Fulani White Cattle: Characteristics, Uses, and Complete Breed Information

White Fulani cattle are a beautiful breed of cattle primarily raised for meat/beef production. He is also known by other names such as Akou, Bunaji, Fellata, White Bororo, White Kano and Yakanaji.

White Fulani cattle are an important cattle breed in the territory conquered by the Fulani people and beyond in the Sahelian zone of Africa. And most of that cattle belong to the normal Fulani people.

The nomadic Fulani people occupy a belt between the Sahara and the rainforest from west of the Senegal River to east of Lake Chand. It also includes parts of western Senegal, southern Maurita, in and around the floodplains of Niger, northern Nigeria, Chand and Cameroon.

The exact origin of the white Fulani cattle is still unknown. But there are many opinions about the origin of this breed of cattle. Some say that “white Fulani are really long-horned zebus”. This opinion is mainly due to the appearance of a distinct hump in a newborn calf and the features of the skull and thoracic vertebrae.

And, according to another opinion, “the breed originated from the crossing of the first short-horned Zebu with the ancient long-horned and/or short-horned Hamitic, resulting in the Sanga breed. And then crossing these Sangas with humpbacked zebus could result in lyre-horned cattle, including white Fulani. (source: agtr.ilri.cgiar.org)

Whatever the opinions, these animals are mostly zebus but come from Sanga cattle. And the white Fulani and red Fulani cattle breeds are completely different. They are broken down both by storage location and by origin. However, read more about this breed of cattle below.

Characteristics of white Fulani cattle

Fulani white cattle are medium-sized animals with long horns. They are easily identified by their long, lyre-shaped horns. Their horns are usually 80 to 105 cm long. As the name suggests, the coat color of white Fulani cattle is usually white over black skin.

They usually have black ears, eyes, hooves, horn tips, muzzle and tail tip. They have a well-developed chest and chest, and sometimes an intermediate hump. They tend to be narrower and taller in body, and their rump is quite long, but has a noticeable slope from hook to thorn.

The udder of cows is well developed and well formed. The head of these animals is long and wide, crossing the forehead. The average body weight of mature bulls ranges from 350 to 665 kg. And the cows weigh an average of 250 to 380 kg. Photo taken from agtr.ilri.cgiar.org

Advantages

White Fulani cattle are a dual purpose animal. They are excellent for meat production and quite good for milk production. But they are mostly used for meat production.

Special Notes

Fulani white cattle are very hardy and strong animals. They are well suited for long trips around the pastoral home. They can survive and do well in hot weather and are more heat tolerant than some other breeds.

Cows are fairly good milk producers and, on average, cows can produce between 627 and 1034 kg of milk per lactation. Their average lactation length is about 220 days. Cow’s milk is high in fat.

And the average percentage of milk fat content ranges from 4.1 to 7.5%. The breed is also very good at meat production and does well in feedlots and natural pasture. See the complete profile of this breed in the following table.

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