Judith Phiri — The Zimbabwe Herd Book (ZHB) has called on commercial farmers to crossbreed their pedigree animals to improve the quality of their herds, fertility and growth rate for the growth of the national livestock population.
A pedigree animal is a purebred animal whose ancestry, parents and grandparents, among other characteristics, have been officially recorded by a breed registry.
The ZHB, established by an Act of Parliament in 1980, is the official organisation that oversees the registration of pedigree livestock, also known as stud animals, seed stock of the Zimbabwean livestock industry and the basis of stud breeding.
In an interview on the sidelines of the annual Beef School 2025 in Bulawayo, ZHB chairperson, Mrs Anne Cooke, said this year they concentrated a lot on crossbreeding.
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"This was to encourage commercial farmers to use the pedigree animals that are bred by the ZHB to better the output on their farms and get both their fertility and growth rate up.
"We also did a lot of back to basics with veterinary skills on the farm, vaccinations, injections and helping animals with bloat, among other things," she said.
"We have also looked at the estimated breeding value (EBV) in detail to help buyers understand that when they go to buy a bull they are not just looking at the physical confirmation but also the genetics."
She said knowing the EBVs was critical as they were very advanced scientific recordings of animals to enable buyers to select the best bulls for use on their farms and their environment.
Mrs Cooke said every year the Beef School was held to educate farmers on emerging technologies and advances in the beef industry, while also looking at to basics to identify what livestock farmers may not be doing right on the ground.
"We have some local and international speakers who tackle various interesting topics that we can adapt to in our country. We have a wide range of participants from all over the country and from all the different industries, part of them having commercial pedigree, veterinarians, Government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as well as feed industries.
"Every year we get to showcase one of the breeds that we have at ZHB, this year it's the year of Simmental and Simbra. Next year it will be the year of the Boran breed," she added.
She said they were pleased to have their first international student from Uganda, while for lectures, they are drawn from the country, regional and international pools.
Mrs Cooke said learning what neighbouring countries are doing was critical to getting a broad spectrum so that livestock breeders do not stick to a narrow version that they would have.
"It's key to expand our knowledge and bring in new ideas. Stud breeding is a long-term passion where breeders strive to breed the best animal.
"Breeders need to apply modern breeding technologies to carefully select animals to be parents of the next generation and, in so doing, improve the genetic merit of future generations."
Renowned Simmental cattle breeder, Mr Obert Chinhamo, who is the Simmental Association chairperson, highlighted the importance of the two breeds that were on focus at the annual Beef School 2025.
"The Simmental breed is a pedigree line or a pure line, while the Simbra is a composite in the sense that it's a combination of two breeds. (Simmental and Brahman).
"Simmental is a dual-purpose animal: it combines your beef side and dairy side and the farmer chooses whether they want to milk or beef it.
"We bring the genetics and make them available in the country, while other people from outside the country can also still access our bulls and semen, because this is a breed that is very good at crossbreeding.
"It can crossbreed with any breed across all breeds," he said.
A farmer from Kampala in Uganda, Mr Roy Ddungu, commended Zimbabwean farmers for having some of the most resilient cattle breeds that can adapt to harsh climates and are known for their good fertility.
The farmer is the first international student to attend the Beef School 2025, said he travelled all the way to Zimbabwe to learn the "secret" that Zimbabwean farmers have to ensure they rear some of the best cattle breeds.
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"I have come from East Africa and have learnt a lot. In Zimbabwe, with the climatic environment you have, your animals here perform better than ours, which are in the East African tropical region.
"The body condition is much better, but you have less rainfall. The reason I came here is to find out what the secret is and how Zimbabwean farmers are doing it better with less rainfall," he said.
"I understand you get about 400 to 600 millilitres and your rainfall season usually stretches for four months. In Uganda, we have 1 000 to 1 500 millilitres in the tropical equator side, but your animals look much better, so there is something Zimbabwean farmers are doing right."
He said the knowledge he acquired over the three-day Beef School 2025 was critical to understand how Zimbabweans were managing to keep their animals in the condition that they are in despite climate change challenges.
Mr Ddungu said when he returns to Uganda, he would ensure he imparts the knowledge he gained to other farmers as well as get the right breed genetics that are resilient.
