Red Meat Production in a Changing
Environment
Farming with African Breeds of Livestock
With special reference to the breeds in South Africa
THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
• RISING TEMPERATURES
•LESS RAINFALL
•A GRADUAL MOVE FROM A GRASSLAND TO A WOODLAND BIOME
•INCREASED UNTRA VIOLET RADIATION
•INCREASE IN ANIMAL DISEASES AND PARASITES
Production costs
•Housing
•Feeds and fertilisers ( planted pastures )
•Stock remedies
•Labor
•Transport
•Fuel
•Power
•Fencing
•Waste management
Consumer demands and questions
•Safe nutritious food
certification / guarantees / quantities
•Traceability – farm to plate
•Welfare issues - – did the animal
have a stress free life ?
•Demand for specific products
grain fed vs grass fed, etc
•Gas emissions
are these contributing to global warming ?
The advantage of indigenous breeds
South Africa has a variety of indigenous breeds of farm animals that originated in
Eastern and northern Africa and moved southwards with migrating tribes to enter
South Africa almost two thousand years ago.
The advantage of indigenous breeds
On the way, they travelled through areas rife with animal
diseases and parasites adapting to, and settling in, a variety of biomes –
most of which would normally be seen as unsuitable for extensive livestock
production
Typical examples are the wild animal species that have
evolved over millennia to survive in specific biomes on the continent
Domestic livestock may have evolved over a shorter period
but the same principles apply
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Slight hollow back
Sloping rump
Long slender tail
Diagram :
Courtesy of Olivier Hanotte
?
N dama
Boran
Watusi/ Ankole
Sanga
Tuli
Afrikaner
Drakensberger
Nguni Hanotte et al.
Science 2002
Infra red ( heat )
Radiation
Biting and sucking
Insects
Filtered and Reflected
Radiation (Ultra violet )
Humidity
Quality
Of
Grazing
Factors adding to the stress load of a grazing animal in hot and humid environments
Walking
distance
to water
and
grazing
Baggy sweat glands
(Evaporative cooling)
Smooth short and
shiny (oily ) hair coat
Slight hollow back
Sloping rump
Flexible grooming
Sensitive moveable hide
Immune reaction to tick bites
Easy temperament
No added stress
Slight cow hock
Easy walking
Rib cage for
More lung capacity
( cooling )
Sinuses
( Radiator )
Strong Teeth
Tail ( fly swatter )
Skin folds
(Increased area)
Grazing/ browsing
Behavior
Strong claws – easy walking
Adaptive traits and behavior to offset these factors
Adaptation to biting and sucking
insects
• Sensitive pilo motor nervous system –
• sensitive hide that moves and disturbs the
• insect
• Smooth hair coat – no place to hide
•
• Effective fly swatting tail
• Tick tolerance – immune reaction to ticks
•
• Supple body – ability to groom
A comparison of carcasses of adapted Zulu (Nguni) cattle (A)
and less adapted crossbred animals (B) (Bonsma, 1949)
Shape and size of sweat glands in
different breeds of cattle ( Yeates ,
1965) Baggy sweat glands
Cattle Breeds
• Afrikaner
• Drakensberger
• Nguni
• Tuli
• Boran
• Ankole / Watusi
Sheep breeds
• Persian
• Bapedi
• Zulu
• Damara
• Afrikaner
• Karakul
Persian – fat rumped sheep
Bapedi ( Pedi ) – Fat tailed sheep
Zulu sheep
The Karakul has been around for long enough to be included in the list
Goat breeds
•
•
•
•
•
•
SA Boer goat
Kalahari red
Savannah
Veld goat
Unimproved Veld goat
Tankwa Karoo goat
SA Boer goat
Kalahari red
Savannah goat
The development of the Veld goat
has shown that it is still possible
To Improve through selection
while retaining
important adaptive traits
Pig breeds
• Kolbroek ( Lard pig )
• Windsnyer ( lean pig )
Farming the future
• We need to capitalise on the adaptive traits of
indigenous livestock – and use these to the
best effect in modern production systems
• Retaining some as pure breeds
• Developing composite breeds
• Using such breeds as a mother line for
terminal crossbreeding
Size – let the environment decide
• Animals that have settled in a specific
environment over a period of time will reach a
size that is determined by the available
nutrients.
• This has more advantages than disadvantages
AVERAGE SHOULDER HEIGHTS OF NGUNI ECOTYPES - FEMALES
OLDER THAN 7 YEARS
SHOULDER HEIGHT
ECOTYPE
NUMBER MEASURED
(CM)
MATURE COW WEIGHT
(kg)
PEDI
126
60
391
CAPRIVI SANGA
123
42
392
(SOUR)
(MANSVELD &
SKINNER)
128
20
302
(SWEET)
(MANSVELD &
SKINNER)
138
20
368
Making the best of adapted animals
THE AMOUNT OF BEEF PRODUCED BY DIFFERENT BEEF CATTLE BREEDS UNDER COMMERCIAL
CONDITIONS OF FARMING IN RHODESIA AT A CONSTANT STOCKING RATE (VORSTER, 1964)
AFRIKANER HEREFORD NGUNI
Calving percentage
Survival rate (%)
Number of animals
for slaughter
Carcass weight (kg)
Production/cow (kg)
60
73
44
60
45
27
60
82
49
243
111
227
62
235
116
THE POTENTIAL INCOME - FROM THREE BREEDS ON 600 HA GRAZING
WITH A CARRYING CAPACITY PF 6 HA PER MLU.
.
BREEDS A AND B ARE ADAPTED BREEDS BREED C IS NOT ADAPTED
Breed
Average cow
weight
MLU equivalent
Cows on 600
ha @ 6 ha per
MLU
Calving
percentage
Number of
calves
Income: 200 kg
weaner @
R17,55 per kg
Income: 250 kg
weaner @
R17,55 per kg
A
300
.66
151
90
136 471 920 596 700
B
400
.8
125
90
121 424 710 530 887
C
500
1.1
90
50
45
* 196 875
Capitalising on adaptive traits in the commercial beef herd
as well as a pure breed / pedigree breeding system
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mate 1/3 of the herd to the mother
breed ( Nguni )
Mate 2/3 of the herd to a medium
To heavy beef breed
(Angus,Simmentaler, Sussex etc,
Romagnola , Charolais,
Marchigiana )
Sell all these crosses as weaners
or as older animals if the veld
permits
20 – month old Nguni – Marchigiana cross
Intact bull -still to cut its permanent incisors
Graded A off the veld
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9
The same principles apply to any adapted mother breed. Go for a small to medium
Framed mother line and use a meaty sire line – SA Muttton Merino ; Ille de France
Indigenous pigs have a lot of potential for
free range production systems
Niche market products could include :
•Lard
•Crackling
•Ham, processed meat
Closing remarks
• We have more than enough indigenous and
locally developed breeds of livestock to meet
all the challenges of climate change and
sustainable animal agriculture
• In addition, there is scope for a range of
innovative products that would include grass
fed beef and mutton, game meat and pork
Thank you
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