THE ANKOLE LONGHORN CATTLE OF UGANDA

There is a 30 page paper (with photos) called THE NEED TO CONSERVE THE ANKOLE LONGHORN CATTLE OF UGANDA: A COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE. It presents the viewpoint of herders of the Nyabushozi, Kiruhura District, South Western Uganda. The meetings were held between February and April of 2009.

You can read the whole paper here, but Ankole-Watusi cattle enthusiasts might find this excerpt interesting.

Our Ankole long horn cattle have long white horns though there are those that are hornless.Their eyes, nose and ears are small (however smallness of the nose is relative).They are tall with long legs, have long navels and small humps. They are normally deep or dark brown (Bihogo) though some have different shades of brown (Siina & Gaaju) and others have different colour patterns (mayenje – small spots on the belly) with short hair. They also have a beautiful “moo” (i.e., they have a nice sound).

The Ankole longhorn cattle were the first cattle in the whole country and they resist any kind of suffering (i.e., they are hardy) and eat little grass.

The name “Ankole” is wrong, and the correct one is “Nkore” The writer G. N. Kirindisays that it was the colonialists who named our land “Ankole’ because they could not correctly pronounce the name “Nkore”.

Another name for Nkore is “Kaaro Karungi”. This name is a result of the war between Nkore and Bunyoro. When the Banyoro captured Nkore, they marveled at the beauty of the land and said “aka Kaaro Karungi” meaning “this is a beautiful village”.

The first breeders of the Ankore cattle, are our ancestors, the people of Nkore mentioned below; The Bachwezi (Founders of Nkore Kingdom and ancestors of the Banyankore), the Bahima and the Banyankore (present habitants of the area).

Factors That Are Considered When Selecting An Ankole Cow (Listed By Importance)
1. When selecting our cows, we consider beauty as number one. [Beauty includes size (big with long legs), colour (especially deep brown “Bihogo” and other beautiful colour patterns), and height, (white and beautifully shaped horns)]. If there is a beautiful bull, the offspring shall be beautiful
2. High and good quality milk production and character/temperament are very important.
3. We select our cattle in order to get offspring of the same colour or pattern since these would look beautiful, would always move together, love one another and other people would love them and they would be easily identified e.g. if lost or stolen.
4. Our prestige or status comes with our carefully selected herds for their strength and beauty.

Reproduction
Most of the Ankole heifers conceive for the first time between the ages of 2.5 to 4 years. However some well-suckled heifers conceive for the first time between the ages of 1 and 2 years.

An Ankole cow, if well fed or given proper care, can take between 2 weeks to 8 weeks to conceive after giving birth and if not given proper care, it can take four months. The cows with short calving intervals commonly have little milk and those with long calving intervals can produce 7 – 10 litres. The well-fed cows will give milk for up to a year but towards the end of this period the amount will decrease.

Economic Uses And Functions
1. Our cattle live long
2. They rarely fall ill
3. They are resistant to hunger and drought
4. We use them as a source of income (e.g. sales of live animals for money- hides to those who make shoes, bags, belts and drums, horns for buttons, trumpets, ornaments, handcrafts, and smoking pipes. Hooves are used to produce gum)
5. They fetch a higher price than the Nganda breed.
6. They produce good dung for energy-biogas
7. Our status is rated by the number and beauty of cattle one possesses
8. Their maintenance costs us little: e.g. they survive on only grass and water and Nkore has good grass, they survive under any condition and can be owned and managed by anyone (even the poor ones).

There are several very nice photos of local cattle in that paper. You can see that the conformation of the American animals holds true to the original form. ;-)