Having herds: pastoral herd growth and household economy

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HAVING HERDS

Household Economy

GudrunDahl Anders Hjort

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HAVING HERDS

Pastoral Herd Growth and Household Economy

Gudrun Dahl Anders Hjort

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STOCKHOLM STUDIES IN SOCIAL ANTROPOLOGY • 2 ( c ) Gudrun Dahl & A nders H jort 1976

The p ic tu re on the front cover shows a wood carv in g of two cam els manu

factu red in W ajir, n o rth ern Kenya

Illu stratio n s by Gudrun Dahl

D epartm ent of Social Anthropology, U niversity of Stockholm

All rig h ts re se rv e d . T his book, o r p a rts th ereo f, m ay not be reproduced in any form without w ritten p e rm issio n of the a u th o rs.

ISBN 91 85284-02-5

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C O N T E N T S

Page

PREFACE 13

1. INTRODUCTION 15

2. GROWTH IN CATTLE HERDS 27

2. 1 Introduction 28

2.2 A survey of the lite ra tu re on cattle 28

2 .2 .1 Sex distrib u tio n 28

2 .2 .2 F e rtility and fecundity 33

2 .2 .3 Death ra te s 37

2 .2 .3 .1 Calf m o rtality 37

2 .2 .3 .2 Adult m o rta lity 38

2 .2 .4 Age d istrib u tio n 40

2.3 C onstructing the b a se -lin e model 45

2 .4 Simulating v a riatio n s in c a ttle h e rd s 49

2 .4 .1 Introduction 49

2 .4 .2 Eight model c a ttle h e rd s 51

2 .4 .2 .1 Exam ple 1. Dim inishing herd I: a sh o rt calving period

with few calv es born and m any dead 52

2 .4 .2 .2 Exam ple 2. Dim inishing herd II: low ering the calf

m o rtality 54

2 .4 .2 .3 Exam ple 3. Increasin g the herd I: introducing an

im proved calving ra te 54

2 .4 .2 .4 Exam ple 4. Increasin g the herd H: retain in g a higher

calving ra te and few er dead calves 56

2 .4 .2 .5 Exam ple 5. Increasin g the h erd III: good calving

v a ria b le s but high m o rta lity fo r calves 59

2 .4 .2 .6 E xam ples 6 and 7. Maximum in c re a se s 61

2 .4 .2 . 7 Exam ple 8. The "n o rm al" case 64

2 .4 .2 . 8 Conclusions 66

2.5 Absolute growth opportunities 71

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78 78 78 79 81 82 87 88 88 89 94 96 96 97 102

108 111

113

131 132 133

139 140 141 142 142 A survey of th e lite ra tu re on cam els

Introduction Sex ra tio s F e rtility

M ortality and age d istrib u tio n Growth m odels fo r cam els

GROWTH IN FLOCKS OF SHEEP AND GOATS A survey of the lite ra tu re on sheep and goats Sex ra tio s

F e rtility

M ortality and age s tru c tu re Age d istrib u tio n

Growth m odels fo r flocks of sheep and goats Exam ple 1. T ypical growth of sheep flocks Exam ple 2. T ypical growth of goat flocks

Exam ple 3. Flock growth fo r anim als with longer life expectancies

Conclusions

LONG TERM EFFEC TS OF DISASTER TO PASTORAL HERDS

WHAT IS A HERD ? PRIMARY AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Counting stock

Management units and p ro p erty rig h ts

HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTION FROM PASTORAL CATTLE HERDS

The h e rd s and the household

Food products fro m p a sto ra l cattle h erd s Milk

Length of lactatio n fo r p a sto ra l c a ttle

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143 148 153 156 159 161 161 163 167 169 169 171 175

183 184 184

188 190 193 194

199 200 200 202 203 206 210 210 Volume of m ilk fo r human consum ption

Seasonal fluctuations in the num ber of m ilk -g iv e rs The nu tritio n al value of m ilk

Conclusion: Com position and size of a m inim um herd Milk sto rag e and the p o ssib ility of reductions in the re q u ire d herd size

Beef

C ultural asp ects of beef production Weights of p a sto ra l cattle

P roportion of herd available fo r slau g h ter Storage of beef

The nu tritio n al value of beef Blood

T otal yield of food fro m p a sto ra l c a ttle herds HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTION FROM PASTORAL CAMEL HERDS

Milk Milk yields

The nu tritio n al value of cam el m ilk and human req u irem en ts

Meat Blood

Com position and size of a su b sisten ce cam el herd HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTION FROM PASTORAL SMALL STOCK REARING

M eat from sm all stock M eat yield fro m sheep M eat yield fro m goats

The nu tritio n al value of m eat fro m sm all stock M eat offtake and com position in sheep and goat flocks Milk

Y ields of m ilk fro m sm all stock

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9 .2 .2 Seasonal fluctuations 212 9. 2. 3 The nu tritio n al value of m ilk from sm all stock and

hum an req u irem en ts 215

9.3 Blood 218

9.4 Flock siz e s and to tal yields fo r sm all stock 218

10. HERD DIVERSIFICATION; DIFFERENCES AND

COMPLEMENTARITY OF TYPES OF STOCK 223

10.1 The com parative productivity of d ifferen t livestock types

and the use of Standard L ivestock Units 224

10.2 The com plem entarity of growth ra te s 230

10. 3 The seasonal and nutritional com plem entarity of d iffer

ent types of stock 234

10. 4 Ecology and labour; im plications fo r h erd d iv ersificatio n 237

1 0 .4 .1 Management req u irem en ts 238

1 0 .4 .1 .1 C am els and c a ttle 238

10. 4 .1 . 2 Sheep and goats 249

10.4. 2 P ra c tic a b le com binations and m anageable herd siz e s 251

11. SUMMARY 257

APPENDIX I: Some data from the sim ulated growth in h e rd s and

flocks of p a sto ra l dom estic anim als 275

FOOTNOTES 295

BIBLIOGRAPHY 325

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LIST OF TABLES

2.1 E arly age d istrib u tio n of fem ale c a ttle in th re e nom adic h e rd s in

w estern Sudan, based on the Hunting R eport 41

2 .2 Fem ale age d istrib u tio n among nomadic cattle 42

2. 3 Fem ale cattle in p ercen t of to tal h erd 43

2 .4 A tentative fem ale age d istrib u tio n in nomadic c a ttle h erd s 44 2 .5 A ssum ed age d istrib u tio n of b aseline herd 48 2 .6 The c h a ra c te ris tic s of the c a ttle h erd m odels 50 2. 7 Age s tru c tu re s in the fem ale cattle h e rd s according to Exam ples

1 - 8 68

2. 8 The num ber of y e a rs needed fo r the to tal fem ale h erd s and h e rd s of fe rtile cows to be reduced to half the size o r to double 71 2. 9 Building up a herd: age d istrib u tio n of fem ale cattle with a sh o rt

calving period 74

2.10 Building up a herd: age d istrib u tio n of fem ale cattle with a n o r

m al calving p erio d 74

4 .1 Age s tru c tu re fo r m ale and fem ale sheep and goats in w estern Sudan (both m ig ra to ry and sed en tary flocks) 96 4. 2 Age s tru c tu re s fo r the flocks of sheep in Exam ple 1 98 4. 3 Age s tru c tu re s in the flocks of goats in Exam ple 2 103

4 .4 Size of fem ale flocks in Exam ple 3 109

4. 5 Annual in c re a se in to tal num ber of fem ale anim als y e a r 8-9 and 18-19 in the flocks of sheep and goats in Exam ple 3 109

4. 6 Annual growth r a te s fo r the model flocks 111

5 .1 Age d istrib u tio n of the fem ale c a ttle h erd exposed to d is a s te r 116 5. 2 Age d istrib u tio n of the fem ale cam el h erd exposed to d is a s te r 117 7.1 E stim ated averag e portions of lactatin g m ilk g iv ers in adult fe

m ale herd, calculated fo r different lengths of lactatio n and d if

fe re n t calving ra te s 149

7. 2 T otal com position of th e herd g enerated by h erd grow th, Exam

ple 8 157

7. 3 Cold d re s s e d weights of Boran and Tanzanian sh o rth o rn c a ttle

according to L edger, 1966 165

7 .4 C a rc a ss weights of E a st A frican p a sto ra l c a ttle slaughtered in

a b a tto irs during 1965 166

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7 .5 Some edible offals, th e ir proportions of the live-w eight and n u tri

tional value 170

7. 6 P roduct estim a te s fo r a h erd of 100 c a ttle 175

8.1 N utritive value of cam el m ilk 188

8. 2 Com position of the model cam el h erd 195

8. 3 Y early yield from a cam el h erd of 100 cam els 197 9.1 T otal flock com position fo r sheep and goat flocks based on Exam

ples lb and 2b, C hapter 4 .2 207

9. 2 P o ssib le m eat off-take fro m a flock of 100 sm all stock 209

9.3 N utrients in goat’s and sheep milk 216

9 .4 T otal y e arly yield of c a lo rie s and p ro tein fro m a flock of 100

sm all stock 219

9. 5 Minimum flock size needed fo r the re fe re n c e fam ily ’s m ilk and

m eat diet 220

10.1a V arious livestock conversion ra te s 225

10.1b Conversion r a te s used by the International Cooperation A dm inis

tra tio n of Somaliland 226

10. 2 C om parison betw een "livestock unit" m e a su re s converted to c a t

tle equivalents 228

10. 3 Production estim a te s fro m C hapters 7-9 converted to c a ttle

equivalents 229

10.4 Typical annual growth ra te s 231

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APPENDIX

1 .1 The developm ent of a fem ale cattle h erd over a p erio d of 30

y e a rs according to Example 1 276

1.2 The developm ent of a fem ale cattle herd over a p erio d of 30

y e a rs according to Exam ple 2 277

1.3 The developm ent of a fem ale c a ttle h erd ov er a p erio d of 30

1.6 The developm ent of a fem ale cattle herd ov er a p erio d of 30

1.7 The developm ent of a fem ale c a ttle h erd ov er a p erio d of 30

1.8 The developm ent of a fem ale c a ttle herd ov er a p erio d of 30

1.9 The developm ent of a fem ale cam el herd over a p erio d of 40

I. 10 The developm ent of a fem ale cam el h erd ov er a period of 40

1 .11 The developm ent of a fem ale flock of sheep over a p erio d of 15

y e a rs according to Exam ple l a 286

1.12 The developm ent of a fem ale flock of sheep over a p erio d of 15

y e a rs according to Exam ple lb 287

1.13 The developm ent of a fem ale flock of goats over a p erio d of 15

y e a rs according to Exam ple 2a 288

y e a rs according to Exam ple 2b 289

y e a rs according to Exam ple 2c 290

1.16 L o n g -term effects (two generations) on a herd of fem ale c a ttle

fro m a tw o -y ear drought 291

I. 17 L ong-term effects (two generations) on a herd of fem ale cattle

fro m a th r e e - y e a r drought 292

1.18 L o n g -term effects (two generations) on a herd of fem ale cam els

fro m a tw o -y ear drought 293

1.19 L o n g -term effects (two generations) on a herd of fem ale cam els

fro m a th r e e - y e a r drought 294

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LIST OF FIGURES

2.1 Sex d istrib u tio n according to h erd size in Samburu h e rd s, Kenya 30 2.2 The re la tiv e probability of an anim al surviving yeat another

y e a r

47 2.3 The num ber of surviving anim als each y e a r out of 136 calves

b o m 47

2 .4 The d istrib u tio n of re la tiv e calving ra te s w ithin the age in terv als

used in the eight exam ples 51

2 .5 The developm ent of the m odel h erd according to Exam ple 1.

N um bers of fem ale calv es, h e ife rs and fe rtile cows 53 2 .6 T otal num ber of fem ale c a ttle and annual grow th ra te s in Exam

p le 1 53

2.7 The developm ent of the model herd according to Exam ple 2.

N um bers of fem ale calv es, h e ife rs and fe rtile cows 55 2 .8 T otal num ber of fem ale c a ttle and annual grow th ra te s in Exam

p le 2 55

2 .9 The developm ent of the model herd according to Exam ple 3.

N um bers of fem ale c alv es, h e ife rs and fe rtile cows 57 2.10 Total num ber of fem ale cattle and annual growth ra te s in Exam

p le 3 57

2.11 The development of the model h erd according to Exam ple 4.

N um bers of fem ale c alv es, h e ife rs and fe rtile cows 58 2.12 Total num ber of fem ale cattle and annual grow th ra te s in Exam

p le 4 58

2.13 The developm ent of the m odel h erd according to Exam ple 5.

N um bers of fem ale calv es, h e ife rs and fe rtile cows 60 2.14 T otal num ber of fem ale c a ttle and annual grow th ra te s in Exam

p le 5 60

2.15 The developm ent of the m odel h erd according to Exam ple 6.

ple 6 62

2.17 The developm ent of the m odel herd according to Exam ple 7.

p le 7 63

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N um bers of fem ale calv es, h e ife rs and fe rtile cows 65 2 .20 T otal num ber of fem ale c a ttle and annual growth ra te s in Exam

ple 8 65

2.21 The annual changes in the to tal fem ale h e rd s of ca ttle , Exam

p les 1-8 67

2.22 Building up a h erd : num ber of fem ale cattle 76

3.1 Survival p ro b ab ilities fo r fem ale cam els according to Exam ples

1 and 2 83

3.2 The developm ent of the model herd according to Example 1.

Num bers of fem ale calv es, h e ife rs and fe rtile cam els 85 3 .3 T otal num ber of fem ale cam els and annual growth r a te s in

Example 1 85

N um bers of fem ale calv es, h e ife rs and fe rtile cam els 86 3.5 Total n u m er of fem ale cam els and annual growth ra te s in Exam

ple 2 86

4.1 The growth in a flock of sheep aged 0-6, 6-12 and over 12

m onths, Exam ple l a 99

4 .2 The num ber of fem ale sheep and six-m onth growth ra te s , Exam

ple l a 99

4 .3 The growth in a flock of sheep aged 0-6, 6-18 and ov er 18

m onths, Example lb 100

4 .4 The num ber of fem ale sheep and six-m onth growth ra te s , Exam

ple lb 100

4 .5 The to tal num ber of fem ale sheep in Exam ples l a and lb 101 4 .6 The growth in a flock of goats aged 0-6, 6-12 and over 12

m onths, Exam ple 2a 104

4 .7 The num ber of fem ale goats and six-m onth growth ra te s , Exam

ple 2 a 104

4 .8 The growth in a flock of goats aged 0-6, 6-18 and over 18

m onths, Exam ple lb 105

4 .9 The num ber of fem ale goats and six-m onth growth r a te s , Exam

ple 2b 105

4 .1 0 The d istribu tio n of survival p ro b ab ilities fo r the flock of sheep

and goats in Exam ple 2c 106

4.11 The growth in a flock of goats aged 0-6, 6-12 and over 12

m onths, Exam ple 2c 107

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4.12 The num ber of fem ale goats and six-m onth grow th ra te s , Exam

p le 2 c 107

4.13 N um ber of fe rtile sh e -an im als in the flocks of sheep and goats;

E xam ples 3a and 3b 110

5.1 The tim e span of a sim ulated drought and its b a sic re la tio n to

the sim ulation model used 118

5.2 The effects of a tw o -y ear drought on the num ber of calv es, heif

e r s and fe rtile cows in a h erd of c a ttle 120 5 .3 The effects of a tw o -y ear drought on the to tal num ber of fem ale

anim als in a h erd of c a ttle and annual growth ra te s 120 5.4 The effects of a th r e e - y e a r drought on the num ber of calves,

h e ife rs and fe rtile cows in a herd of cattle 121 5.5 The effect of a th r e e - y e a r drought on the to tal num ber of fem ale

anim als in a herd of c a ttle and annual growth ra te s 121 5 .6 Total num ber of fem ales rem aining in a herd of c a ttle a fte r a

tw o -y e a r and a th r e e - y e a r drought 122

5 .7 The effects of a tw o -y ear drought on the num ber of calves, heif

e r s and fe rtile dam s in a herd of cam els 123 5. 8 The effects of a tw o -y ear drought on the to tal num ber of fem ale

anim als in a herd of cam els and annual growth ra te s 123 5 .9 The effects of a th r e e - y e a r drought on the num ber of calves,

h e ife rs and fe rtile dam s in a h erd of cam els 124 5 .10 The effects of a th r e e - y e a r drought on the to tal num ber of

fem ale anim als in a h e rd of cam els and annual growth ra te s 124 5.11 Total num ber of fem ales rem aining in a herd of cam els after a

tw o -y e a r and a th r e e - y e a r drought 125

7.1 Daily individual yields fo r human consum ption fro m lactating

cows in two p a sto ra l econom ies 147

7.2 P ro p o rtio n of m ilk -g iv e rs in the to tal adult fem ale h erd when

th e re is only one m ain rain y season 150

7.3 P ro p o rtio n of m ilk -g iv e rs in the to ta l adult fem ale h e rd when

th e re a re two rainy seasons 152

9.1 Hypothetical p ercen tag e of m ilk-giving does among a to tal adult

fem ale h erd in a w estern Sudan flock 214

10. 1 The percentage of lactating cattle, sheep and goats in an a re a

with one m a jo r ra in y season 235

10. 2 E ffective grazing a r e a fo r c a ttle between a settlem en t and a wa

t e r point 240

10. 3 Schem atized d escrip tio n of cam el grazin g zone 243

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PREFACE

Many colleagues have been helpful in d iscu ssio n s about th e m anuscript of th is book. We would esp ecially like to acknowledge the help from P ro fe s s o r K a rl-E ric Knutsson. We would also like to m ention the gen ero sity of Dr Paul Spencer who provided som e unpublished stock census m a te ria l.

Ulf T hellander and Inger B ryngelsson helped with the com puter sim ulation.

M artin P e rc iv a ll re a d the m an u scrip t c o rre c tin g language e r r o r s also making valuable com m ents. C h ristin a R onström typed the final m an u scrip t.

E arly v ersio n s w ere typed by K erstin L agergren.

The publication of the final m anuscript has been aided by the Swedish R e

se a rc h Council fo r the Hum anities and Swedish Agency fo r R esearch Co

operation with Developing C ountries (SAREC).

Stockholm May 1976

Gudrun Dahl and A nders H jort

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1 . I N T R O D U C T I O N

The anthropological lite ra tu re on p a sto ra l so cieties is fa irly lim ited though it has often been of high quality and has m ade a g re a t im pact on its develop

m ent within the discipline. A nthropologists have taken g re a t pains to ex

plain the ratio n ale behind the social organization and s tru c tu re of p a sto ra l so c ie tie s as well as the re q u irem en ts fo r ra isin g dom estic anim als in te rm s of ecology, labour etc. Dyson-Hudson1 has su m m arized som e m ajo r issu e s brought forw ard by identifying four m ajo r se ts of fa c to rs inhibiting social and econom ical change among the Karam ojong in Uganda. These a re the value fa c to rs (social values e x p ressed in te rm s of cattle), the ecologi

cal fa c to rs (the environm ental dependence), the institutional fa c to rs (social and p olitical organization) and the h isto ric a l fa c to rs (basically the im pact of an ex tern al adm inistration).

Unfortunately, one of th ese se ts of fa c to rs , the value sy stem , has receiv ed m o re attention outside anthropological c irc le s than the r e s t. E v er since H ersk o v its’ definition of the "E a st A frican c a ttle com plex" in 1926 much in te re s t has been focused on the social value of c a ttle, often without r e lating it to the consum ption req u irem en ts of the household. Such a p re o c cupation with the cosm ological asp e c t of c a ttle easily leads to a m isu n d er

standing of the ratio n ale fo r an individual household keeping many cattle (i e to provide sufficient food, to provide se c u rity against droughts and d ise a se ); the focus is then r a th e r on the p re stig e asp e c ts of having la rg e h e rd s , beautiful c a ttle etc. The obvious p roblem s of o v e r-g ra z in g in many a re a s a re then explained in te rm s of the p a s to ra l value sy stem r a th e r than the need fo r each individual household to keep la rg e h e rd s of dom estic an i

m als.

It can safely be said th at a myth has developed outside anthropological c i r c le s which c e n te rs around th is value sy stem but does not take account of the b asic precondition c le a rly stated by so cial anthropologists th at th e so

cial value of cattle is supplem entary to the productive asp ects of the h e rd s;

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m ilk, m eat and blood. The myth even today widely believed in sta te s that p a s to ra lis ts se e a s th e ir u ltim ate goal to keep la rg e h e rd s p e r s e in o rd e r to achieve high social statu s in th e ir society. This is not tru e . C e r

tainly, the social value of c a ttle o r cam els is im portant in m any w ays, fo r exam ple in defining social re la tio n s and (also econom ic) obligations, in achieving p re stig e , etc. The tendency th at p a s to ra lis ts t r y to keep a s la rg e h erd s as possible is not, however, solely a re su lt from the value system . O ther fa c to rs th at a re d iscu ssed in th is book a re m o re im portant. F o r ex

am ple the u n reliab le ra in fa ll leads to g re a t fluctuations in the availability of w ater and grazing, both seasonally and over longer p erio d s. F o r a p a s to ra l household it is n e c e ssa ry to keep a m arg in ag ain st the ris k of having p a rt of the h e rd s killed from a drought o r an epidem y. The num ber of ani

m als needed to m aintain a longtim e continuous production is also much la r g e r than the num ber of anim als im m ediately utilized at a c e rta in period.

It could also be argued th a t the so cial value system p rim a rily re fle c ts th ese econom ic/ecological asp ects.

T his book intends to illu s tra te the econom ic asp ects of having h e rd s. The keeping of la rg e h e rd s is clo sely linked to the need to p ro te c t the household ag ain st the effects of drought o r epidem ics a s well as to food req u irem en ts during a p a rtic u la r d ry period. A sufficient num ber of anim als m ust s u r vive a d is a s te r in o rd e r th at the household can ex ist while the h erd is being reb u ilt. An understanding of th is c e n tra l fea tu re of trad itio n al nomadic liv e stock econom ies is e sse n tia l both fo r the com prehension of p a sto ra l land use and fo r the planning of alte rn a tiv e land u s e s , such as ranching. F o r a m o re detailed d iscu ssio n of th is issu e , see H jort 1976.

The rh e to ric s of ex p ert and a d m in istrativ e statem en ts on nom adic p a sto - ra lis m is indeed an in te re stin g topic in itse lf. The attitudes of national ad

m in istra tio n s tow ards p a s to ra lis ts a re , with few exceptions, negative:

nom ads a re g en erally re g ard ed as "not yet se ttle d ". This stran g e evolu

tio n ist point of view can be com pletely irra tio n a l a s m any of the a re a s in

habited by p a s to ra lis ts a re only suitable fo r extensive grazing. The a tti

tude can also be seen as reflectin g the p o litical difficulty in dealing with

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people who a re forced by ecology to d is re g a rd p o litical b oundaries, and of

ten em phasize th e ir p o litical independence fro m the c e n tra l governm ent. In E ast A frica, many of the tra d itio n al p a sto ra l groups have had v e ry decen

tra liz e d s tru c tu re s of authority, re stin g on the independence of each local c lu s te r of households. They also re je c t the thought that land can ultim ately belong to a lim ited group of people. W hether h ie ra rc h ic a lly organized un

d e r a c e n tra l le a d e r, o r situationally joining to g eth er according to the seg m en tary s tru c tu re s of kinship so lid arity , nomadic groups throughout the world have often proved well organized fro m a m ilita ry point of view. They have also often had th e advantage of se c u re re c o u rs e to a re a s th at o ther people re g a rd as hostile o r uninhabitable.

To the difficulty of ad m in istratio n is added another facto r contributing to an anti-nom adic p red isp o sitio n in many ad m in istratio n s of newly indepen

dent s ta te s . The changes brought about by colonization and involvem ent in a w orld-w ide p o litical and economic sy stem has tu rn ed the tra d itio n a l pow

e r s tru c tu re s upside down. Y esterd ay ’s tra d itio n a l s e rfs o r a g ricu ltu ral clien ts of the nom ads a re the o v erlo rd s of today.

W hatever the re a so n s fo r an anti-nom ad ideology, it is c e rta in ly backed up by a la rg e num ber of "ex p ert" statem en ts on the p a sto ra l economy. Al

though th e se a re not always based on re lia b le re s e a rc h , they tend to sup

p o rt each o ther. R eferences a re , fo r exam ple, often m ade to the "unusu

ally high and unpredictable ra te s of in c re a se and d e c re a se " in h erd s of c a ttle o r other types of dom estic anim als. Inform ation on th e com position of h e rd s, fe rtility and m o rta lity ra te s , actual growth ra te s etc occur often unsy stem atically in the lite ra tu re . This has led m any au th o rs to b ase th e ir argum ents on assum ptions r a th e r than p rim a ry data, in sp ite of the fact th at th e question of the dem ographic c h a ra c te ris tic s of p a sto ra l h e rd s is c e n tra l to an understanding both of p a sto ra l s tra te g ie s and re d istrib u tio n sy stem s; confusion has led to difficulties fo r both a d m in istra to rs and the nom ads who su ffer fro m the m e a su re s taken th a t a re c o n tra ry to th e ir way of life.

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19

One exam ple showing how com parisons between different sy stem s of liv e

stock production a re also often b iased can be given fro m A sm arom , quoting inform ation fro m F ra n se n e t a l . 2 :

"C om pared with m odern sy stem s of anim al production . . . / t h e p asto r a l ways of exploiting s e m i-a rid regions / . . . a re highly w asteful s y s te m s of re s o u rc e exploitations . . . T h ere a re v a st d ifferen ces in the

efficiency of beef production between advanced and p rim itiv e / (s ic !) / econom ies. It takes 11 head of cattle to produce one m etric ton of beef in the United States com pared with 10 to 20 head fo r A u stralia and A r

gentina. By c o n tra st, it tak es 55-200 to produce the sam e amount of beef in A frica. The differen ces a re ju s t as d ram atic in te rm s of d airy production. Exotic b re e d s can produce an average of 5000 litr e s of m ilk p e r y e a r (e g F rizian ) w hereas the average fo r A frican cattle is le s s than 500 litr e s . "

The calculations in C hapter 7 show th at a h erd of slightly m ore than 100 cattle is likely to give such a m e tric ton yield of m eat which is , if not e a s i

ly m ark etab le to w e ste rn c u sto m e rs, at le a s t p e rfe c tly fit fo r consum ption.

But the com parison quoted does not say th at th is h erd then also produces lots of o ther things like m ilk and blood, n o r does it m ention how m any p e r sons gain th e ir livelihood fro m the herd . And la s t, but not le a st, it is fo r

m ulated so th at the re a d e r gets the im p re ssio n th at c a ttle kept under "m od

e m m anagem ents" in s e m i-a rid a re a s would give as m uch m ilk a s th e F r i zian. Such com parisons a re on th e whole to tally irre le v a n t, as they do not en

ta il a re a lis tic ap p ra isa l of what is p o ssib le in the s e m i-a rid zone; "exotic"

stock dem and considerably m ore grazing and a re le s s re s is te n t to d ise a se . The com parisons instead support alread y p rev alen t p reju d ices by u n d e r- com m unicating c e rta in fa c ts.

By th is d iscu ssio n we do not want to prejudge what the outcom e of a fa ir com parison would re a lly b e, but ra th e r em phasize th a t th e re is, as fa r as we know, not yet any data sufficiently d etailed to ju stify such a com parison.

As long as such data a re lacking, sc e p tic ism is the b e st attitude and also the m o rally n e c e s s a ry one, because m any thousands of nom ads a r e the ob

je c ts (and victim s) of re fo rm s and p ro g ram m es based on unfounded th e o rie s ra th e r than first-h a n d knowledge.

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An excellent review of the tre n d s th at can be d iscern ed in th e h isto ry of the science of understanding p a sto ra l so c ie tie s has been given by N Dyson- Hudson (1972) in h is introduction to "P e rsp e c tiv e s on N om adism ". This e ssay concludes with a re q u e st fo r a sy stem atic study of v a riatio n s in p a s to ra l so c ie tie s, based on an identification of "relev an t elem en ts" th at can be used as analytical concepts "com bined and recom bined into v ario u s con- ste lla tio n s". 3 The re le v a n t points fo r the understanding of p a sto ra l so cie

tie s , a re connected with the phenomenon of coincident populations of ani

m als and people. The understanding of the c h a ra c te ris tic s of each of these populations is e sse n tia l if one is to co n stru ct a "herding m odel" of p a sto ra l so c ie tie s. 4 Dyson-Hudson points out th at:

"Obviously, one can h ard ly hope fo r an effective an aly sis of liv esto ck - o rien ted groups without som e sophisticated g rasp of th e ir c e n tra l con

ce rn , viz how to achieve sufficient productivity fro m the m anipula

tion of available livestock within the available environm ent so th at people m ay be kept alive fro m one y e a r to the next. Yet it is a topic m ost inadequately d ealt with by anthropologists . . . An extensive lite r a tu r e ex ists on cattle in the tro p ic s, but e ith e r does not re la te d ire c t

ly to the range conditions m ost relevant to the anthropologist’s in te r

e s ts ; o r w here it is applicable, seem s frequently to be ignored by him , o r to be unknown to him . Such inform ation a s we have about cam el c h a ra c te ris tic s , m o reo v er, com es g e n erally fro m non-anthropologists . . . Yet c le a rly , until we have such data much of ou r supposedly ecolo

gical and m anagem ent d iscu ssio n s of p a sto ra l groups m ust be quite in genious. " 5

It should be em phasized th at Neville and Rada Dyson-Hudson them selves have made a substantial contribution tow ards such an understanding and th at th e ir work in th is d irectio n has a good chance of becom ing a c la ssic a l w atersh ed in the developm ent of the understanding of p a sto ra l so c ieties.

The p re s e n t book is an attem pt to com pile the s c a tte re d knowledge on do

m estic h erd anim als th at is available today. It is not an effort to co n stru ct a g en eral model of p a sto ra l so c ie tie s o r c u ltu re s, but r e s tr ic ts its e lf to such asp e c ts of the anim al population th at we feel can provide the b a sis fo r a so cial anthropological understanding. As it p re se n ts an over-v iew ethnic v a ria tio n s a re not always accounted fo r fo r the sake of making g en e ra liz a tions on som e c e n tra l points.

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21

The intention of th is book is accordingly to co n stru ct a larg e ly m a te ria lis tic fram ew ork and to d isre g a rd ideological and social asp ects of a nom adic so ciety so long as they a re not re la te d to h erd m anagem ent. T his is done in o rd e r to s tr e s s such asp ects of p a s to ra lis m th at we think a re e sse n tia l and th a t have been neglected m ost and is not a g en eral m ethodological r e comm endation.

One of our re a so n s fo r focussing on th ese asp ects is th a t m any of the p re v a len t m isconceptions concerning p a sto ra l c u ltu re s and so cieties a re based on com prehension d eficiencies about th e se m a te ria l conditions, o r on d e lib e ra te o r unconscious m isre p re se n ta tio n s of them in o rd e r to ratio n alize the ideologies and stra te g ie s underlying th e ad m in istratio n of nom ads. We hope th a t, in addition, som e of our conclusions will be of d ire c t p ra c tic a l relev an ce fo r p lan n ers w orking with p a sto ra l so c ie tie s g en erally o r with the effects of droughts and epidem ics.

The f i r s t four ch a p te rs su m m arize the s c a rc e and s c a tte re d em p irical fa c ts given in the existing lite ra tu re , d isc u sse s them and sketches a g en er

al an aly sis by suggesting hypothetical h erd evolution m odels, based on th e se fa c ts. The purpose of th e se m odels is to tr y to delineate m axim um and m inim um lim its fo r the p a s to ra l economy, and also to illu s tra te how sm all differences in m o rta lity o r fe rtility ra te s m ay change the p ictu re com pletely, thus s tre s s in g the im portance of p re c ise data.

Although o ther types of anim als m ay be used as "stap le stock” in som e p a s to ra l so cieties (viz re in d e e rs , yaks, lam as and h o rse s) we have con

cen trated on those species th at commonly occur as p a sto ra l stock in A frica and the Middle E ast, i e ca ttle , c a m els, sheep and goats.

The focus of our in te re s t is the p a sto ra l household and its h erd . The d e

finition of "household" is the m inim um independent so cietal unit which con

ta in s sufficient p ersonnel and an in tern al division of lab o u r th at enables it to c a r r y out the m ost im portant ta s k s of looking a fte r a h e rd , that is of

sufficient size to supply the household m em b ers with th e ir req u irem en ts

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fo r m eat (occasionally blood) and m ilk. T hus, the household unit th at we re f e r to in th is book m ay be re g a rd e d a s the m inim um m anagem ent unit.

Our m odels a re concerned with to tal h e rd s , and not with individual anim als.

When analysing herd growth we co n cen trate on fem ale anim als. In o rd e r to d e sc rib e a typical ca se of herd growth and h erd stru c tu re , we a sc rib e a p a rtic u la r m o rta lity and calv in g -ra te to each fem ale a g e -c la s s and follow the developm ent re su ltin g fro m th ese r a te s over a tim e -sp a n of a couple of g enerations.

A fter th is d escrip tio n of the evolution of the fem ale h e rd , a c e rta in num ber of m ales a re asc rib e d to th e h erd , in p ro p o rtio n s based on the typical ages at which bullocks a re slaughtered, and the re q u ire d ra tio of s tu d s /fe rtile cows. When the re q u irem en t of a m inim um num ber of m ales is fulfilled, the num ber of m ale stock does not d ire c tly influence the growth r a te . If th e re a re too many heads of stock in an a re a in te rm s of its grazing r e so u rc e s, a la rg e p roportion of m ales will of co u rse be d e trim en tal to the g en eral w ell-being of the h e rd and m ore m ales will r e s u lt in slow er growth.

The re la tio n s betw een c a rry in g capacity and h erd com position a re im p o r

tan t, but outside th e scope of th is study. F u rth e rm o re , the a g e -stru c tu re of the fem ale h erd is m ainly th e product of biological re s tric tio n s since m ilk production is the m ain in te re s t of the household and the common s t r a t egy is to keep a m axim um num ber of cows. The m ale a g e -stru c tu re on the o th er hand, is m o re subject to c u ltu ral differen ces. T his is another re aso n fo r focussing on fem ales in the m odels. F a c to rs that influence the slau g h ter of m ales a re the ritu a l and sym bolic values a sc rib e d to b u lls and oxen, the m eat consum ption p a ttern , the d eg ree of involvem ent in a cash economy, etc. When m eat production is the m ain in te re s t, and not h erd reproduction and asso ciated m ilk production, m ale anim als a re m ore relev an t then in the p re s e n t context, but s till pose p roblem s of g eneralization.

T h ere a re , of c o u rse , g re a t p roblem s involved in p red ictin g the evolution of a p a rtic u la r herd . Our calculations concern th e o re tic a l p o ssib ilitie s, and can in m ost c a s e s only apply to la rg e populations. In re a lity , as every

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anthropologist knows, p a s to ra l so c ie tie s a re c h a ra c te riz e d by the constant red istrib u tio n of w ealth in te rm s of an im als, and no individual’s h erd grow s o r declines independently of o ther h e rd s. Gifts a re given o r r e ceived, anim als a re borrow ed o r loaned. We touch b rie fly on th ese a s p ects in C hapter 6 by, fo r exam ple, pointing out the n e c e ssity of r e d is tr i

bution m echanism s in connection with a d ra s tic reduction in the num ber of c a ttle in a h erd , illu stra te d w ith the sim ulation of a d is a s te r and its effects in C hapter 5.

We believe th a t g en eralized grow th m odels like the ones p re sen ted h e re a re of value in th at they help to iso late c ru c ia l fa c to rs in the se a rc h fo r b e tte r explanatory an a ly sise s. One exam ple of such an an aly sis is the one m ade by Paul Spencer in his book on the Sam buru and the R endille. The d ifferen tial growth ra te s of cam els and cattle is used as an explanatory fa c to r in the analysis of cu ltu ral differen ces and sym biosis betw een the two groups. Within c a ttle populations a wide range of differen t growth ra te s a re p o ssib le, implying different ram ificatio n s of inheritance ru le s , bridew ealth tra n sa c tio n s etc.

Not only a re the dem ographic c h a ra c te ris tic s of a h erd little known, the conditions of p a s to ra l production, its opportunities and goals a re also f r e quently m isunderstood. It is safe to say th at w hereas m any w e ste rn "ex p e rts " take it fo r granted th at m eat production is the p rim a ry goal of liv e

stock re a rin g , the p rim a ry goal fo r nom ads is to produce m ilk fo r 0

subsistence u se. As W idstrand points out "A b a sic ten et is th a t the p a sto ra l livestock operation is not a c a p i t a l i s t i c u n d e r t a k i n g aim ed at producing a m ark etab le su rp lu s. Its aim s a re r a th e r to p ro vide a good, re g u la r supply of food fo r the fam ily, to enable them to survive physically and socially and to m axim ize the chances of th e ir surviving prolonged droughts and o th er ris k s . " It is im portant to r e m em b er th at m any of the official publications on p a s to ra l nom adism r e s t upon a foundation of su p e rficial c a p ita list ideology. L ittle in te re s t is given to questions such as the opportunities of m aking a su b sisten ce economy

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m o re efficient - and th e re fo re little inform ation is collected on the p roduc

tiv ity of p a sto ra l c a ttle and sheep, and v irtu ally none e x ists on cam els and m eat goats. C hapters 7, 8 and 9 attem pt to com pile the sc a rc e data th at is available in the lite ra tu re . Like the e a r lie r ch a p te rs on herd growth it is our am bition to give estim a te s ra th e r than final an sw ers: to locate relevant field s of data and to pose questions.

C om parisons betw een tra d itio n a l p a sto ra l ways of keeping h e rd s and "mod

e m sy stem s of anim al production" a re com m only m ade in te rm s of effi

ciency m easured as the m axim um output of products fo r the m ark et with the m inim um lab o u r input. R arely do they take into account the positive asp ects of lab o u r-in ten siv e undertakings giving both sub sisten ce and m ean

ingful occupation to a num ber of people com paring the num ber of job op

p o rtu n ities u nder the two d ifferen t sy ste m s. When com parisons a re made betw een the output of fo r exam ple p ro tein under the two sy ste m s, one issu e th a t is seldom touched upon is how many people can be sustained fro m an in c re a se d p ro tein production within the m odernized se c to r. Given the p r e s ent food d istrib u tio n sy stem of th e w orld, how would the additional p ro tein re la te to the actual n u tritio n al needs of o rd in ary people, w hether p a sto ra l - is ts o r fa rm e rs ? The r is k is obvious th at in c re a se d p ro tein production would only benefit the w estern w orld and th at the nom ads, being easy victim s of the actions of tran sn atio n al organizations of different ty p es, would benefit le s s fro m in c re a se d p ro tein production in the w orld than the overfed popula

tions of the in d u strialized co u n tries.

A d iscu ssio n of the m e rits of th e se two m odes of econom ic thought will not be fu rth e r elaborated in th is study, but the a u th o rs’ acceptance of th e ad

vantages of re la tiv e ly lab o u r-in ten siv e sy stem s of production should be acknowledged and accepted as a fram e of re fe re n c e fo r the following chap

t e r s .

While C hapters 7-9 d isc u ss the m inim um h e rd siz e s n e c e s s a ry fro m a sub

siste n c e point of view, w here only one b reed is concerned, C hapter 10 tr ie s to identify the advantages of a com bination of different sp e c ie s, and the ac

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25

tu al p o ssib ilitie s of combining them . D ifferent asp ects of h erd m anagem ent p re se n t re s tric tio n s on the com binations th a t a re p ra c tic a b le o r econom ic

ally viable, on the m axim um siz e s of h e rd s and flocks of dom estic anim als and also on the num ber of h e rd s and flocks belonging to each household.

The d iscu ssio n of m axim um h e rd siz e s is kept sh o rt, m ainly concentrating on m anagem ent asp ects.

The p re s e n t book does not deal w ith the c a rry in g cap acities of different grazin g zones. T his is not due to any lack of understanding of the im p o r

tance of such co n sid eratio n s, but ra th e r to a lack of sp ace and to the fact th a t we feel th at th is is d ealt with thoroughly in other lite ra tu re . 7 A h o lis

tic view of nom adism should com bine the d iscu ssio n h e re w ith an in te re st in the ecological potential of the p a sto ra l a re a s .

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Sm xW J * .

2

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2. G R O W T H O F C A T T L E H E R D S

2. 1 INTRODUCTION

T his ch ap ter is organized in th re e p a r ts . The f ir s t p a rt contains a su m m a ry of the m ost relev an t points made in the lite ra tu re on c attle. This is followed by the construction of a b a se -lin e h erd m odel, in o rd e r to c re a te an age d istrib u tio n m odel of fem ales to be taken as the sta rtin g point fo r fu rth e r discu ssio n . Finally, changes a re sim ulated in the designed b a s e line herd by varying its p a ra m e te rs . One of the objects of th is is to show typical and ex trem e changes in c a ttle h e rd s and to specify c ritic a l develop

m ents under different conditions, which can be ex p ressed in te rm s of v a r i

ations in fecundity, m o rtality , population siz e and age distrib u tio n . Some of the re s u lts a re used in C hapter 5 to answ er questions such as:

"What dem ands do people have on th e ir anim als in te rm s of different a s p ects of p ro d u ctio n ?", "What would be the p o ssib le off-take fo r s a le ? " ,

"What opportunities a re th e re fo r h erd d iv e rsific a tio n ? " , "What qu alita

tive asp ects of h erd m anagem ent a re d ecisiv e, such a s th e u se of dom es

tic anim als as an in su ran ce s y s te m ? " , etc.

2 .2 A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE ON CATTLE

This section d eals to a la rg e extent w ith E a ste rn A frica a s m ost c a ttle nom ads a re found t h e r e . 1

2 . 2 . 1 S e x d i s t r i b u t i o n

The ra tio between newborn m ales and fem ales is approxim ately one to one.

The Hunting R eport fo r exam ple, calcu lates a ra tio of 1:1. 042 b ased on a 2 c a ttle survey in w e ste rn Sudan including 194 newborn calv es. Among m a

tu re anim als the ra tio is g e n erally v e ry much b iased in favour of fem ales.

T his ra tio has been of considerable in te re s t to a d m in istra to rs and v e te r i

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29

n ary ex p erts who a re in te re ste d in the p o ssib le off-take fro m nomadic h e rd s to the beef m ark et.

A sm all num ber of v irile bulls is needed to en su re m axim um calving. W il- liam son and Payne state th at one m atu re bull usually can s e rv e around3 50-60 c a ttle. Among the Nuer, E v a n s-P ritc h a rd e stim a te s the ratio to be one bull p e r 30 to 40 cows. 4 In southern Som alia 2 to 5 bulls a re kept for each 100 fem ale c attle. 5 The p roportion of bulls to se rv ic e a b le fem ale stock in eleven home settlem ent h erd s and eleven grazin g cam p h e rd s of K aram ojong ranges fro m 1:8 to 1:60 according to Dyson-Hudson6. The r a tio in cattle h erd s of the Pokot in Kenya is as low as around 1:5 according to Schneider . It can be expected th at nom adic p a s to ra lis ts keep m ore 7 b ulls than the n e c e s s a ry m inim um as a se c u rity against lo s s e s . The r e m aining bull calv es, when not im m ediately slaughtered, as p reviously

8 ^'

am ongst the Hima , a re c a stra te d and a re e ith e r fattened fo r sale o r kept as a living sto re of m eat fo r u se e ith e r in ritu a l cerem o n ies o r in the d ry seaso n when m ilk production is low. They can also provide blood fo r the nom adic diet during th is season. Most p a s to ra lis ts tr y to keep as many fe

m ale c a ttle as p o ssib le, in o rd e r to safeguard m ilk production and to se c u re reproduction of the herd . The num ber of m ale stock is m o re v a ria b le . F o r each ecological situation and each ethnic group th e re m ay be a useful a v e r

age, but th e re is no point in try in g to e stim a te an o v erall average ra te . Even if bulls move fre e ly among the cows som e selectio n is made when de

ciding what calves shall be bulls. This choice is governed by d ifferen t con

sid e ra tio n s. The Toposa and M urle north of Lake Rudolf em phasize the size and fatn ess of the calf as w ell as the dam ’s re c o rd of good health, if it has produced a su ccessio n of d is e a s e -re s is ta n t calves and if its m ilking capability is high . N ilotes in Sudan (Dinka and Nuer) u se the dam ’s m ilking 9 capability as th e p rim e c rite rio n when selectin g bulls fo r b reed in g 40. H ere a slight negative selectio n o ccu rs because the b e st m ale calves a re chosen as "song b u lls" intended fo r ritu a l p u rp o ses, and they a re c a stra te d at the age of one to th ro e y e a rs . B aker re p o rts that the K aram ojong of Uganda k ill all young bull calves u n less they a re of ex trem ely good quality44.

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F u rth e rm o re th e re is a c o rre la tio n betw een a household’s herd size and its sex distrib u tio n ; having a la rg e herd im plies le s s need to slau g h ter fo r household consum ption during hard tim e s, causing d e c re a sed off-take fo r consum ption p u rp o ses both in absolute and re la tiv e fig u res; see 5. 2. 2. 3.

P Spencer has re co rd ed the d istrib u tio n of m ale to fem ale stock in two grazing schem es in Sam buru, Kenya, during 1958 and 1959. The d istrib u tion is illu stra te d in F igure 2 .1 . T his tendency will be d isre g a rd e d h ere as we a re dealing m ainly with average h e rd siz e s.

FIGURE 2 .1 : Sex d istrib u tio n according to h erd size in Samburu h e rd s, Kenya (based on data from P Spencer; p erso n al com m unica

tion)

i i % of to tal h erd 100

Oxen Bulls

F em ales

h erd size 125-150 175-200 225-250 25-50 75-100

24 37 49 45 24 12 12 3 3 2

No of h erd s

The c h a ra c te ris tic tr a its of th e fem ale p a rt of the herd a re to a higher ex

te n t re s tric te d by p u rely n a tu ra l p ro c e s s e s ; while so cial, cu ltu ra l, and econom ic fa c to rs influence the age com position of bulls and oxen in the