26 May 2024
Eben van Tonder
Introduction
One of my biggest mistakes (discoveries) in Nigeria relates to breeds and how to view the bone-meat ratio of Nigerian cattle. My observations have relevance across the continent.
The Complex Relationship between Size and Meat-Bone Ratio
I had a very simplistic view of the meat-bone ratio believing that larger animals will have a higher meat-to-bone ratio. Due to this, I asked for bigger animals.
The fact is that the ratio between meat to bone is a highly complex one that is a function of breed, age, condition and the sex of the animal. Size is highly breed-dependent and depends on whether it’s a male or female. Dange (2019) evaluates the effect of age (size) and breed of cattle on carcass and meat characteristics in Ethiopia. They report the following results indicating three completely different developmental characteristics between the three different breeds analysed in terms of meat yield percentage related to age. They found that “at an early age category (<3 years) meat yield percentage of Arsi, Boran and Harar breeds were 50.86, 30 and 18.72, respectively, and as age category shifted from one age category to the next. Harar increased by 13× and Boran by 2.9× and,” surprisingly, “Arsi decreased by -0.93×.” (Dange, 2019) I never thought that a decrease would be possible with size.
I was completely wrong to assume that the larger the animal is, the bigger the meat yield. Even when this is the case, the increase in yield, relative to size (related to age) can be marginal.
Sam, I. M., & Usoro, O. O. (2022) report the following related to the White Fulani study. Look at the marginal differences in the bone-meat ratio between ages 3 – 3.5 and 4 – 5. Even 5.5 – 6.5 is 63% where 4 – 5 is 58% and 3 – 5 is 59.5%. These differences are marginal! Also notice that in this study, 3 – 3.5 marginally outperformed ages 4 – 5 in terms of meat-bone ratio.
The Complexity of Introducing a Foreighn Meat Breed
A veterinarian in South Africa once told me that the moment you start talking about genetics as the solution in an environment like Nigeria, you are talking about at least a 20-year solution. After being involved in Nigeria for 6 years, I began to think that if you look towards animal genetics, you are talking about a solution that will take many generations to achieve.
The reality is that the meat requirements are vast. Meat breeds have been introduced but it will take many generations before the quantity of these animals is sufficient to impact supply and until that time they will command a premium price. Animals are bought and sold “on the hoof” based on their size and condition, without a scale being even in sight. The buyer and seller are highly skilled individuals who can accurately estimate dress weight and the general rule of thumb is that bigger animals attract higher prices apart from meat-to-bone ratio considerations.
Renewed Focus
Nigeria is a humbling environment that forces one to consider everything. For the first time in 6 years, I realised that I never investigated the meat-bone ratio between the different Nigerian breeds. Here we are then and as always my work starts with a proper theoretical framework. In a few hours, Carlo and I will get stuck into the work with Jason and we will debone two different species and analyze the different yields.
I use a very old undated publication from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations as the main source document. What I like about the work is that it gives a better historical background to the breeds than many others. I also enjoy the old photographs. I also retain the old colonial references to regions. I hope this is not offensive to some. I retain it for historical reasons and over time I will change the names to the current local names. These references, in colonial terms, timestamp the work and provide historical insights.
The Tribal Nature of the Meat Trade
Traditionally, the Fulani people from the Borth are the cattle people. “About 95 percent of White Funali cattle are in the hands of the Fulani tribe which is almost entirely nomadic, although more and more individuals are being persuaded by the government to settle down as mixed farmers. Cattle, as well as being a source of individual prestige, are the basic wealth of the nomads and, together with their products, provide the means of exchange for the purchase of, for instance, grain, which is obtained in exchange for milk and butter. Money for the payment of taxes and other purposes is obtained by the sale of male cattle -which, after the selection of the best which are retained for breeding purposes, are castrated for sale as young stock or slaughter animals.” (FAO)
“Cows are disposed of when they are no longer fertile. The tribesmen are very reluctant to dispose of breeding cattle.
While the ownership of the cattle is usually vested in the men of the tribe, the dairy products are claimed by the women. Milk forms the basis of the diet of the nomads, and is consumed in its liquid form or as a form of clarified butter. The cows are milked twice daily and the calves are allowed to suckle the dams briefly at the beginning of milking and at its conclusion, a system which normally results in the calves, except for a favoured few destined to become stud bulls, being underfed.
The nomads grow no crops themselves but purchase all their grain from the farmers, who permit the herds to graze over their cultivated land after the harvest, allowing the nomad and his animals the gleanings of the crop in exchange for the manure left on the land by the cattle. The farmers buy work oxen from the nomads and beasts for fattening, which they keep tied up and feed on crop residues such as groundnut tops, sorghum straw and bran and cottonseed. The cattle respond well to fattening and many fine beasts for slaughter have been produced around Kano.
The cattle depend almost entirely on grazing and little attempt is made by their owners to provide supplementary feed during scarcity periods. During the dry season (from November until April) the herds are constantly on the move, maintaining a precarious balance between the need for better pasturage and the danger of contracting trypanosomiasis in the wetter southern regions.” (FAO)
M’Bororo (Abori, Red Fulani, Mbala)
The two breeds Carlo, Jason and I will work with today are M’Bororo and Sokoto Gulale. I expect the first to be of generally poorer quality than the second and the meat-to-bone ratio will be very interesting.
-> Origin
“Mason (1951a) classifies the M’Bororo as a long Lyre-horned zebu to distinguish it from the Lyre-horned Fulani cattle types. Gates (1952) suggests that these cattle may have had their origin in Sanga cattle which migrated westward from Upper Egypt, and it may be considered that the conformation of the cattle, and in particular that of the head, horns and hump, lends some support to this theory.
In French territory, these cattle are usually known as Bororo, M’Bororodji or M’Bororo, from the tribe of that name, a subsidiary of the Fulani group, which owns large herds of this type, and which, in its turn, derives its name from the fact that its members live in the Mbouraitra or bush. Locally the cattle may be called. Brahaza (in. the ‘Hansa and Beri-Beri areas) or, toward the east, simply Fulani, although the herds in Darfur in Sudan are usually spoken of as M’Bororo. In Nigeria, this cattle type is known generally as Rahaji, Rahaza, Gadahe, Gabassae, Abori and Hanagamba are alternative local names. Descriptive names which have been applied to these cattle have been Red Fulani (to distinguish them from the White Fulani) and, proposed by Gates (1952), Red Longhorn.
According to Mornet and Koné (1941), the Bororodji tribe originally inhabited the area which is now the Colonie du Niger in French West Africa and the Sokoto Province of Nigeria. To avoid Islamization in the early part of the nineteenth. century, this tribe fled to the east and settled in Bornu (Nigeria), Adamawa (Cameroons), Mayo K.ebbi (Ubangi-Shari of the French Cameroons), Baguirmi (Chad Colony) and as far east as Darfur (Republic of the Sudan).” (FAO)
-> Management Practices
“Hardiness, showiness and size are some of the characteristics looked for by the nomadic herdsmen in selecting M’Bororo cattle for breeding. The herds are reared entirely on grazing throughout the year. In the northern areas, the cattle migrate toward rivers, valleys and drying swamps during the dry season and return to their native areas at the beginning of the rains. In the mountainous regions of the east, the cattle are taken to hilly grazing areas during dry periods. Supplementary feeds are never given.” (FAO)
-> Physical Characteristics of the Breed
“The M’Bororo cattle are large-framed animals, with good height and long legs. The hump is well developed, musculofatty in nature and cervicothoracic in situation (Gates, G. M. Personal’ (Yommunication). It is much larger in the male than in the female: and castrated male. The dewlap is also well developed, extending from under the chin to the breastbone. The naval flap and, in the bull, the sheath, are loose and pendulous. The head is fine and long with large, lyre-shaped horns curving outwards and upwards and usually white and reported to be 75 to 120 cm in length. The back is long, but the ribs do not show sufficient spring and look flat, the shoulders being narrow. The hindquarters are sloping. The legs are fine and long, with strong hoofs. The skin is loose and of medium thickness with pigmentation varying from light to dark. The hair is short and coarse. The coat colour is reddish brown to dark red with, in some cases, a white switch.” (FAO)
-> Functional Characteristics of the Breed
“The M’Bororo cattle are wild and of an intractable and nervous disposition. As milk animals they are very poor, producing about 2 litres per day during flush periods. The lactation period is of short duration. The meat is reported to be coarse and of poor quality with a high proportion of bone.
Mandon (1953) reports dressing percentages of 40 to 42. Though they are swift in their movement, they do not make good draft animals on account of their nervous disposition. Only a few young males are castrated and trained as pack animals. The hides from M’Bororo cattle are much valued and make good leather. Shaw and Colville (1950) report that despite the undesirable features mentioned above and general unthriftiness, the animals are kept in large numbers. Possibly this is due to their picturesque appearance and alleged dog-like ability to obey their masters’ orders. This latter quality makes them good ” bush ” animals. They are said to scatter quickly to avoid danger at the slightest signal from their masters. The M’Bororo are hardy and adaptable to a wide range of climatic conditions varying from the hot dry regions where the majority are found, to much colder higher rainfall areas 4,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level., to which they have been introduced.” (FAO)
Sokoto (Bokolo)
-> Origin
“Gudali is the Hausa word for “short-horned and short-legged animals. “The Sokoto cattle are short-horned zebus bearing a close resemblance to the short-horned zebus of India and Pakistan with which it is assumed that they have a common origin. Bisschop (1937) has described the migratory routes which these cattle may have followed to reach their present habitat in the west of Africa. They are believed to have entered the Horn of Africa from the Persian Gulf and south Arabia. Arabian invaders spread the Zebu to the south and west of the continent following 669 BC. Alternative names for the Sokoto type of cattle are Sokoto Gudali, Gudali, and Bokoloji (Gates, 1952; Rya11, T. E., Personal Communication).” Another name we use for it in Lagos is Bokolo.” (FAO)
-> Management Practices
“These cattle are almost all owned by the originally nomadic Fulani tribe, a proportion of which has now become sedentary. Except that cattle zaribas are sometimes sited on land intended for cultivation, the cattle are entirely divorced from crop production and depend very largely on grazing. During the dry months, from November to April, however, they live on sorghum stalks and leaves from certain trees. The Fulani people wander about in the area in search of grazing but do not go south on account of the tsetse fly infestation in that area.” (FAO)
-> Physical characteristics of the breed
“The Sokoto cattle are medium-sized deep-bodied animals. The typical animal is broad in front and wide on the back and gives the impression that under favourable conditions it would carry a considerable amount of meat on the more valuable parts of the carcass. These cattle have a characteristic convex profile, slightly pendulous ears and a well-pronounced dewlap and umbilical fold. The sheath in the male is loose. The bulls have short lateral horns which are usually upturned. The females have slightly longer horns than the males. The muscular-fatty hump is cervico-thoracic in position and is well-developed in both sexes. On account of the pronounced development of the hump, the head appears to be carried low.” (FAO)
“The usual colour is white or cream in the females and light grey or cream with dark shading at the poll, neck, shoulder and tail in the males. The shading varies in intensity in individuals and dun bulls with blue-grey shading are sometimes observed.
The skin is of medium thickness and loose, with dark pigmentation. Animals with light pigmentation are occasionally seen. The hair is short and of medium softness. The hoofs are strong and possess good, wearing quality.
A herd of Sokoto cattle has been maintained at Shika Stock Farm in Zaria Province, Nigeria, since 1932. The location is 110 15 north latitude and 70 32′ east longitude and is at an elevation of 2,100 feet above sea level.” (FAO)
-> Functional Characteristics of the Breed
“Sokoto cattle are used for the triple purpose of producing milk, beef, and draft. They have fair milk-producing qualities and rear their calves very well under grazing conditions. They also show good qualities of fattening on grassland. As work animals, they are slow but steady, and quite reliable.
There is no evidence of any particular breeding season, and breeding continues throughout the year. Cows calve for the first time at about 40 months of age. From observations at Shika Farm, it is reported that the duration of estrus is often short.
The males are put to service when they are about 3 years old and are active breeders for 10 years. The average production of milk from cows maintained at Shika Stock Farm, and derived from several hundred lactations, is 2,350 lb., testing 5.75 percent butterfat in a lactation period of 230 days with twice daily milking. It is estimated that on average, cows have 8 to 10 lactations during a lifetime (Rya11, T. E., Personal Communication).
Observations at Shika Stock Farm reveal that Sokoto cattle show good adaptability to fattening on grassland. Slaughter -weights of 1,100 to 1,450 lb. at 5 to 6 years of age are reported, with a dressing percentage of 50. The Sokoto cattle are put to work at the age of 3 to 4 years when they weigh about 700 to 900 lb. They are used for field operations and carting. On average, they work for six to eight hours per day and can haul a load of 800 to 1,000 lb. They travel at the rate of about two miles per hour.” (FAO)
-> Sources of breeding stock and information regarding the breed
“These cattle are available in their pure form in the Province of Sokoto. Nigeria, and also occur in the adjoining territories of French West Africa. Further information regarding the breed may be had from: The Director of Agriculture, Kaduna, Northern Nigeria., The Director of Veterinary Services, Kaduna, Northern Nigeria.” (FAO)
Beauty Over Functionality
While researching for this article, I discovered something interesting about the Hausa/ Fulani people. Watch this video for the details.
References
Dagne, T., Yusuf, Y., Yusuf, M., Urge, M., Quine, T.O. and Vipham, J.L. (2019). Effect of Age and Breeds of Cattle on Carcass and Meat Characteristics of Arsi, Boran, and Harar Cattle in Ethiopia. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 9, 367-383. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojas.2019.93030
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations
Sam, I. M., & Usoro, O. O. (2022). Influence of slaughter age on carcass composition and beef yield of White Fulani cattle. Animal Research International, 19(2), 4451–4459. Available at www.zoo-unn.org