A recent extensive search through archival materials by Maree Osborne has unearthed some fascinating old papers and documents.

The Mashona Cattle Society has records going back to its inauguration - and these delightful early photos have come to light.

Enjoy the pictures below, and follow the links to download some excellent reading.

Delve deep into the early history of our hardy breed, and other indigenous cattle breeds too.

Click the links at right to download...

Studies in Native Animal Husbandry: Makalanga Cattle By JRH Bisschop and HH Curzon
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Industry Volume 1, Number 2, 1933

A Contribution to the Study of African Native Cattle
By HH Curzon and RW Thornton
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Industry, Volume 7, Number 2, October, 1936

The Modern Mashona - 1974

Another informative and interesting discovery:
At a well-attended field day held by the Mashona Cattle Society on Andrew Huck's Waterloo Farm, Macheke, in early 1999, two speakers, Dave Holness and John Tiffin, shared their scientific insights into best breeding and feeding of the beef herd. Their papers were published in the March 1999 Issue of Farming World.

You can access and download these useful informative articles using the links at right:

Papers by Holness and Tiffin on Feeding & Breeding:

Strategic Feeding and Utilisation of Farm Food Resources for Cattle by Dave Holness

Breeding and Selection for Efficiency in Beef Cattle by John Tiffin

Chest-humped Shorthorn Zebu
Now dominant in East and Central Africa, this seems to be the breed arriving in Africa most recently, with evidence that it arrived with Arab and Indian traders  along the East coast in the 7th century AD.

Humpless Shorthorn Cattle
Also depicted in Egyptian tombs from around 2500 BC, these cattle appear to have displaced the longhorns. Cattle in the Mediterranean region today are mainly of this type.

Neck-humped Lateral-horned Zebu
First records of these humped cattle are from ancient civilisations north of the Persian Gulf.  There is later evidence of them in Egypt, around 1500 BC.

They likely came in via the horn of Africa, initially becoming established in Ethiopia, and spreading from there. Today’s Afrikaner breed, developed from the Khoi cattle found in the Cape by early settlers, owes its genetics to these ancient cattle.

Hardy Mashona mothers and calves in the veld

Portuguese explorers found cattle well established in this country in the 16th Century and later, 19th century settlers recorded that local people kept large numbers of these small Sanga cattle, with neck humps and sleek, shiny coats.  National herd size was estimated at 500 000. Most were horned but a few were naturally polled. Colour patterns were many and varied; predominantly black, followed by reds and browns, with yellows and duns being less common. A fair number had white patches or stipples. Black and red were frequently mixed.

In 1896, the Rinderpest swept down from the north, killing cattle and antelope alike, followed a few years later by East Coast Fever from Mozambique. Herds were decimated by these diseases, leaving only around
50 000 head by the time the epidemics were over.

To build up numbers again, cattle were introduced from Zambia, mostly cows, and probably Angoni type shorthorn Zebus. What genetic influence they had on native herds is unknown. 

Government and private players then began importing bulls from South Africa and overseas to upgrade and supposedly improve indigenous stock, a disastrously misguided move which led to indiscriminate cross-breeding, without any focus on maintaining the desirable characteristics of parent stock.

Zimbabwe’s current distinct indigenous breeds, the Mashona, Nkone and Tuli, have been developed from this original stock.  It is presumed that all original genotypes were actually Mashona.

Tuli
In 1942, Len Harvey noted a distinct, robust type of indigenous cattle in the Lowveld, south of Gwanda.  These would later be known as the Tuli breed - and under government auspices with Len in charge, the Tuli Breeding Station was born.  The Tuli Cattle Society was created in 1961.

Mashona
The first written record of the Mashona breed probably dates back to the 1890s, in a letter to Frank Willoughby, which gave a detailed description of the breed, its various different colours, its shiny coat, good milk production, short legs, fine bones and long tail. 

40 years later in 1941, independently, Frank Willoughby and Allie McLeod began building herds of hardy indigenous cattle in Mashonaland. Willoughby bought much of his foundation stock in the Chilimanzi and Buhera areas. One particular polled bull, at just 3 months old, amazingly walked the full 200 miles from Buhera to Ellerton Farm, and would have a tremendous influence on the future Mashona breed.

McLeod bought most of his original animals in the Mhondoro area. He trekked them first to Gokwe, then Essexvale, bought some polled bulls from Ellerton and by careful selection built a fine, hardy, fertile herd of small, docile, black, hornless cattle.

The larger Ellerton herd was predominantly black but also kept most other colours and patterns of the native stock. Selection was again based on the most desirable functional characteristics of the indigenous cattle. In 1950 these two Mashona enthusiasts set up the Indigenous Cattle Society, later renamed the Mashona Cattle Society.