Tropical Cattle: Origins, Breeds and Breeding Policies

Rating:
Summary: It will be the best book on this subject for a long time.
Review: "Domestic cattle are ubiquitous" the authors begin. They back this up with statistics: cattle produce 90% of the world's milk, 30% of it's meat; globally, there is one bovine for every four humans; cattle represent the largest sector of agriculture throughout most of the world, and the dominant one in many countries. That is particularly true throughout the developing world which contains 70% of the global cattle population, and where demand for livestock products is expected to treble over the coming four decades. These facts set the context for this book. The cattle sector in tropical countries is an enormous and valuable resource, on which hundreds of millions of people are heavily dependent, and which faces historically unprecedented pressures for change. The authors have set out to document these cattle populations, their past and present, and even to map their future. I believe they have succeeded well beyond their declared ambitions. In effect, this book is a compendium of three separate works. The first section, titled Origins and History, is the most authoritative and coherent account of the domestication of cattle of subsequent movements of cattle, with the expansion of human husbandry, and of the place of cattle in evolving societies. A preliminary chapter reviews the archaeological evidence, and subsequent chapters deal with the spread of cattle types and systems in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The previous literature in this area is not very satisfactory. The further back one goes, the fewer the facts and the greater the room for unchallenged speculation. Much of the accepted wisdom has been based on little more than assertions of position by individual scholars. The authors have carefully reviewed all of this earlier work. They have rejected some theories such as that of Epstein and Mason on sequential migration from Western Asia as the source of African cattle. In other areas, they have strengthened our confidence in existing interpretations. They also have the good sense to identify the large areas where judgement must be withheld for the moment. Clearly, this section of the book was written some time ago. This means that there is little discussion of the exciting new layers of information that are coming from studies on molecular evolution in cattle populations, though these are noted in the last section of the book, under new technologies. This new work has already greatly clarified such questions as the origins and interactions of the Zebu and Taurus strains in Africa, and will undoubtedly lead to a much more complete picture of the origins and spread of cattle. In future editions of Payne and Hodges, it should have a substantial place. That being said, this review of the subject is better than anything that precedes it. Over 50% of the world's 800 or so identified cattle breeds are to be found in the tropics. The second section of Tropical Cattle is a detailed catalogue which covers 211 of the most notable of these. It begins with a discussion on breed classification, and moves on to breeds of Asia, Africa and Latin America. This section can be compared with Mason's " World Dictionary of Breeds Livestock" (1996) and Maule's "Cattle of the Tropics" (1990). It also updates Payne's own "Cattle Production in the Tropics" Volume 1 (1970). It is less lavish (no colour) than the recently published "Cattle Breeds - an encyclopaedia" by Marleen Felius. It is as comprehensive as such a catalogue needs to be. The place of such inventories of breeds will eventually be taken by the electronic database being assembled under the FAO led Global Animal Genetic Resources Program. Freed from the limitations of the printed medium, this will have the capacity for layers of information at whatever level of detail will be required by different users. The third section of the book, entitled "Breeding Policies", looks to the place of cattle in tropical farming systems and in particular to their genetic management and improvement. The coverage of the literature in this field is excellent, and the discussion thorough. It is informed by the experience of both authors over many decades of observing and advising on improvement of cattle in tropical countries. Their convictions are clear and unequivocal: programmed models of genetic improvement from developed economies have little chance of success, because appropriate breeding and production objectives are much more diffuse, and because the infrastructure they need (AI, recording systems) often does not exist. Likewise, breed transplants from the developed world more often than not fail. The case the authors make is persuasive and convincing. They go on to review the spectrum of cattle breeding strategies available. These range from cautious improvement of adapted local breeds, through a series of cross-breeding options to, in exceptional circumstances, breed replacement. Each case is different, and above all, requires careful study of the needs and motivation of cattle owners. They, and not governments or international agencies, ultimately control cattle breeding policy. This is a book of serious scholarship and yet with a very practical intent. For a long time into the future it will undoubtedly be the best source for those interested in the origins, background and breed variation in cattle throughout the tropical world. It will also, I believe, be the essential starting point for those professionally involved in the improvement of cattle and cattle production systems in developing countries. The wisdom and the lessons of the past have been