The red and black coated Arado cattle are small and hardy. They are the most common cattle variety in the north

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n highlands. The Arado breed is part of the

Zenga ''Zenga'' is the term for the practice and art of Zen Buddhist painting and calligraphy in the Japanese tea ceremony and also the martial arts. Definition As a noun, Zenga is a style of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy and painting, done in ink ...

breed group. It is essentially reared for draught power, particularly tillage. The breed feeds mainly on crop residues; it is adapted to seasonal feed shortages. This breed is often cross-bred through bull and

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatme ...

services.

Physical characteristics

The Arado cattle have red and black coats. Bulls and oxen have thick and short horns and a cervicothoracic

hump The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...

; cows have medium, thin horns. Oxen weigh 254 kg and cows 201 kg on average. The average height at withers of 120 and 115 cm.

Closely related types

Abergele cattle The Abergele cattle are the smallest breed of cattle in north Ethiopia. They are reared in the Abergele lowlands and at the southwestern lower slopes of Dogu'a Tembien district. Abergele cattle are part of the Zenga breed group. The Abergele br ...

Begayt cattle Begayt is an Ethiopian breed of cattle. Currently there are ongoing cross-breeding programmes with Arado cattle, in an attempt to increase the milk production of the latter. Origin of the cattle breed Ethiopia has been at a crossroads for cattl ...

* Fogera cattle

Origin of the cattle breed

Ethiopia has been at a crossroads for cattle immigration to Africa due to * proximity to the geographical entry of Indian and Arabian

zebu The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ''Bos taurus indicus''), sometimes known in the plural as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in the Indian sub-continent. Zebu are characterised by a fatty ...

* proximity to Near-Eastern and European

taurine Taurine (), or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is an organic compound that is widely distributed in animal tissues. It is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the large intestine, and accounts for up to 0.1% of total human body weight. It ...

* introgression with West African taurine due to

pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal ...

Furthermore, the diverse agro-ecology led to diverse farming systems which, in turn, made Ethiopia a centre of

secondary diversification Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding ...

for livestock : * The

Sanga cattle Sanga cattle is the collective name for indigenous cattle of sub-Saharan Africa. They are sometimes identified as a subspecies with the scientific name ''Bos taurus africanus''. Their history of domestication and their origins in relation to ta ...

originated in Ethiopia. They are a major bovine group in Africa – a cross-breeding of local long-horned taurines and Arabian zebus * The Arado cattle are part of the

(Zebu-Sanga) breeds, which resulted from a second introduction and crossing with Indian zebu

Breeding and genetic resource management

Mating takes place on the grazing grounds, or the cow is brought to a bull in the neighbourhood. Farmers try essentially to improve the Arado breed through

crossbreeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

with other indigenous breeds. This favours selection for fitness, and the adaptation to broader farming system and environmental conditions.

Stresses on the cattle breed

* socio-political: urbanisation, and civil wars *

panzootic A panzootic (from Greek παν all + ζόιον animal) is an epizootic (an outbreak of an infectious disease of animals) that spreads across a large region (for example a continent), or even worldwide. The equivalent in human populations is calle ...

cattle plague Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wildebeests, and warthog ...

* environmental: destruction of ecosystems and droughts

References

{{Reflist Cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in Ethiopia