Mashona cattle originated from the Shona people
of eastern Zimbabwe. They are bred in a wide spreading territory covering
most of the eastern half of Zimbabwe and an adjoining region of Mozambique
that is free of the tsetse fly. The Mashona cattle are of the Sanga
type.
Following the decimation in the Shona herds caused
by the cattle plague of 1896-98 and the East Coast fever epidemic of
1900-1906 larger number of mainly Angonis cows were mated with Mashona
bulls.
This breed is reared for meat production and
it is said they make docile working animals. A herd book was established
in 1954, after a decade of selection for beef production and polled
characteristics (hornless).
The breed is usually black or red and most are
now polled. The mature weight of the breed ranges from 275 to 350 kg
(600 - 775 pounds).
History and description:
Indigenous cattle of varying types found throughout
the length and breadth of Africa, but only since the turn of the present
century has any attempt been made to study and classify them. Because
of the dearth of reliable evidence and the general lack of historical
records in Africa, the conclusions arrived at must be regarded as somewhat
speculative.
Although the indigenous cattle of Africa generally
lack uniformity of type, they may be placed in the following five main
groups:
The Humpless Longhorn Cattle:
These were the original cattle of North Africa
as illustrated in paintings in the tombs of Egypt 7,000 years ago, but
are today only found in West Africa.
The Humpless Shorthorn Cattle:
These begin to be depicted in the Egyptian tombs
from about 2500 BC from which time they obviously displaced the longhorns
to the south and west. The cattle of the Mediterranean region today
are mainly of this type.
The Neckhumped Lateral-horned Zebu:
There are records of this type of humped cattle
from the old civilizations north of the Persian Gulf and later records,
about 1500 BC, of their appearance in Egypt.
It is thought that they may have entered at the
"horn" of Africa and become established in Ethiopia, from
once they spread north and south. Today, however, they are only represented
by the Afrikaner breed which was developed from Khoi Khoi cattle which
the early settlers found at the Cape.
The Chesthumped Shorthorn Zebu:
This appears to be the most recent type to enter
the continent and evidence indicates that is was introduced down the
East Coast by Arab and Indian Traders from about the middle of the seventh
century A.D. It is now the dominant type in East and Central Africa.
The Sanga Cattle:
This type is widely spread in South, Central
and West Equatorial Africa and is obviously the result of crossbreeding
between the original humpless cattle and the invading zebus.
They are usually neckhumped but vary greatly
in the size and shape of the horns. The indigenous breeds of Zimbabwe
fall into this group.
As the migrating Bantu tribes moved down the
continent they took their cattle for them, crossing the Zambezi about
700 AD Portuguese explorers reported the presence of cattle in what
we now know as Zimbabwe in the 16th Century, and the first white settlers
found large numbers of stock, estimated at 500,000 in the hands of the
local inhabitants.
They were distributed mainly along the central
plateau, which was free of tsestse fly.
The cattle which the pioneering settlers found
were almost exclusively of the Sanga type. They were neck-humped, small
in stature, rounded in appearance with sloping rumps, their coats were
sleek and shiny, they were fine of bone, had small, broad alert heads
and long thin, active tails.
The horns in the cow curved outward and forwards
and were round and fine in cross-section.
The horns in the bull were also rounded but shorter
and heavier, curving out and upwards. The horns in the oxen were longer
and more widespread.
A few of the animals were naturally polled. Color
patterns were many and varied. The predominant color was black followed
by reds and browns, with yellows and duns being less common.
These colors were often accompanied by white
patches or stipples very broken in outline. Black and red were frequently
mixed giving rise to variations of the attractive M'Sundu pattern or
more rarely the brindle (Nhuru).
In, 1896, disaster struck in the form of the
Rinderpest epizootic which swept down from the north killing cattle
and antelope alike; to be followed a few years later by the introduction
of East Coast Fever from Macambiqu.
The herds were decimated and by the time these
diseases were under control it was estimated that only 50,000 head remained
in the century.
To help build up numbers again, cattle were introduced
from Zambia. They were mostly cows and were probably Angoni type shorthorn
Zebus, but it is not known what lasting genetic influence they had on
the native herds.
From about this time both Government and private
individuals began importing bulls from South Africa and overseas with
which to grade-up and "improve" the indigenous stock.
In most instances this process led to indiscriminate
crossbreeding, without any corresponding improvement in management and
resulted in heterogeneous, degenerate animals completely lacking the
desirable characteristics of their parent stock.
The indigenous breeds which exist in Zimbabwe
today, the Mashona, Nkone and Tuli have developed from this original
stock.
As might be expected there are close genetic
similarities, especially between the Mashona and Nkone, but surveys
of transferrin types and estimated haemoglobin gene frequencies from
herds throughout the century have shown that animals do in fact all
into distinct breed groups.
It can be speculated, however that all the original
genotypes must have been Mashonas.
The Nkone cattle have descended from the cattle
belonging to the a'Mandebele tribe which settled in Matebeleland in
1838. The largest concentrations of these animals are found in the Gwaii
and neighboring communal areas in the western part of Zimbabwe.
A small breeding herd was established at Tjolotjo,
approximately 130 km northwest of Bulawayo in 1946, and this subsequently
grew to become the main center of research and developed of the breed.
A second herd was established at Msengenzi Experiment
Farm in the Makwiro district of Mashonaland in 1953, and the Nkone Cattle
Club was established with a number of commercial breeders in the early
1960's.
In 1942, Mr. Len Harvey, who was a land development
officer, noticed a distinct yellow type of animal in the indigenous
herds in the lowveld south of Gwanda.
Government subsequently decided to purchase some
of these cattle to see if the type could be improved, and established
the Lowveld Cattle Breeding Station with Mr. Harvey as Officer-in-Charge.
This became the center of work on the breed and
became known as the Tuli Breeding Station. Commercial breeders became
interested in the breed and an official Breed Society was informed in
1961.
Prior to 1890, Thomas Baines, the explorer and
big game hunter, recorded that he obtained "two little cows which
being from Mashonaland were excellent milkers."
However, probably the first serious written record
on Mashona cattle was contained in a letter written by a member of the
Pioneer Column, Mr. Jack CarruthersSmith, to Mr. Frank Willoughby. In
it, he wrote:
"My first experience of Mashona cattle was
in the beginning of 1891 until the end of March 1897, when I left for
Bulawayo in Matabeleland. I considered Mashona cattle a distinctive
breed of their own.
They were a very small breed, with very small
and fine bone, very compact. They had lovely symmetrical horns. I should
think about 70 percent of the cattle were jet black, 25 to 27 percent
dark red, perhaps 1,5 percent dark yellow, probably 1 percent dun colored.
Amongst the black, there was perhaps 1 or 2 percent
hornless and in the red an odd hornless beast.
The true Mashona, as I remember it, had very
short legs, bone very fine, a long thin tail, with a bush at the end
of it, not unlike the bush on a lion's tail.
To the beast of my memory, the pure bred little
Mashona gave 1 1/2 to 2 bottles of milk, at a milking.
I might add that the hair on the Mashona cattle
was very short and simply shone, when in perfect condition, which in
the early 1890's they generally were."
Meanwhile, in 1941, some forty years after these
early recordings, and independently of each other, two dedicated men,
Mr. F.B. Willoughby and Mr. E.A.B. McLeod began building up herds of
indigenous cattle in Mashonaland.
They visited dip-tanks in various remote communal
areas and bought up animals which conformed to the characteristics which
they had fixed in their minds. Mr. Willoughby obtained many of his foundation
stock in the Chilimanzi and Buhera Communal lands.
One polled bull in particular, which, as a three-month-old
calf, walked the 200 miles from Buhera to Ellerton Farm, had a tremendous
influence on the future Mashona breed. Mr. McLeod bought most of his
original animals in the Mhonondoro area.
He trekked them first to Gokwe and then to Essexvale
as he was transferred, finally buying a farm in the latter district.
He obtained some polled bulls from Ellerton and by small, black, hornless
cattle of considerable hardiness and docility.
The Ellerton herd was larger and more broadly
based and although predominantly black, managed to perpetuate most of
the color and color patterns of the native stock. Here again selection
was based strictly upon the most desirable functional characteristics
of the indigenous cattle, and over the years a remarkably productive
herd was achieved.
The enthusiasm of these two men led to the founding
of the Rhodesian Indigenous Cattle Society on the 16th of January, 1950,
with Mr. Willoughby becoming the first President and Mr. McLeod as honorary
secretary. A few years later the name was changed to the more specific
Mashona Cattle Society.
The vision and enterprise of Messrs. Willoughby
and McLeod have been more than justified, and while the breed today
has a much broader genetic base than either may ever have visualized,
their original bloodlines still run very strong in the modern Mashona.
Reference:
Genus Bos: Cattle Breeds of the World, 1985,
MSO-AGVET (Merck & Co., Inc.), Rahway, N.J.
Mason, I.L. 1996. A World Dictionary of Livestock
Breeds, Types and Varieties. Fourth Edition. C.A.B International.
273 pp.
Jim Weaver, Weaver Ranch, P.O. Box 23, Causey,
New Mexico 88113
Photographs:
Jim Weaver, Weaver Ranch, P.O. Box 23, Causey,
New Mexico 88113
