A 75 year old man recently told
the following story to some Nguni breeders in Namibia.
Apparently, centuries ago the present-day Kavango people migrated
south into the swampy Kavango area from the northern part of Angola.
In the area where they came from
in Northern Angola, a certain species of the False Mopani tree
grew abundantly and this tree was called the "Ushibi"
in the local language.
The people from this area was
thus known as the "Mashibi". In their migration
south, their animals trekked with and, since the seeds of the
Ushibi tree is dark red with white spots, the cattle was known
as the "Kashii". See photograph below.
Currently the indigenious cattle
of Southern Africa are often called the Nguni, but obvious phenotypic
and proven genotypic differences between the traditional Nguni
of the eastern parts of Southern Africa and the other types from
the oremaining parts of the Southern African continent, have forced
breeders to call such animals by another name - namely "Sanga".
However, other indigenious breeds,
such as the Afrikaner is also considered a Sanga. A further complicating
factor is that other "types" within the Sanga group
have also already been recognised as different breeds, i.e., the
Mashona, the Landim and the Nkone. Hence, the Namibian Nguni Breeders'
Society has decided
to find a new name for the "Sanga" cattle of Northern
Namibia. Luckily they succeeded in finding the old man who could
relate the story of the "Kashivi" cattle. Mr Johan
Campher and his wife, Stella, in 1996 started farming part-time
with Kavango cattle, or as it will soon be known as the "Kashivi",
in the Free State Province of the Republic of South Africa.
This particular breed, formerly considered as an ecotype of the
Sanga originates from the Eastern Caprivi in the Northern-most corner
of the Republic of Namibia on the south-western seaboard of the
African Continent. The animals in Johan and Stella's possession
are part of a very small number of animals imported from the farms
of Mr Hartmut Held and Mr Japie Coetzee in Namibia.
The animals are currently the only registered Kashivi in South
Africa. The aim is to keep the Kashivi breed pure and to
only use Kashivi semen on the female animals, thereby establishing
a breed not related to the Kwazulu-Natal, Swaziland, Gazankulu,
Venda and other Southern African lines of the Nguni breed. For
this purpose a magnificent bull was also imported from Namibia.
The heifers were synchronised
with Crestar and artificially inseminated on 30 December 1996.
Excellent calves were born in October 1997.
Mr Campher expresses the opinion
that should inbreeding ever become a problem within South Africa
or anywhere else in the world, his animals, which are participating
in the National Beef Cattle Performance Testing Scheme, could
be utilised to gain genetic diversity through top quality performance
tested genetic material.
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NAME:
VELDMAN ECAZI CHARMAINE
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The Kashivi is undoubtedly a different breed from the Nguni and
will shortly be recognised as such by the South African authorities.
Johan Campher is a member of the Namibian Nguni Cattle Breeders'
Society (NNCBS) and all animals will therefore be registered
with the NNCBS.
The animals' registration numbers will reflect the ICAR country
codes and will hence be easily identified in the pedigrees, in the
many years to come, as of Namibian origin. The prefix of the animals
is "Veldman" and the word "Ecazi" is
an acronym for "Eastern Caprivi Zipfel", as the
Kavango/Caprivi area was known previously.
