{"id":743,"date":"2012-11-10T16:56:59","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T16:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fortuneofafrica.com\/ug\/ankole-cattle\/"},"modified":"2012-11-10T16:56:59","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T16:56:59","slug":"ankole-cattle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/afrifacto.com\/uganda\/ankole-cattle\/","title":{"rendered":"Ankole Cattle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong>
\nAnkole Cows the local cows reared in parts of Mbarara Isingiro, Ibanda, Ntugamo, Bushenyi and Kiruhura located in western Uganda. The e cows are known for their distinctive horns that can reach up to 2.4 m from tip to tip. The horns are used by cows for defense purposes. The mature cows have live weight ranging from 410 to 730 kg. The cows mainly eat grass and leaves with supplement of local salt and are grazed in open grazing areas.\u00a0 Ankole cows were traditional reared were by moving from one place to another looking for good pastures and water.<\/p>\n

Newborns Calves<\/strong>
\nThe weight of the newborn calves\u2019 ranges from 14 to 23 kgs and this low birth-weight makes Ankole bulls useful for cross breeding with first-calf-heifers of other breeds.<\/p>\n

History of Ankole Cow<\/strong>
\nThe Ankole cows are known to have originated from Egypt where they reared for milk and meat. They reached Uganda through Ethiopia and they were crossed with the Zebu cattle from India to produce thee Sanga. The Sanga became the parent stock from which most African breeds originate. The Ankole cow therefore belongs to the Sanga family.\u00a0 The Sanga has the typical Zebu characteristics including pendulous dewlap and sheath, upturned horns and a neck hump of variable size. The Sanga varieties are found in Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.\u00a0\u00a0 The original Sanga cattle are still kept in Ghana and Zambezi regions.<\/p>\n

Significance of Ankole Cattle<\/strong>
\nThe Ankole cattle is significant for the following reasons<\/p>\n