composite breed

MUSI- OUR BREED, OUR PRIDEAfter 29 years of dedication and perseverance, Batswana came from far and wide to witness oneof the greatest inventions in the Agricultural sector of Botswana.In 1981 the Department of Agricultural Research made a proposal to come up with thedevelopment of a new breed for Botswana. This was an initiative by the department to improvethe production potential of beef cattle in the country. It was during this time that Ms LouiseSetshwaelo, now Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) country representative, was taskedby her superiors to assess the feasibility of developing a composite breed for the country.This of course was a difficult task considering the fact that breed development is a timeconsuming exercise, not to mention the expenses it comes with. Setshwaelo and the team shespearheaded did not despair as they had a vision of one day successfully seeing the rewards oftheir hard work.Officiating at the launch of the composite breed held at a farm near Pallaroad recently,Setshwaelo highly praised the government for the immense support it has rendered in issuesrelated to Agriculture over the years. She pointed out that though budgets in Agriculturalresearch continued to dwindle due to financial constraints in other countries, this was not thecase in Botswana.“I would like to strongly encourage the government to continue in this direction and increaseinvestment in research and development as this is the only way to find appropriate solutions andinnovations that can drive Agriculture and industrial development in Botswana,” she said.The robust breed was developed by carefully mating 5 different breeds; Tswana (28.2%),Brahman (22.6%), Simmental (26.3%), Tuli (4.4%), and Bonsmara (26.3%) which is a SouthAfrican composite breed made from the Afrikander and the Hereford.One aspect to be commended about this breed is its excellent performance. Musi, a name givento the breed to honor the place of its origin, has proved to surpass the common locally usedbreeds such as the Tswana, Tuli, Brahman and the Bonsmara.

Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi, expressed his delight to witness thelaunch of the new breed which came as a result of many years of hard work.“Creation of our own composite breed is a remarkable achievement indeed, it is a pleasure toacknowledge that it is our breed and our pride,” he said.The composite breed bulls will be kept at Ramatlabama bull stud for semen collection tofacilitate farmers who wish to practice artificial insemination. The Department of AgriculturalResearch and Banyana farms will also work closely to multiply the breed. It is therefore withgreat anticipation that the breed will spread to the rest of Botswana as well as strengthen therelationship the country already has with other countries.