Source: http://afs.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/mashona/index.html/
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).
American Mashona
Source: https://www.americanmashona.com/breed.php
The Mashona, a Sanga type cow of South-central Africa, has developed over thousands of years to be thoroughly adapted to the local environment. Their resistance to high temperature, ticks and flies, and their ability to maintain reproductive efficiency in the semi-arid African climate have molded their unique characteristics.
In 1941 Messrs Wiloughby and Macleod began selection of suitable stock from the then tribal trust lands which rapidly expanded to 18 breeding farms and research stations. Strict selection for functional traits has stabilized and refined the Mashona into a beautiful, productive animal which has been thoroughly proven by research.
Hardiness, fertility and a significant degree of disease resistance are the result of centuries of natural selection under arduous African conditions. Starting with this foundation of exceptionally well-adapted cattle, the Mashona Cattle Society has applied advanced breeding methods such as herd performance testing, central and on-farm bull testing, use of reference sires and most recently the introduction of a nucleus breeding herd to improve the breed.
Excellent cow fertility and calf productivity are characterized by an early sexual maturity with a short anestrous period and a high calving percentage under harsh conditions. There are minimal calving difficulties resulting in maximum output per cow mass and per grazing area.
They have very low maintenance requirements and are highly mobile, selective grazers who also have the ability to browse. The Mashona has an early carcass maturity and a high dressing percentage. Minimal management is required due to their beneficial herd behavior of well developed herd instincts and maternal protection and their docile temperament which allows easy handling.
The most meaningful way of measuring the efficiency of beef production is not in terms of the size of the cow, size of the calf or even size of the slaughter steers — it is in terms of pounds (kg) of calf per pound (kg) of cow.
Fertility and Reproductive Performance of the Mashona Cow
Puberty or sexual maturity, is normally measured as the age at which the first behavioral estrous (heat) occurs, and can be confirmed by measuring the levels of the hormone progesterone in blood serum.
Many trials have shown that age at puberty in heifers can be markedly influenced by their plane of nutrition, and this was confirmed in Mashona heifers by Tiffin’s work at Makoholi. This work and other trials also served to illustrate the considerable degree of genetic variation in age at puberty which exists within the Mashona breed.
Moreover, individual heifer data from Makoholi studies indicate that puberty can be obtained at ages as low as 362 days and body masses of 328 lbs (149kg) (Tiffin, 1989 — private communication), thus classifying the Mashona as an early sexually-maturing breed. No data are available for young bulls, but it can be assumed that they will also become sexually competent at a relatively young age. The practical significance of this work is that Mashona heifers can be effectively mated at 15 months of age as long as the plane of nutrition provides for sufficient growth and body mass. Although conception can occur at body masses below 397 lbs (180kg), it would appear that a body mass of 518 lbs (235kg), which represents approximately 70% of mature cow mass in the Makoholi herd, is a safe target mass to ensure high conception rates under ranching conditions.
Follow-up studies highlighted the fact that, due to body size and condition, calving at two years of age tended to lead to a reconception problem after the first calf. However, when estimated total weaned calf production in the first five years was compared for cows calving at either two or three years of age, productivity was higher in the earlier calving group.
This undoubtedly explains the markedly higher response of the ovaries in Afrikaner cows to standard injections of Follicle Stimulating Hormone when compared with Mashonas, and probably contributes to the higher incidence of ‘silent’ heats in Afrikaner cows which have been recorded in comparative trials. Overall, these data lend support to the concept that the relatively high fertility of Mashona cows may be associated with inherently different levels of endocrine function when compared with less fertile breeds.
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Gulf Coast Cattleman
Source: http://www.gulfcoastcattleman.com/new-page-81
Mashona Cattle – Breeding Beef Cattle Adapted to their Environment
Hot climates, whether arid or humid, require a different type of cattle than cold northern climates. To do well, cattle must be well adapted to their environment. Jim Elizondo (who now manages a large ranch in Florida) has been seeking to create the most efficient genetics for beef cattle in a hot environment.
Growing up in Mexico, Elizondo has two very successful ranches there. “I have been with cattle all my life,” he says. “My grandfather and father were both cattlemen, in Tampico, on the Mexican Gulf Coast—about a 6-hour drive south of Brownville, Texas. This area is located in the dry tropics.”
He has always tried to read and learn from the best teachers. “All my life I have tried to find the best books on cattle raising and land management to improve my abilities. I bought my first ranch in 1990. It is irrigated and I started growing stockers. I had a small feedlot where I finished them. I had about 700 animals per year on 300 acres,” he says.
“My uncle developed the first composite breed in Mexico, called Tropicarne which in Spanish means tropical beef. This composite was built with Barzona, Charolais, Senepol, Brahman and Angus, over many years, with most emphasis on Senepol,” says Elizondo.
For many years Elizondo also had a dairy, using Jersey cows, but soon had to change from pure Jersey because they don’t do well in the tropics. “In that area we have piroplasmosis from ticks. Pure Bos Taurus cows are more affected by various pests. In making a change, first I used Australian Friesian Sahiwal semen for 15 years, then I switched to Girolando (a Brazilian composite with Holstein and Gyr) after I met Johann Zietsman, from Zimbabwe. He teaches courses in sustainable ranching and advised me to look for the correct type of Girolando—that has not been affected by the hype of taller and higher-producing individuals which does not translate to higher sustainable profits per acre,” explains Elizondo.
“In 1994 I used some tropical milking criollo bulls. This is a Bos Taurus breed adapted to high temperatures and tick problems after 500 years of natural selection. Sixteen years later I realized that my best cows were descendants from those bulls. So after 15 years of Australian Friesian Sahiwal and 2 years of Girolando I went back to the tropical milking criollo breed and now have the largest herd of animals composed of that cross in Mexico. I discovered that these cows originally came from Africa, to Spain, to the Americas 500 years ago.”
Tropical milking criollo animals were first selected by nature and possess the short slick hair gene which conveys a high degree of heat tolerance. “This is important, to be able to produce under high temperatures and high humidity because these environmental conditions also mean low-quality high-fiber forages. It is this high fiber which inhibits forage consumption when temperatures are high as the fiber digestion produces a lot of heat. The animal cannot cope with the heat from the outside and the heat from the rumen–so a non-adapted animal will reduce consumption and thus produce less. This would be called nutritional adaptation,” says Elizondo.
In 2010 he and his family had to leave Mexico because of the violence in that region. “In 2012 I started working at this ranch in Florida where the owners wanted to rehabilitate 550 acres that had once been a tree nursery. They came to me first as a consultant and asked which breed of beef cattle would I recommend for grazing their land,” says Elizondo.
Before he came to the U.S he had been trying to bring some Mashona cattle into Mexico, from Jim Weaver in New Mexico. Weaver brought the first ones as embryos in 1995 from Zimbabwe. “These are very hardy cattle, being heat, disease and parasite resistant, but most importantly they have nutritional adaptation. They are Bos Taurus Sanga breed and have very high fertility with early marbling and early maturity. When I was asked by the Florida rancher which breed I would recommend, Jim Weaver was selling the whole herd–so this ranch purchased almost all the cows. Now we have them here, and are trying to grow the herd and maintain them pure,” he says.
Read more
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Jaime Elizondo’s website: https://www.rwranching.com / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealWealthRanching
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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 tsetse 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 transferring types and estimated hemoglobin 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 low veld 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.
