BULL SOLD FOR KSH 12 MILLION

The Ksh12 million winning bid for an eight-year-old bull sold recently at the National Boran Sale, set a new South African price record for a bull of this breed, far surpassing the previous records.

Dubbed QT 12-30 TARZAN, the bull is a combination of Zambian and Kenyan genetics.

Bloodlines play an important role in breeding, but the right combination is important.

The bull was bought by Jaco van der Walt, owner of Mosdene Borans in Limpopo, at the annual sale held at the Afridome Showgrounds in Parys, Free State.

Closer to home, during the 2015 Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK) trade fair held at Jamhuri grounds in Nairobi, President Uhuru Kenyatta grabbed the headlines when he bagged himself a Boran bull after placing a bid of Ksh1.1 million.

He beat former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero who had to settle for the second-placed steer which he bought at Ksh950,000.

The president went on to donate his new bull christened ‘Champion’ to the Nairobi area police.

In the same year, a Charolais bull weighing in at 1,050kg, was auctioned for Ksh600,000 during the East Africa Growers Council agribusiness expo that was held at Kabarak University.

2 years later, President Uhuru beat Mike Sonko in the auction to buy the 700 kilogrammes champion bull at a whooping Ksh1.2 million at the ASK trade fair.

Sonko did not leave empty-handed though as he also saw off competition to buy the reserve champion bull at Ksh1 million.

President Kenyatta, is one of Kenya’s largest farmers of beef cattle and rears thousands of exotic bulls at his Gicheha Farm.

This shone a light on the amount of money professional breeders make in an industry where semen from a highly-ranked bull goes for as much as Ksh1,500.

The Boran is a breed of cattle originally developed in Kenya from very hardy stock that still lives in Kenya’s northern deserts, Somalia and Ethiopia. The animal has been improved over the years to get the breed we see now.

The original strains of the breed came from Ethiopia and were adopted early in the 20th Century by commercial cattlemen in Laikipia, Machakos, and the Rift Valley Districts of Kenya.

The Boran society was then formed in 1951 and its panel of inspectors continues to ensure that the breed progresses and keeps up to date with the demands of modern beef production.

The society promotes the sale of embryos worldwide and semen is exported throughout the East African region.

Boran bulls are massive muscled animals that can weigh between 600-800kg. The cows are considerably smaller and usually weigh around 400kg.

Boran cattle live a long time. It is quite normal for 15-year-old breeding cows to be fertile, and it is also on record that a 16-year-old Boran bull still produces high-quality semen for artificial insemination.

This breed of cattle has developed adaptive traits of crucial importance for its survival.

Some of these characters are – the ability to withstand periodic shortages of water and feed, the ability to walk long distances in search of water and feed, and the ability to digest low-quality feeds.

Recently, an Eldoret based company introduced a new high yielding bull breed (Danshot from the Netherlands)with sexed semen that can sire a heifer that can yield up to 57 liters of milk at second lactation period.

The bull which was introduced into the market two years ago and has a 95% conception rate and its heifers have a fast growth rate being ready for service at 15 to 16 months compared to other breeds which take up to two years.

A heifer sired from the bull produces between 32 to 40m liters per day on the first lactation period, up to 50 liters on the second lactation, and 50 to 57 liters at its peak.

Danshot bull breed is an import from Netherlands and has so far been used to sire 46 calves in Moiben, Uasin Gishu County with the demand being high according to Maiyo.

One mature Danshot bull costs Ksh330,000 inclusive of transport costs when imported from the Netherlands but smallholder farmers can obtain its semen at Ksh5,500.

In Africa there are two main races of Cattle: Bos indicus (cattle with humps) including the Boran, Sahiwal and Zebu cows (indigenous), and the Bos taurus (exotic or imported breeds).

The two races can crossbreed, and the crosses can be very productive both in terms of growth rates for beef, improved milk production as well as disease resistance.

Kenya has the highest number of exotic dairy cattle. As for indigenous breeds, Kenya also ranks high with Ethiopia and Sudan topping the list of African countries with the highest population of indigenous cattle breeds.

By Kenyans.co.ke