ZIMBABWE HERD BOOK-YEAR OF THE NKONE 2023
NEWSLETTER FROM HHN and MH NKONE STUDS
No 10 (27th November 2022)
By SEKURU
NOTE: Thank you to the readers of these newsletters and those who have discussed or debated some of the issues. This is healthy and what I originally intended. I am by no means an expert but just an ordinary farmer who loves his cattle and I have my own ideas and way of doing things, which will not necessarily be the same as those of others and are not necessarily any better.
Please forgive me if my topics are a bit repetitive at times, some are very important in my mind.
Every one of us has something to learn from others. If these newsletters achieve that, I am happy.
ADAPTATION, MONTHLY WEIGHING AND IDENTIFICATION.
The late Dr Hans van de Pypekamp, renowned Veterinarian and top Nguni breeder from South Africa stated that: “The functional efficiency of an animal may be defined as the successful adaptation to a specific environment in which the animal is achieving a high reproductive rate. A high reproductive rate is the surest indication that a bull has adapted to its environment”.
Of course, he was describing the typical Nguni and our Nkone have shown that they too, fit this description perfectly. Within a month of acquiring and moving our original herd to a very different environment and adjusting from living for many generations in Matabeleland to the hyparrhenia grassland of the Highveld, we realised just how adaptable they are. They just put their heads down, ate what was available and lost no condition. Our imported stud bulls, from Dr van de Pypekamp’s son, Gerrit, came from an even more contrasting environment, also never missed a beat on being translocated. They thrived. Our subsequent excellent calving and weaning rates illustrate just how well adapted they are to many different conditions and environments – truly an extremely functionally efficient breed.
We weigh all cattle monthly and I have mentioned before just how valuable this information is to us in our herd management. Make sure your scale is well calibrated and maintained, and today’s digital scales are accurate. The information you get from your scale gives you the true story and is immensely useful. I find that putting the data into chart form gives one instant graphic easily readable information. We make a separate chart for each class and age covering an 18-month period. This indicates monthly and seasonal weight changes, gain per day and condition score. It also indicates bulling, calving and weaning events. This, with weight and condition information, all helps to fine tune management. Of course, the old adage “the eye of the beholder fattens the beast” still applies, and the scale without hands-on practical management, some dung between the toes, and a lot of eyeballing, would be insufficient. This information on weights and gains confirms, again and again, just how adaptable and functionally efficient our Nkone cattle are.
The accompanying charts for our breeding cows over a few years illustrate very clearly, the vital synchronisation of rainfall, the best grazing, bulling, calving and weaning to achieve optimum production. It is essential to plan your calving and bulling around the best grazing conditions in an average rainfall year. Find the best time for your conditions and management and stick to it! I am of the strong opinion that happy, productive cows in an optimum fixed bulling and calving season at the best times, fall into an annual cyclic rhythm and retain their productivity, even in a sub-standard grazing year.
Weigh date this year has coincided with the half-way mark (21 days) of our calving season. Cows always lose a lot of weight, NOT necessarily body condition, when they calve. Calving time is also often when cows are chasing the new green grass and are not gaining much anyway. I captured data from 24 cows that had calved within the 18 days before weigh date. The 24 cows lost an average of 42,7 kgs due to calving. With 60% of our calves calving in the first 21 days of calving, the effect of the weight loss can be quite dramatic when looking at weight records. Fortunately, this year, and hopefully, most years, our cows are now on good green grazing at maximum protein content and will make rapid weight gains over the next few months. They can regain the lost weight very easily over the next six weeks. What is important is that they have recovered that weight, and more, before the next bulling, and are raising a good calf at the same time.
Measuring and recording of cattle, particularly in a stud herd is important and has to be done. But I feel too much time and input can be put into collecting all sorts of superfluous data and I wonder if sometimes we go over the top on this, collecting a lot of useless information with no particular relevance to meaningful increased production? There has to be a happy medium of only collecting data of the important traits and any other information necessary to produce highly productive cattle, as long as there is also a large dose of practical stockmanship included.
The recent purchase of our new stud bulls shows where measured data is very important in order to choose the bull that excels in important traits which you want to bring into your herd. The pedigree shows the animals ancestry, purity and degree of inbreeding and is very important. The Estimated Breeding Values (EBV) and indexes allow you to choose the strengths and weaknesses in the different traits which you might want from the bull. With sufficient data, EBV’s can give an accurate reflection of what the bull will achieve in your herd, correcting weaknesses and expanding on desirable traits.
Pedigree breeders have to individually identify their cattle using a method of herd identity (HDL) and individual (ID) numbering stipulated by the Zimbabwe Herd Book and Breed Society. This information is also necessary of course, for any performance recording. The following is the system that we use. We do not brand. The best ear tags and ink of these days are very long lasting and as long as supervision is up to scratch and the occasional lost ear tag replaced, the system is good and easy to read. Each animal’s individual number is duplicated on the back of both tags. There is always the question of permanent marking and theft brought up. Stock theft is prevalent these days but the thieves are no longer the unsophisticated people of years gone past, who were often arrested on evidence of brands or earmarks. Today’s stock thieves will destroy every bit of evidence they find or simply take the meat, leaving the skin and head behind so nothing can be proved. Perhaps micro chipping will help? I think most of the stock theft in the more populated areas is for meat only and not live animals, but that still happens in more remote areas. And even there, ear notches will be cut out and brands smudged or mutilated.
A few years back we had 7 cattle stolen from our project herd at Mahenye and tracks led into nearby Mozambique. Our herdsmen, all excellent trackers, got onto tracks early in the morning and it was easier for them when making enquiries from locals as they followed up because the locals had noticed our bright yellow tags in the ears, something that they had never seen before and attracted their attention. After that day and another night our herdsmen caught up with the cattle, held in a makeshift kraal and the thieves ran away, not to be seen again. Here is an unusual case where the tags helped recover the cattle and the thieves did not think to cut the ear tags out or realised that they were being hotly pursued and did not have time.
“NKONE, THE ORIGINAL ALPHA MOTHER COW”
Annual monthly weighing showing weight, ADG and CS and bulling and calving.
Comparing ADG averages with this year.
Our tagging system.
Showing tagging system.
Monthly weighing.
