TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

TIn: KEL TAMASHEQ 239
TABLE 8-1 Averap Number of Lactatinc Animall per BoUMbold, Ac:cordlnC
to Social CI... and Animal Type (Example Dratm from One Camp in June
1972)·
Animal
Nobl..
(Imajaren)
(6 hou..holdl)
W!!1
for COWl
(7 hOUieholdl)
W!!1
for Camell
(6 hOUieholda)
Mllana
(4 houaeholda)
Camell
COWl
Goatl
Sheep
8.0
2.4
o
o
3.2
9.0
+
8.6
o
6.0
o
1.8
4.0
6.0
o
·Ratio chanc.. u new animals are born.
+Only 1 hou..hold hu lactating Iheep (10).
TABLE 8-2 Approximate Yielda of Milk Accordinc to Animal Type
at Eveninc Milkinc (in liten).
Cold Bot Wet Timet milked
Animal Seqon Seuon Seuon per 24 houn
Camel 5-7 2-4 7-9 8
Cow 8-4 2-8 4-7 2
Goat 0-1/2 1 2 2
Sheep 2 0 8 1
it can be kept for more than a year. Donkey's milk is used only for
medicines.
In principle, the milk supply available to each family at any
one time should vary according to the number of milk animals it
owns, or (as in the cue of iil,,,,&), the number allotted to it; and the
type of animals, since this determines when lactation begins, how
long it continues, and the amount produced (tables 3-1, 3-2, and
3-3). (An individual family is likely to have only one or two types.)
However, these social and economic variations are minimized through
a system of redistribution operating both among the households
and among the social categories within the camp. The common
mechanisms are trading (for example, tobacco for milk, camel's milk
for cow's milk), sharing, and "stealing." ImtJjtJrf4ft households are an
exception, because they cannot share the milk itaelf with others of
the same rank but may instead either borrow a lactating animal or
send their children to drink with a family thai has a surplus.
Except during the wet season, milk is insufficient to nourish
adults and therefore is supplemented with wild and domesticated