The Botswana Composite Breed (BCB) was developed by Dept. of Agricultural Research to mitigate problems of small herds that could not sustain crossbreeding programs. The breed has 47.5% Sanga, 22.6% Zebu and 29.9% Bos taurus blood. Indigenous Tswana cattle are 40% of the national herd (Masilo and Podisi 2001), indicating an erosion of local genetic material. Tswana cattle are small framed and are prejudiced by the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) weight-based pricing system in favour of large-framed cattle. Lack of carcass characterization of indigenous cattle contributes to the above situation. The aim of this study was to evaluate performance of BCB and other indigenous breeds under feedlot and grazing conditions in order to promote their attributes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.