The ‘charolais’ bull.

The bull was originally bred in France in a place called Charolais, hence its name. It is a naturally horned beef animal.In Africa, the largest population of the breed is found in South Africa followed by Kenya, mainly in Laikipia .The Bull heavier than buffalo fetches Sh600,000.Weighing in at 1,050kg, a bull heavier than a buffalo was auctioned for Sh600,000, equivalent to the price of a Probox car. However, if slaughtered in the farm, the bull could fetch Sh1 million.The ‘charolais’ bull was the main attraction during the East Africa Growers Council agribusiness expo in Kabarak University.The four-year-old bull from Kabarak Farm Ltd only feeds on grass and drinks a minimum of 60 litres of water a day, according to the farm manager Joseph Bett.Bett says there are about 107,000 of such animals in the farm and a single dose of artificial insemination costs Sh1,000. The agribusiness expo brought together more than 15,000 farmers, sponsors and exhibitors. Source;The star

HOW TO LOWER OCCURRENCE OF BOAR TAINT.

Boars in the value chain have always resulted in tainted pork, which not many people can tolerate.There has been several interventions such as artificial insemination and using castrated males in the chain to reduce the taint,but the success rate has not been high,resulting in more research. Research from the Netherlands are about to publish an extensive research towards the reduction of boar taint when raising and using and entire males in the food chain.The study termed: How to lower occurrence of boar taint. The paper, to be published in the Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences (NJAS) is a summary of a comprehensive study by scientists from various disciplines, attached to the Agricultural Economic Institute (Wageningen UR), Wageningen UR Livestock Research, Vion Fresh Meat and Topigs Research Center IPG. Four themes were aimed at in the research programme: 1)Sensory evaluation of meat from entire male pigs. 2)Preventive measures to reduce boar taint prevalence.3)Accuracy of detection for boar taint.4) The relationship between farm management characteristics and levels of mounting and aggressive behaviour of boars.Using observational and experimental studies data were collected in various segments of the pork supply chain.The researchers conclude that ranking AI boars on their genomic breeding values for low boar taint resulted in a reduction in boar taint prevalence of 40%.The skatole level is lower in boars fed via a long trough than in boars fed by a single space feeder. Few eating places, restricted feeding, a low level of amino acids in the diet, insufficient water supply of the drinking system, illness of the pigs, a suboptimal climate and fear for humans were associated with a higher level of sexual and aggressive behaviour and more skin lesions. A partly open pen wall, clean pens and pigs, wider gaps of the slats, feeding by a long trough, and feeding wet by-products were associated with less sexual and aggressive behaviour and less skin lesions. Having more than 30 animals per pen was associated with a higher probability of high boar taint prevalence levels. Hygienic conditions were associated with lower boar taint prevalence levels. Assessing similarity of the rank order comparison between consumer perception and three selected boar taint detection parameters for the consumer perception attribute odour of meat resulted in the highest Kendall's W values for the human nose scores.In conclusion, boar tainted meat was rated as less pleasant by consumers compared to meat of gilts and non-tainted boar meat, indicating the need of detection as a safety net at the slaughter line. Breeding was an effective preventive measure to reduce boar taint. Farms with appropriate management, feeding and housing conditions have reduced levels of mounting and aggressive behaviour. Human nose scores were a better predictor of the rank order of consumer perception, compared to skatole levels and to androstenone levels. read more here;http://www.pigprogress.net/Growing-Finishing/Management/2016/1/Study-How-to-lower-occurrence-of-boar-taint-2740440W/