THE ANKOLE CATTLE

The Ankole Long horned cattle is indigenous to Africa. The History of the Ankole breed is long and distinguished. Its lineage can be traced to before 4000 B.C. as proved by rock paintings in the Sub-Sahara, the Egyptian and Meroitic pyramids, before the first pharaohs ruled Egypt and Kush, when a breed known as the Hamitic Longhorn (according to animal historians) now commonly known as Ankole-Watusi lived along the Nile particularly prevailing around the shores of lake Victoria and Tanganyika. The Breed found its way into ancient Egypt. Over the period of 3,000 years later, the cattle headed way east through Abyssinia to Arabian Peninsula after spreading west into Chad and Libya and other parts of Africa. This majestic animal may have been a result of an African Buffalo Hybrid with the shorter extinct type of African Aurochs thousands of years ago and originated around the western shores of Lake Victoria in East Africa.

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This breed was kept by Julius’ grandparents in present day Ankole region in Western Uganda particularly the area now known as Sheema District, Kitagata which is adjacent to areas like Queen Elizabeth National Park and well known for the famous Kitagata Hot Springs.

Julius spent a great amount of his childhood years grazing his late grandfather’s ankole cattle a passion that only translated into the commercial farmer and owner of Nimukama Mixed Farm that he now is. Julius is an ardent lover of cattle, almost to infectious levels!

From the inception of Nimukama Mixed Farm, the initial herd was composed of Ankole long horned cattle ( see photo gallery) however, a small proportion of the herd has now been set aside with a greater proportion composed of Ankole and Boran Cross breeds. The boran is now the dominant breed type on the farm.

The Ankole cattle are indeed a marvel – They’re are able to use poor-quality forage and limited quantities of feed and water. These survival abilities have allowed them as a breed to not only survive the centuries in Africa, but also to become established in Europe, South America, Australia, and North America.

The Ankole breed is medium in size, with cows weighing between 430–540 kg and bulls weighing between 540–730 kg. Newborn calves weigh just 14–23 kg and remain small for several months.

At Nimukama Mixed Farm, we breed the Boran and Ankole to produce crossbreeds with phenomenal body score with our cattle weighing between 500-800kgs live body weight!