Just east of campus sits Njala University’s ranch—home to a small herd of N’Dama cattle. I’ve been to tropical areas before, so I though I knew what to expect…a hump on the neck, large ears, loose skin. I soon realized my predictions were completely wrong when I first saw the petite native breed. They are small, humpless, have small ears and horns that grow straight up. The typical color is fawn, however I’ve seen some brown and white and even black and white too.
The breed is slow to mature and provides little milk production, but as the only native breed to this country, they are resistant to many diseases and can handle the heat.
Traditional management
Cattle production in Sierra Leone is 99 percent extensive, or transhumance. Herds follow a cyclical, seasonal movement synchronized with rainfall to exploit feed, temperature and water sources. There are five phases to transhumant management:
(1) Rainy season: from May to August rain falls daily providing adequate water and forages for cattle. However, grasses become fibrous toward the end of the season and lack quality nutrition.
(2) Period fallowing rainy season: Crops are harvested and cattle have the opportunity to consume crop residue.
(3) Cool dry period: from December to early January.
(4) Warm, dry period: from early January-February.
(5) Period in anticipation of rain: This is the most straining phase for the cattle and herdsmen as they walk extra miles for food and water.
The Herdsmen
The Fula tribe is known for this lifestyle as they make up the majority of cattle herdsmen. Following transhumant style, they go into the bush and establish a settlement they will call home for 2-3 years. Most men will have multiple wives, and each wife is given a small circular hut to live in with her children. Each day the herds are taken out to search for grass and a water source, and each night they are held in a pen built at the settlement.
Women play a key role in herd management. Each wife is given a set of cows to milk each morning. The little milk given from the N’Damas is stored for a few days then made into cottage cheese to be consumed by the family or sold to buy food and to pay medical or school fees. It is the women who make sure all cows make it home for the night. It is also the woman’s responsibility to tell the husband when a cow needs to be sold for additional income for the family…though she doesn’t have a say in which animals are purchased to bring into the herd. The women rarely leave the settlement, except a few times to market the milk products.
Marketing
Cattle are only sold in pressing need and, like the small ruminants, they are viewed as cash security on hoof. The majority of beef consumed in Sierra Leone is imported from Guinea and Mali. Cattle are traded to butcheries and meat is then sold to consumers.
Room for change?
There is a serious and constant battle between farmers employed in shifting cultivation and the nomadic pastoralists. Both groups must continually move to secure their income. Finding solutions for the herdsmen to at least partly settle could help change livestock production in Sierra Leone for the better. Securing food and water in one place would aid in decreasing these disputes, but also increase the health and productivity of the herd. Cattle would not have to travel as far, especially during the dry season; therefore, decreasing the time it takes to reach a marketable weight...and maybe this could help lead to an increase in consumption of animal protein for the average Sierra Leonean, as the availability of quality protein remains a huge problem.
Njala University claims to own one of only two herds managed intensively, however cattle are still taken out to graze each morning from a holding pen. Land dedicated for the ranch is divided into paddocks for herd rotation. Fifteen years of neglect due to the war left the land to the growth of noxious plants. Currently some infested paddocks are being cultivated by local farmers. The cattle will graze on crop residue and hopefully nutritious grasses will fill the area. Change is a slow process, and the university, like the country, is struggling to recover from a war that destroyed nearly everything. Next to the holding pen at the Njala ranch, abandonment left a vest post, weigh scale and processing facility useless and worn down.
Even with the setbacks, the herd is moving forward. A crossbreeding program was started within the last year, and there are currently six calves on the ground out of a N’Dama-Jersey cross created via artificial insemination (AI). AI has great potential in the country to cost-effectively cross the adaptability of the N’Dama with traits they are severely lacking—milking ability and growth. Obstacles still stand in the way as there is no liquid nitrogen (used to freeze and store semen) production in the country. An American from a university brought the semen to Sierra Leone and AI’d the cows, but what semen was left spoiled when the liquid N ran out. A Njala faculty member mentioned to me he would like to see 200-300 head of cows crossed to a Jersey, but that would require 200-300 straws of semen to be donated and shipped…hopefully the cross is successful and the program can take off.
Two other key issues with intensifying cattle production is (1) securing forages (or another food source) for the dry season and (2) creating a water source. Sierra Leone has a surplus of each for a third the year, but neither are being stored for the harsh dry season. Currently, it rains every day and the grasses are lush. It is prime time to cut grass for hay and store water for livestock. If anyone has inexpensive solutions for these in a tropical climate, I would love to entertain your thoughts and suggestions. (white.julieb2@gmail.com)
Check back for Part 2…a night spent on a traditional ranch.
Joyful Journeys,
Julie
Materials like these are commonly used to build fence.
The herd moving to graze for the day.
The worn-down scales.
The herd in the holding pen prior to grazing. 
A mature N'Dama female.
Njala University ranch facilities. 
The N'Dama-Jersey progeny.
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