The selection and breeding of zebu cattle in Zanzibar

Abstract

The stock farm at the Kizimbani Experiment Station of the Zanzibar Department of Agriculture was established in 1940 by a grant made from Colonial Development and Welfare Funds. The main object of the farm has been to build up an improved strain of Zebu cattle which would possess high milk-yielding capabilities but which would retain the local Zebu's resistance to disease and its ability to thrive on local pasture for the greater part of the year without supplementary feeding. It was necessary also to bear in mind that male animals are commonly used for draught purposes. There has been no attempt to introduce exotic strains into the herd nor to produce the type of grade animals required by the commercial dairymen centred around Zanzibar Town.