The long-horned Raya cattle are a breed of cattle common in the

Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is ...

of Ethiopia. The Raya cattle have red and black coat colours. Bulls and oxen have thick and long horns and a

cervicothoracic The vertebral column, also known as the backbone or spine, is part of the axial skeleton. The vertebral column is the defining characteristic of a vertebrate in which the notochord (a flexible rod of uniform composition) found in all chordates ...

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. Raya cattle are closely related to the Afar cattle; this is a result of historical

cattle raiding Cattle raiding is the act of stealing cattle. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer.Baker, Sidney John (1945) ''The Australian language : an examination of the English language and English ...

by the Raya people. The Raya cattle are however adapted to draught animals for tillage in the croplands of the highlands.

Closely related types

* Afar cattle

Origin of the cattle breed

A man looks after cattle Near Mekele Tigray Ethiopia Photo credit Kelley Lynch USAID

Ethiopia has been at a crossroads for cattle immigration to Africa due to * proximity to the geographical entry of Indian and Arabian zebu * proximity to Near-Eastern and European taurine * 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 i ...

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 ...

(including the Raya breed) originated in Ethiopia. They are a major bovine group in Africa – a cross-breeding of local long-horned taurines and Arabian zebus * The Zenga (Zebu-Sanga) breeds, which resulted from a second introduction and crossing with Indian zebu

Breeding and genetic resource management

The lowlands of

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 ...

are good for cattle breeding: there is abundant feed in the rangelands, and

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

communities have a good knowledge and practice of selective and controlled breeding. Hence, the breed reproduction is much better for the agro-pastoral Raya breeds than for the generalist

Arado cattle The red and black coated Arado cattle are small and hardy. They are the most common cattle variety in the north Ethiopian highlands. The Arado breed is part of the Zenga breed group. It is essentially reared for draught power, particularly tillag ...

breed of the Highlands. Raya breeders use traditional methods of animal identification and intra-breed selection. They also cull unwanted male calves based on information on their genitors. Raya breeders have a sense of collective breed ownership. They only sell off oxen to outsiders, in order to protect and maintain the genetic resource from

interbreeding In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...

with adjacent breeds.

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 warthogs ...

* environmental: destruction of ecosystems and droughts

References

{{Reflist Cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in Ethiopia Tigray Region