BURNING FLINT HILLS 269 LITERATURE CITED rainfall by prairie grasses, weeds, range sites to grazing treatment. ALDOUS,A. E. 1934. Effects of burn- and certain crop plants. Ecol. Ecol. Monog. 29: 171-186. ing on Kansas bluestem pastures. Monog. 10: 243-277. HOPKINS, H., F. W. ALBERTSONAND Kans. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 38. 65 p. DYKSTERHUIS,E. J. 1949. Condition A. RIEGEL. 1948. Some effects of ANDERSON,KLING L. 1942. A com- and management of range land burning upon a prairie in west parison of line transects and per- based on quantitative ecology. J. central Kansas. Kans. Acad. Sci. manent quadrats in evaluating Range Manage. 2: 104-115. Trans. 51: 131-141. ELWELL, H. M., H. A. DANIEL AND composition and density of pasture LAUNCHBAUGH,J. L. 1964. Effects of F. A. FENTON. 1941. The effects of vegetation on the tall prairie grass early spring burning_ on yields of type. J. Amer. Sot. Agron. 34: 805- burning pasture and woodland native vegetation. J. Range Man- 822. vegetation. Okla. Agr. Expt. Sta. age. 17: 5-6. Bull. 247. 14 p. ANDERSON,KLINC L. AND C. L. FLY. HANKS, R. J. ANDKLING L. ANDERSON. MCMURPHY,W. E. AND KLING L. AN- 1955. Vegetation-soil relationships 1957. Pasture burning and moisture DERSON.1963. Burning bluestem in Flint Hills bluestem pastures. conservation. J. Soil and Water range-Forage yields. Kans. Acad. J. Range Manage. 8: 163-169. Conserv. 12: 228-229. Sci. Trans. 66: 49-51. BIEBER,G. L. ANDKLING L. ANDERSON. HENSEL,R. L. 1923. Effect of burning SMITH, E. F., K. L. ANDERSON,F. W. 1961. Soil moisture in bluestem on vegetation in Kansas pastures. BORENAND C. L. DRAKE. 1963. Dif- grassland following burning. J. J. Agr. Res. 23:641-647. ferent methods of managing blue- Soil and Water Conserv. 16: 186- HERBEL,C. H. AND KLING L. ANDER- stem pastures. Livestock Feeder’s 187. SON. 1959. Response of True Prairie Day Progress Report. Kans. Agr. CLARK, 0. R. 1940. Interception of vegetation on major Flint Hills Expt. Sta. Bull. 460:27-60. sources. The objectives of this paper are to describe the tradi- Grazing Conditions in Kenya Masailand’ tional grazing practices, efforts GEOFFREY M. 0. MALOIY and HAROLD F. HEADY to improve livestock and range, Division of Animal Science, University of British Co- and to suggest a program for im- lumbia, Vancouver, B.C., and School of Forestry, Uni- provement. versity of California, Berkeley, respectively. The Landscape. - Although Highlight maize, and sugarcane are grown rainfall records are scanty, pre- cipitation in Kenya Masailand on small areas at Loitokitok on Brief descriptions of landscape, probably averages between 10 herding methods, forage values, live- the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, stock numbers, efforts to control and 40 inches per year (Table grazing, and livestock-game relation- at Ngong near Nairobi, and at 1). The eastern side is the drier ships are presented as background Syabei, north of Narok. Migrant part with the major rainfall in for a suggested range development program in this part of East Africa. herds of livestock and wild game two seasons, November-Decem- prevail throughout the region ber and March-May. The west- Before the coming of Europe- and constitute the major re- ern region is characterized by ans, the Masai with their herds of cattle, sheep, goats, and don- keys roamed the open grasslands from Lake Rudolf in the north to central Tanganyika. Today, Masai herdsmen occupy the southern region of Kenya and adjacent parts of Tanganyika. The Kenya part of Masailand to which this paper is restricted covers an area of 15,296 square miles (Fig. 1) . Tsetse flies, tick- born diseases, and barren condi- tions reduce the usable area to about 11,000 square miles. Coffee, pyrethrum, beans, 1 Thanks are extended to Mr. R. W. Lewis, Assistant Director, Dept. Veterinary Services, Ngong, Kenya, for data on livestock numbers and to the Kenya Government Informa- tion Services which supplied the FIGURE 1. Kenya Masailand showing location of grazing schemes, farming areas, and phbtograph. game reserves in 1959. 270 MALOIY AND HEADY Table 1. Inches of precipiiafion in the Kajiado District during fhe lasf drought year and fhe following year. Location Year Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total Kajiado 1960 0.55 0.06 2.55 3.93 0.85 0.06 0.19 0.00 0.13 0.73 1.08 0.88 11.01 1961 0.16 0.33 0.06 4.55 1.39 0.56 0.04 0.05 0.37 2.10 12.11 13.71 35.43 Loitokitok 1960 5.51 0.56 4.77 5.51 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.74 3.34 5.16 25.59 1961 1.06 5.88 1.92 4.74 0.31 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.26 6.72 14.62 5.41 40.92 more rain which begins in No- complete description of range raiding tribes and carnivorous vember and lasts until May conditions has been published by animals. African cattle, when (Griffiths and Gwynne, 1963). Heady (1960). left unherded in fenced areas, Yearly differences are great and Herding Methods.-The Masai take a year or more to break a serious drought occurred be- herds follow grass and water ac- their habit of being close to- tween 1959 and late 1961. West- cording to seasonal availability. gether at all times. ern Masailand is generally above Each Masai family builds a cir- When grass or water become 5,000 feet elevation while most cular corral or boma of thorny scanty, people and animals move of the eastern part lies between branches from acacia trees and to new locations. Movements 2,000 and 4,000 feet. Topographic locates his huts around the inner are normally coordinated be- features include vast areas of perimeter. During the day the tween higher and lower eleva- gently rolling plains and striking herds are taken to water or to tions in the wet and dry seasons. terrain such as the Rift Valley, grass where they are allowed to When the family leaves for new Mount Kilimanjaro on the south, graze, always in close formation. pastures, a boma may be burned, the Mau and Enkurman Escarp- At night they return to the either by accident or to rid the ments to the north, and recently bomas. Close herding and con- location of parasites and patho- formed volcanic cones. Vegeta- centrated trampling near the genie disease-causing agents. tion is grassland with brush and bomas results in a network of Forage Values. - Abundance trees of various densities, and oc- trails and denudation of the land of poor condition livestock sug- casional dense forests in riverine even though the landscape is gests that East African forages. situations or on other favorable relatively level. Cattle are nor- may be low in nutritive values. sites. The grassland is frequently mally taken to greater distances Chemical analyses and digesti- burned (Glover and Gwynne, than flocks of sheep or goats. bility trials partly substantiate 1961) where overgrazing has not Herding and enclosing became this conclusion for animals on “fireproofed” it by removing traditional and must still be used dry coarse grass. However, high herbaceous fuel (Fig. 2). A more as protective measures against crude protein values of browse and green plants indicate that poor condition in animals is more likely due to lack of carbohy- drates and total digestible nutri- ents than to low crude protein percentage in the forage (Heady, 1960). Estimates of nutritive values (Glover and Dougall, 1961) showed that pasture for- ages containing 11 to 14 percent crude protein were most effi- cient for milk production. As milk is one of the most important food items for the Masai, man- agement of their ranges should aim for both high quality and quantity forage. French (1956) found that wa- tering cattle once every three days, as done by Masai herds- men during the dry season, in- FIGURE 2. Masai cattle grazing in the dry season on overused range in the Rift Valley. stead of daily, reduced the intake Sound grazing management and nutrient supplementation are topics still unknown to of crude protein and starch the average Masai livestock raiser. equivalent as well as water. KENYA MASAILAND 271 While these are obvious advan- water, and fluctuating diseases. ited livestock numbers and sea- tages for survival in a severe Large areas are denuded because sonally rotated grazing must be climate, development of water of higher stocking rates, and continued. However, they can and its proper management will other locations show signs of be successful only if the Masai promote improved animal nutri- progressive deterioration in will impose the necessary regu- tion. quality and quantity of grass lations upon themselves. Livestock Numbers. - In 1957 cover. However, abundant grass Although a few ranches have the 68,000 Kenya Masai owned is still present on a large portion been established under private l,OOO,OOOcattle, 460,000 sheep and of Kenya Masailand, especially Masai ownership, especially in 200,000 goats (Table 2). These in the years of favorable rain- the Kajiado District, organized fall. Brush invasion and thick- ranching has developed slowly. Table 2. Pre- and post-drought live- ening of brush cover have con- The Masai fear that ranch estab- sfock numbers (thousands) in Ke’n- tributed to irregular distribution lishment is more for the purpose ya Masailand by Disfrici. of grazing pressure and to de- of land grabbing than for effi- Cat- teriorating range conditions. cient land management. Much District Year tle Sheep Goats Water developments in the past basic ecology is yet to be learned Kajiado 1957 550 60 100 have done little to solve the dis- before blocks of 10,000 or more 1961 250 50 100 tribution problem of uneven acres can be adequately de- Narok 1957 450 400 100 grazing because livestock limita- marked and practices recom- 1961 400 400 100 tions were not imposed.