Grazing behavior of Maasai cattle

The grazing behaviour of Maasai cattle was influenced by season, area and grazing orbit. In a grazing day the cattle spent 1, 8, 14, 15 and 62 percent of their time drinking, ruminating, resting, walking and grazing respectively. The mean length of the grazing day of Maasai cattle is defined, as from the time they left their bomas in the morning until they returned for the night; this duration was 10.8 plus or minus 0.6 and and 10.4 plus or minus 0.6 hours for cattle and calves respectively. The mean grazing orbit was 15.5 and 10.8 km for adult cattle and calves respectively. A vibracorder proved quite accurate in timing cattle activities

Practical application of range areas monitoring

Discusses the practical application of range areas monitoring. Examines the herd structure of Elangata Wuas, Olkarkar and Merueshi group ranches. presents and discusses herd and flock demography including herd structure, fertility & mortality; out put including milk yields, weight gain of calves, steers & small stock, small stock weights, and off take and in-take rates; and input data including treatments and preventive medicine, supplementary feeding, reserved grazing for calves & managemen

A study of Masai herds on Elangata Wuas group ranch in Kajiado district, Kenya

Survey results rel. to Masai herds on Elangata Wuas group ranch, particularly showing body measurements and live weights of zebu and crossbred cattle, herd structure, calving rates, preweaning mortality and grazing behaviour of cattle, sheep and goats

Animal nutrition

Discusses the effects of the interaction among genotype, animal health & nutrition on livestock productivity within a particular environment, w. spec. ref. to results of work undertaken by ILCA on the nutrition component of the system, using availability & composition of forage, and composition & amount of food eaten to study grazing behaviour, feed intake and performance of animals

Monitoring of ranches III. A sample of 10 ranches under the Kenya Livestock Development Project

Assesses the ranch component of the Kenya Livestock Development Project II. Examines various livestock production parameters for a sample of ten ranches and analyses financial records for some of these ranches. Also discusses improvement of livestock productivity, finances and overall management

Milk for calves or man in a Maasai pastoral system in East Africa

Reports on a study carried out by ILCA in Kenya, on the Maasai pastoral system with ref. to providing milk primarily for calves & secondly for human subsistence. Notes the systems better level of productivity as compared to other pastoral systems in Africa due to its low calf mortality, better calf growth and lactation yield

Livestock productivity and management

Discusses ways of collecting livestock data, mentioning the usefulness and techniques of low-level aerial surveys to gather information on animal numbers; and methods of recording weight changes and milk yields

Helminthiasis in Maasai ranches in Kenya

A survey was carried out to determine the level of gastrointestinal parasite infections in cattle, sheep and goats in three Maasai group ranches (Olkarkar, Merueshi and Mbirikani) in Kajiadio District of Kenya. Strongylosis was the most prevalent gastrointestinal infection. Between 60-70 percent of the sheep and goats were infected with gastrointestinal parasites, while 40 percent of the cattle were infected. The rate of infection correlated with age in cattle with most of the cases occuring in calves which also suffered heavier parasitison. Coccidiosis was second to strongylosis in prevalence, mainly in calves, kids and lambs. Infection with other parasites was less than 6 percent

Prevalence of ticks on rangeland domestic ruminants in Kajiado District, Kenya

The prevalence of ticks in cattle, sheep and goats in three group ranches in the arid area of Kajiado District in Kenya was studied. Four differet genera were identified from a total of 2,546 ticks collected. Of all the ticks collected, Rhipicephalus constituted 80.45 percent, Amblyomma 16.3 percent, Hyalomma 2.64 percent and Boophilus 0.6 percent. Anaplasmosis, theileriosis and babesiosis were identified from blood and lymph nodes smears of animals from which the ticks were collected. The prevalence of these tick-borne diseases was 3.9 percent, 2.6 percent and 0.4 percent for anaplasmosis, theileriosis and babesiosis respectively