Breeding objectives for in-situ conservation of indigenous Nguni cattle under low-input production systems in South Africa

The aim of the study was to determine the breeding objectives of in-situ conservation for communal Nguni cattle under low-input production systems. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 22 communal and 19 small-scale cattle enterprises to compare ownership patterns with respect to monetary value, cattle functions, herd dynamics, and reproductive efficiency of Nguni cattle. Nineteen communal Nguni cattle enterprises were used to determine the risk status class, effective population size (Ne), and inbreeding rate per generation (∆F) of communally-conserved Nguni cattle. Fifty-four representative farmers across enterprise ownership patterns were tasked to rank preferential traits of breeding indigenous Nguni cattle. A choice experiment was done to determine the economic weights of preferred trait levels by the farmers. Focus group discussions were used to derive the selection method and mating strategy of indigenous Nguni cattle. Descriptive statistics, χ2-tests of association and analyses of (co)variance were computed to ascertain the association between fixed factors, distribution of responses and determine significant factors affecting response variables. Nguni cattle across different enterprise ownership patterns were used for cash, meat and upgrading the herd. Farmers from communal enterprises perceived higher prices for open heifers, castrates and young cows than small-scale enterprises. Most farmers (67%) perceived Nguni cattle low-input production and in-situ conservation as profitable. Mortality rate was significantly lower (p