districts were purchased, introduced in herds and kept for very long periods as animals raised within the herds. The other common method of acquiring of new animals in the two districts was through inheritance and dowry. This, however, contributed little to the bulls’ population. Some bulls were borrowed from neighbour household herds or were met at communal grazing grounds. During group discussion it was observed that though communal grazing and uncontrolled random mating were practiced, pastoralists were very particular and therefore ensured that their herds did not mix with other herds in an attempt to safeguard ownership. Thus dowry bulls as well as communal bulls play an insignificant role in breeding of pastoral animals. Artificial insemination (AI) was not practiced in both Kilosa and Gairo districts. AI would have been the cheapest method of out sourcing of bulls and increasing the numbers of improved bulls in the area. This indicates how closed were pastoral herds. Pastoral settings do not allow improvement of genetic potential through introduction of new bulls.  In order to limit inbreeding, pastoralists must stop keeping bulls for long periods within herds and must adopt crossbreeding for their animals.

Table 4 also shows the different practices pertaining to breeding. Most of the HH respondents kept intact bulls for uncontrolled mating without definitive objectives while a small per cent (8.2%) kept bulls with fixed purposes. The pastoral communities in both Kilosa and Gairo districts are well aware of the importance of selection particularly with regard to breeding bulls. Most of the HH respondents from the two districts reported that they practiced castration and selection as part herd improvement. The reasons or criteria used to select animals for castration is as given in Table 5. Pure pastoralists in Kilosa district believe that castration of male animals improves control of breeding and improves body size of animals for sale and increases price at the market. Agro-pastoralists in Gairo district on the other hand believe that castration improves draft power and body size of the animals. In that matter pure pastoralists castrated their animals at a much tender age of between 6 and 12 months and agro-pastoralist castrated theirs at one year of age. Male animals are therefore castrated at different ages depending on type of livelihood and once castrated animals are kept in the herd for long to become either a source of draft power or source of income. The other reason for the observed high numbers of castrated animals (steers) in household herds was the fact that castrated males were viewed as symbols of wealth and status. Although castration is a common strategy with several advantages, the main disadvantage comes from selection criteria. The pastoral systems fail to sort out animals for breeding and generally it picks out the wrong animals for castration (Blench 2001, Kugonza et al 2012).

Generally selection depends on ranking animals into good and poor. This requires identification of animals. It was noted during group discussion that no written records were kept. Pastoralists used a form of indigenous knowledge to remember animals mentally. Cattle received both collective and individual names based on genealogy. Cattle were named as descendants from a particular cow and carried a collective name of that mother (cow) lineage. In additional cattle got individual names on basis of coat colour and horn pattern. The recording of such information was mental. Because of size of herds involved, pastoralists lose track of the lineage, making the recording system full of errors. Kugonza et al (2012a) has pointed out however that in small herds under uneventful settings, pastoral mental recording was very accurate.

Traits preference ranking (Table 6) showed that pure pastoralists in Kilosa district prefer cattle breeds for body size (96%), conformation (78.8%) and milk production (64.2%). On the other hand agro-pastoralists in Gairo District prefer cattle breeds for body size (95.7%), conformation (91.3%), draft power (81.2%) and disease tolerance (94.2%). The agro-pastoralists of Gairo prefer animals that are strong with large body size and adaptable to the local environment (disease tolerance). During group discussion it was revealed that most animals in herds pull carts and ploughs during cultivation. The pure pastoralists of Kilosa on the other hand prefer animals that can produce milk under extremely harsh conditions. Pure pastoralists consider and focus on individual milk traits and less on draft power (29.1%). The small per cent of pure pastoralists using draught power indicates that the use of bulls for draft power is new in Kilosa and Gairo districts. Pastoralists in the two districts prefer the Tanzania shorthorn zebu as the sole breed and practice very little crossbreeding. Group discussion revealed that the zebu is the preferred breed because of cultural and aesthetic reasons.

Conclusion and recommendations

• We conclude that pastoral livestock keepers in Kilosa and Gairodistricts encourage inbreeding through keeping animals for a long period and use of same genealogy for breeding. The livestock keepers should be encouraged to sustain their indigenous stock through selective improvement which should include to a large extend out sourcing of elite bulls. We recommend that female stock be ranked and culled in order to ensure reduction of the large numbers of unproductive animals that prevail. The selection and recording system in pastoral system is full of errors and for any meaningful development a proper record system should be embraced.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support of the Norwegian Government through NORAD. NORAD supports the Programme for enhancing Pro-poor Innovations in Natural Resources and Agricultural value chain (EPINAV) at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. We also acknowledge the assistance and cooperation rendered by farmers, village extension officers and other service providers of the Kilosa and Gairo districts.

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Received 6 March 2014; Accepted 25 March 2014; Published 5 April 2014

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