WATUSI -" The Cattle of Kings"

HISTORY:

The Watusi are an ancient breed of cattle. They can easily trace their ancestry back more than 6000 years. There are pictographs of long-horned hump less cattle in the Egyptian tombs establishing them in the Nile Valley by 4000 B.C.(When we were in Egypt and saw these pictographs, we were very excited because we had Watusi and couldn't believe that the breed dated back that far.) These cattle migrated south with their owners and over the next 4000 years they became the base stock of many of the African breeds. Particularly outstanding are the cattle found in Uganda where they are known as Ankole and in Rwanda where they are called the Watusi. These cattle were considered sacred and supplied milk to the owners, but only rarely used for meat production because an owner's wealth was counted in live animals.

CHARACTERISTICS:

These beautiful cattle are famous for being the world's largest horned cattle. Their horns can vary from lateral to upswept. Some have been known to reach 39 inches in circumference and up to eight feet from tip to tip. Watusi come in virtually every color known in cattle. They may be either solid or spotted. The colors seen most often are red or red and white. Watusi are especially resistant to drought, heat and direct sunlight. Their digestive systems have the ability to utilize poor quality and limited quantities of food and water. The temperature ranges in their native homeland, Africa, are from 20 to 120 degrees. They have developed into extremely hardy animals because of these temperature variations and the low quality - sparsely available feeds, seasonally limited water supplies, virulent diseases, predators and parasites. Given their development history they flourish in this country where these conditions either do not exist or are minimal. Watusi calve with ease. Their milk contains 7 to 8% butterfat. Their vigor, longevity, and general ruggedness make them a very desirable investment.

TEMPERAMENT:

Although the horns are awesome to look at and the animals are so impressive, they are by nature calm and gentle.

REGISTERED:

All of our Watusi are registered with the World Watusi Association. We have mostly foundation pure with a few native pure cows.