🇲🇬 The cattle breeds of Madagascar

Cattle in Madagascar are almost entirely zebu, kept in large numbers by families of the south and west and used for ploughing and carting as well as for meat and milk. Livestock supports about 60 percent of rural households, though disease holds production back.

• Zebu make up almost all of Madagascar's cattle.
• About 9.7 million head of cattle were counted in 2008.
• Roughly 60 percent of rural families earn income from livestock.
• Zebu puddle rice fields, pull ploughs and haul carts.
• Cattle are usually slaughtered only for ceremonies.

Cattle in Madagascar

Zebu are the cattle of Madagascar; pigs, sheep, goats and poultry are also raised, but cattle dominate the numbers. Keeping cattle is widespread and extensive rather than intensive. About 9.7 million head were counted in 2008. Roughly three in five rural families draw income from livestock of some kind. Herds are managed on pasture and rangeland rather than in sheds; the island has some 37 million hectares of pasture against about 3.5 million hectares cropped each year. Disease, anthrax among them, is the chief brake on output. Milk, and small stock, are the sub-sectors that perform best.

The breeds

Zebu are the cattle of Madagascar. They are humped cattle, kept the length and breadth of the island, and they serve as draught animals, meat and a store of wealth. Ownership is near universal among families of the south and west, where the Bara and Sakalava are named as the traditional cattle keepers. The zebu also does the heavy work of the rice field.

Regions and communities

In the crowded central highlands, the Merina and Betsileo farm intensively, terracing narrow paddies up steep valleys. In the east, the Betsimisaraka and Tanala also grow irrigated rice where they can. Cattle keeping is concentrated among the Bara, Sakalava and other peoples of the south and west, where nearly every household holds zebu and stock roam freely. In the far south, Antandroy and some Mahafaly families keep cassava, maize, beans and sorghum in permanent fields hedged around the villages.

Milk, butter and beef

Cattle supply meat, milk and draught power, and their manure fertilises the rice fields. In 2008, milk production was estimated at 530,000 tons and meat of all kinds at 251,000 tons, with hen eggs at 19,000 tons. Among cattle people, animals are slaughtered mainly for ceremonial occasions, and because these come round often the herders eat a good deal of meat. The milk trade is counted among the few parts of livestock production that do well.

Festivals, fairs and faith

Cattle are killed for ceremonial occasions, which occur often enough among the herding peoples of the south and west to make their meat consumption high. Rice planting brings a festive trampling of the fields, with family and neighbours joining in and cattle used where they are available. Cattle stealing is a popular custom in the cattle-raising areas.

Today

Cattle numbers stood at about 9.7 million in 2008. Production across livestock is generally weak, the milk and small-animal trades aside, and disease is the main obstacle to growth. Zebu numbers remain large, but output per animal is low and the sector is extensive rather than modernised.