Daura: The work bull & why it’s very popular

A breed indigenous to Niger republic, it stands out on account of its red colour, and it is popular as a means of transport and as an aid to farming in Daura and outlying areas   Many uses  Bull fattening or Turke in Hausa, is big  business in Daura, Katsina State. In every house in […]

A breed indigenous to Niger republic, it stands out on account of its red colour, and it is popular as a means of transport and as an aid to farming in Daura and outlying areas

 

Many uses 

Bull fattening or Turke in Hausa, is big  business in Daura, Katsina State. In every house in the outlying areas, can be found either bulls which are being fattened or those which are used to pull the cart, and both generate considerable incomes for the owners. In sum, there is always some money to be made from the bull, noted for its colour, large horns and huge form which can reach 350 kilogrammes, Dr. Adamu Abdulkadir, a Veterinary Doctor, tells Daily Trust. The male work bull can be fattened and then sold, with the owner  making huge returns from the effort. 

Daily Trust is informed “Fattening is meant for finishing the bulls, to prepare the bulls for sale for beef. This  takes  seven to eight weeks, that is some two to three months in all. Fattening is a good money making venture. A bull which costs one hundred and fifty thousand Naira, can be sold for two hundred and fifty thousand Naira, all within an eight week period.” Sometimes, the female bull is fattened and sold around the time of the annual festivals, such as Sallah and Christmas. Bulls are placed on a diet of  corn stalks, groundnut chips, ground nut  leaves, cow peas, wheat bran and soya beans. The process of fattening produces manure within the space where it occurs, and this can be sold too. “After one fattening cycle, a man can get more than ten carts of manure, with each one being sold at two thousand naira,” Daily Trust is told. 

Sani Ado (not real name) comments on bull fattening in Daura “work bulls have many uses as far as Daura community is concerned. I am referring to areas like Makkasauro, Shamadara  and a lot of other remote villages around. People in the villages use work bulls  to serve the cows, especially during the breeding season. If a work bull  has grown very well, and they feel it is okay for it to be serving the females, the work bull is usually isolated and fed very well.When it becomes very big, it will now be released to be following the female cows to mate with them. This is how they produce hybrid and offspring.” But this correspondent gathered in Daura that the provision of subsidized animal feeds and veterinary pharmaceuticals to farmers, will increase milk yield and shorten the fattening duration. 

Every family has one 

According to Ado “It is common for an average family to have cows, especially in the villages. Fifty percent of people in the villages will have a single cow in a house. Either a single cow, or a single bull is very common in the villages. A man in Daura will have up to ten cows, but he cannot rear them in Daura. He will give them to somebody in the village to rear for him. The one rearing the cow will have the benefit of milk and food for himself, as well as manure. The owner of the bull is  simply interested in the multiplication of the bulls.” 

At Tambu, a village just outside Daura, Basiru Sule comments on the fattening process “We fatten for business. We buy, fatten and then we sell. When we sell we normally make a profit of forty thousand Naira or more. In the past we used to fatten up to ten bulls at once, but things have changed, and nowadays we fatten about three bulls at a go. Bulls are also used to convey farm produce back to the houses, at the end of the harvest season.” 

Training 

Audu Sule says “The bulls are referred to as Shanun Noma or Shanun Huda, because they are used for milk, farm and house work. Farm work includes things like harrowing and ploughing. “He adds that bulls are trained by first putting  the wood support on their necks which is known as Galma. This is done for some weeks until the animal becomes used to the wood support. At this point the cart known as Amalanken Shanu, is placed alongside a little load for the bulls to move around with. Then it is trained to convey manure, sand, feed and farm produce.  

Red Bororo 

The red Bororo is vital to local agricultural practices and there are countless farms in the vicinity of the famous town. Red Bororo is also useful for harrowing,ploughing, conveying of manure, as well as a means of transport, and it has flourished and still remains a popular choice for many, in spite of modern systems of farming, transport and even the pressure of modern ways. One clear reason is the fact that using the bull on the farm is cheap, for renting the bull for ploughing or to convey manure, is cheaper than hiring a tractor, and so many of the locals readily turn to it. In some places, especially across the border in Niger republic, bulls are used to convey a brides property to the house of her husband. Dr. Abdulkadir tells me that red Bororo has stamina and can trek long distances, and that this explains its gifts as a work bull in many parts of northern Nigeria. He explains that it is noted for the production of meat, rather than milk, a fact which is contradicted by my contacts at Daura, who opine that through red Bororo, Daura produces the best milk in the whole of Katsina State. 

Popular  

But then, what explains the popularity of the bull? Sule explains “All the activities relating to the bull are traditions inherited from our forefathers. These traditions ease our farm activities,and we use them to  reach our  targets, for instance, in the rainy season by quickly harrowing the farms, without delays from the private owners.” He explains that when the work bulls have finished their work, they are sold in the market. Another set of bulls are then bought, and these will be traded off  after a three year cycle. He adds that the use of bulls will still be common in the Daura area a hundred years from now. Daily Trust gathers that a brand new cart which can last twenty years, costs fifty thousand Naira, and most of them are manufactured in Daura.  

He reasons “Some prefer to use the bulls because they believe in them both culturally and traditionally.Culturally, we have a lot of affinity for keeping animals, because we can use animals for many things. The residue that accumulates after harvest, such as the stalk and chaff, can be fed to the animals. Anytime you wish to sell them, you can easily do this in the market. Most of the farms are in the villages, and there are no access roads  for cars to go in. But the bulls can go in to those places. If you wish to convey manure to your house in a car, you may pay a lot of money for that, but with a cart the transportation cost is relatively cheap.”