TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

3" IMPROVEAaNT OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPIOAL RANGELANDS
one animal revealed Cof'Jfte6actmum ,ee.dotu6e,ct&lon. and from
another animal B-hemolytic Itreptococci.
There waa a virulent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, type
B.A.T. 2, in cattle, sheep, and goatl on 01 Maisor, with which the
camels were in cloee contact; the camels were unaffected.
The breeding herd on Galana took two yean to accHmatile and
commence breeding regularly. When first introduced to the area,
they were not given any prophylaxis treatment for trypanoeomiasis
for more than a year. Abortions and premature births are common;
a great many females were unable to feed their calves.
Since they were injected regularly with antrycide sulphate, the
health and production of the herd improved dramatically.
ECONOMICS
While the price of camels is comparable to that of good quality
cattle, the distance from the ranches at which they have had to be
purchased haa made their acquisition very costly.
Direct expenses incurred in their upkeep have proved lea than
thoee for our cattle (KSh 70/- to SO/- per year without overhead).
This is mainly because they have not needed the regular and obligatory
dipping or spraying required by cattle to protect them from the
ticks and tick-borne diM... to which cattle are prone.
The slow reproductive rate of22 months compared to lea than 14
months for ranch cattle, and slow maturing rate of ~8 yean against
3-4 yean for finished steen, indicate. a poor economic potential.
The return from camels might be improved with experience and
improved husbandry. It should be poesible to reduce the calving
interval to 18 months (Knoeu, 1976). Milk production might also be
taken into account.
Even with such improvements, cattle will remain the more profitable
animals. However, we must emphasise that our camel productivity
is additional to and in no way competitive with our beef
production or any other livestock on the property.
We have every hope that the quality of our camel stock will
improve; our foundation animals tended to be cun. that the sellers
thought to be defective. It might speed up growth and individual
quality ifyoung animals could be weaned and hand fed (the Turkana
say that they rear camel calves successfully on cow's milk).
When purchasiq stock, it is advisable to try and buy unbred
females and to avoid buying heavily branded animals, as this is