Raya cattle

The long-horned Raya cattle are a breed of cattle common in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.[1][2] The Raya cattle have red and black coat colours. Bulls and oxen have thick and long horns and a cervicothoracic hump; cows have medium, thin horns. Raya cattle are closely related to the Afar cattle; this is a result of historical cattle raiding by the Raya people. The Raya cattle are however adapted to draught animals for tillage in the croplands of the highlands.[1]

Raya

Raya oxen at ploughing near Mekelle
Country of origin	Ethiopia
Distribution	eastern margin of the north Ethiopian highlands
Use	Draught, meat, milk (in that order)
Traits
Coat	red, black
Horn status	long
Cattle Bos primigenius

Closely related types

• Afar cattle

Origin of the cattle breed

Ethiopia has been at a crossroads for cattle immigration to Africa[3][4] due to

• proximity to the geographical entry of Indian and Arabian zebu
• proximity to Near-Eastern and European taurine
• introgression with West African taurine due to pastoralism

Furthermore, the diverse agro-ecology led to diverse farming systems which, in turn, made Ethiopia a centre of secondary diversification[3] for livestock :

• The Sanga cattle (including the Raya breed) originated in Ethiopia. They are a major bovine group in Africa – a cross-breeding of local long-horned taurines and Arabian zebus[4]
• The Zenga (Zebu-Sanga) breeds, which resulted from a second introduction and crossing with Indian zebu[4]

Breeding and genetic resource management

The lowlands of Ethiopia are good for cattle breeding: there is abundant feed in the rangelands, and pastoral communities have a good knowledge and practice of selective and controlled breeding. Hence, the breed reproduction is much better for the agro-pastoral Raya breeds than for the generalist Arado cattle breed of the Highlands. Raya breeders use traditional methods of animal identification and intra-breed selection. They also cull unwanted male calves based on information on their genitors. Raya breeders have a sense of collective breed ownership. They only sell off oxen to outsiders, in order to protect and maintain the genetic resource from interbreeding with adjacent breeds.[3]

Stresses on the cattle breed

• socio-political: urbanisation, and civil wars
• panzootic: cattle plague[5]
• environmental: destruction of ecosystems and droughts[6][7]

References

1. Cattle breeds, milk production, and transhumance in Dogu'a Tembien. In: Geotrekking in Ethiopia's tropical mountains, Chapter 28. Cham: SpringerNature. 2019. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-04955-3_28.
2. Merha Zerabruk; Vangen, O; Mitiku Haile (2007). "The status of cattle genetic resources in North Ethiopia: On-farm characterization of six major cattle breeds". Animal Genetic Resources Information. 40: 15–32. doi:10.1017/S1014233900002169.
3. Merha Zerabruk, and colleagues (2011). "Genetic diversity and admixture of indigenous cattle from North Ethiopia: implications of historical introgressions in the gateway region to Africa". Animal Genetics. 43 (3): 257–266. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2011.02245.x. PMID 22486496.
4. Hanotte, O. and colleagues (2002). "African pastoralism: genetic imprints of origins and migrations". Science. 296 (5566): 336–339. doi:10.1126/science.1069878. PMID 11951043.
5. Pankhurst, R (1985). The history of famine and epidemics in Ethiopia prior to the twentieth century. Addis Ababa: Relief and Rehabilitation Commission.
6. Zbelo Tesfamariam, and colleagues (2019). "Transhumance as a driving force of landscape change in the marginal grabens of northern Ethiopia". SJTG. 40 (3): 476–495. doi:10.1111/sjtg.12278.
7. Van Cappellen, H (2016). The ox-plow complex on the edge: an ethnographic inquiry into social change and cross-breed dairy farming in Tigray, Ethiopia [MSc Thesis]. KU Leuven, Belgium.