Conservation of the Tswana cattle breed in Botswana

1 AGRI 1996 20: 17-26 Conservation of the Tswana cattle breed in BotswanaNtombizakhe MpofuAnimal Production and Range Research, P Bag 0033, Gaborone, BotswanaKey word: Animal genetic resources, Characterisation, Genetic improvement, UtilisationSummaryThe Tswana cattle breed is indigenous toBotswana. Its popularity and numbers inthe national herd is declining due tocrossbreeding. This paper presents resultsof work done so far to characterise thebreed for milk and beef production anddescribes the current breed conservationprogram. Suggestions on morecharacterisation work and improvement onthe Conservation program are sum La race bovine Tswana est une raceindig ne du Botswana . Sa popularit et sonnombre dans le cheptel national est endiminution cause des croisementsr alis s.

2 Cet article pr sente les r sultats dutravail r alis pour caract riser la race dupoint de vue de la production de lait et deviande, et d crit galement le programactuel de Conservation de la race. Onpr sente aussi les suggestions sur d autrestravaux de caract risation et l am liorationdu program de is a country in Southern Africa. Itlies between longitudes 20 and 29 Eastand latitudes 18 and 27 South. The meanaltitude is 1000 meters above sea level. Theclimate is characterised by sporadic andunreliable rain. The average annual rainfallvaries from about 650 mm in the north eastto less than 250 mm in the extreme southwest. The rain season is in November toMarch with no rain for the rest of the temperatures range from 10 C to 20 Cfrom April to August and from 8 C to 38 C from September to March (Sims, 1981).

3 Approximately 80 percent of the country iscovered by Kgalagadi sands and scrubsavannah. The main ecological zones arethe western Sandveld and the easternHardveld. The Sandveld has lower averagerainfall than the Hardveld. Because of thisand poor soil fertility, little agriculturalactivities are found in the are two beef production sectors inBotswana; the traditional and commercialsectors. The total cattle population is million of which the traditional sectorhas about 82 percent (Masokwane, 1995).The traditional sector keeps the indigenousTswana breed mainly for bothpurebreeding and crossbreeding. The cattleare used primarily for beef production andtheir other uses include milk productionand draught power. The commercialfarmers use the Tswana breed mainly forcrossing with foreign beef and dairy the commercial sector accountsfor only 18 percent of the total cattlepopulation, the livestock offtake rates arehigher (17 percent) compared to 8 percentin the traditional sector (Masokwane, 1995).

4 The reasons for Conservation are culturaland economic coupled with a need tomaintain genetic diversity. Breeding workdone in the 1970's (APRU, 1976) revealedthe special qualities of the Tswana breed , anexample being adaptability to local climaticconditions. It also demonstrated that beefherd productivity can be increased bycrossbreeding the Tswana with foreign sirebreeds. This was followed by widespreadConservation of the Tswana cattle breed in Botswana18crossbreeding in both the Commercial andTraditional Sectors. Such widespreadcrossbreeding can result in the purebredTswana population being threatened byextinction as evidenced by the Europeanexperience. About half of all breeds whichexisted in Europe at the turn of the centuryhave disappeared and a third of theremaining breeds are in danger ofdisappearing within the next 20 years(Concar, 1992).

5 The popularity of theTswana breed , as determined by bull andsemen requests, is declining. This is whatprompted work on Conservation of theTswana involves identification,characterisation, preservation,development, improvement, and utilisationof a given gene pool of species over paper gives the results ofcharacterisation work that has been done,characterisation work that is ongoing, andsuggests further characterisation studiesthat should be carried out. There arevarious methods of breed preservationwhich include storage of semen, embryos orlive animals. The method used for theTswana cattle is maintainance of purebredherds on government ranches. A programto improve these herds genetically throughselection for economically important traitsis described and a plan on how todisseminate superior genetic material fromthese herds is of theTswana breedThree definitions of a breed given inClutton Brock (1987) are:a) A group of animals that has been selectedby man to possess a uniform appearancethat is heritable and distinguishes it fromother groups of animals within the ) A separately identifiable population orgroup of interbreeding domesticanimals.

6 Identification will usually bebased on common physical characterssuch as colour, size, shape and alsoshared genetic and historical 1. Tswana caw with MpofuAnimal Genetic Resources Information, No. 20, 199619c) A breed is usually associated with aparticular ecological zone, geographicalarea and farming system. Some breedsmay, however, be present in severalcountries or is, therefore, important to collect anddocument information which can be used todescribe the Tswana cattle as a breed . Thisinformation should include productiontraits. Characterisation studies for the breedhave been conducted since the 1 970's andfurther characterisation can be done usingthe population described later on, as well asother herds on government ranches and thenational appearanceThere is no documentation on physicalcharacteristics of the Tswana breed (breeddefinition a and b).

7 Body measurements canbe collected from the base population of theFigure 1. Republic of Botswana showing districts and some government of the Tswana cattle breed in Botswana20 Tswana herd described later on. TheTswana breed has many colour patterns ofblack, brown, grey and white. The cattlehave horns, although animals born onexperimental stations are productionThe dairy breeding program at Sunnysideranch (figure 1) compares milk productionand lactation length of pure Tswana cowswith crosses of Tswana and various foreignbreeds such as Simmental. The averagedaily yield per cow was kg for purebredTswana cows compared to kg forSimmental/ Tswana crosses under the samemanagement (APRU, 1986).Beef productionSome of the beef production characteristicsof the Tswana breed are known (table 1).

8 The breed was compared with purebredTuli, Brahman, Africander and Bonsmaraand various crosses (APRU, 1976). Currentresearch work compares a composite breeddeveloped in Botswana with various breedsincluding the Tswana (Mpofu et al., 1996).The Tswana outperformed other SouthernAfrican breeds like the Tuli and Africanderfor growth traits but had lower growthrates than the Bonsmara, the Botswanacomposite breed and crosses of Tswanawith foreign sire breeds. The geneticimprovement program described later on isexpected to provide more information onbeef production characteristics of genetics studiesThe Tswana breed is found only inBotswana ( breed definition c). It is notcertain how and if the Tswana differs fromother breeds found in the region or inAfrica in general, such as the Nguni inTable 1.

9 Performance of Tswana cattle compared to that of various breeds and Tswana 2-way crossesfor beef cattle production *Calving rate (%) Weaning weight(kg)Weight at 18 months(kg)Pure Brahmann. * sire breed given firstSource: a - APRU, 1976b - Lethola, Buck & Light, 1984c - Mpofu, Mosimanyana & Setshwaelo, 1996 (for weaning weight and weight at 18 months)na - not availableNtombizakhe MpofuAnimal Genetic Resources Information, No. 20, 199621 South Africa and the Tuli and Nkone inZimbabwe. The Tswana is, therefore, one ofthe breeds to be studied in the moleculargenetics studies on African breeds (Regeand Teale, 1995). The study will characterisethe breeds genetically and estimate thediversity within African cattle distances among these populationswill be determined and the breeds classifiedinto distinct genetic groups.

10 The cattle usedin this study include the cattle assembled atgovernment ranches as well as cattle fromthe national improvementprogramThe Tswana breed was compared withvarious exotic breeds and their crosses inbreeding research work done in the 1970' the breed 's performance forvarious traits was lower than that for somebreeds (table 1), its performance can beconsidered satisfactory. This is because theother breeds used in the study had gonethrough generations of selection forimproved production while there had neverbeen a formal selection program for theTswana , it was felt that the Tswana hadgreat potential for beef , an improvement programfor the Tswana was set up with thefollowing objectives:a) To improve economic beef productionfrom Tswana cattle raised on ) To improve the competitiveness of theTswana breed thus improving itspopularity and its use in the beefproducing sector in order to reduce thechance of it becoming ) To improve the rural income through thedevelopment and distribution ofgenetically superior Tswana 2.