Ecoscience: Grazing Ecosystems?From Theory to Practice

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The Hopcrafts are also experimenting with various ways of marketing the meat, which they describe collectively as "African venison." Having eaten steaks from many African herbivores, we can testify that when the animals are properly slaughtered and the meat carefully prepared, such food is delicious. We tried several new dried "jerky" products at the ranch and quickly became addicted to them. The venison is also being smoked and converted into sausages and salamis.

Multiple Advantages

It seems to us that the Hopcrafts have established the basic economic feasibility of African game ranching. Costs are substantially lower than those of cattle raising in that region. Much less water has to be supplied to the animals, meaning less capital must be sunk into bores, dams, and piping. And, unlike cattle, game animals require no dipping or inoculation against parasites and diseases.
Moreover, there is no need for herding or corralling—the native herbivores handle their own predator protection. Indeed, the Hopcrafts' herds have been expanding in spite of almost no predator control. Lions, cheetahs, hyenas, and jackals all inhabit the ranch, but they harvest only a small share of the game.

The exact economic advantages of a game ranch over a cattle ranch have not yet been determined. From the data the Hopcrafts have gathered so far, it appears that the yield of lean meat from an operation such as the game ranch will be at least twice the poundage per acre taken from the best cattle ranch in the region.

In addition to rapid growth rates in the game species, a major reason for this higher productivity is that a variety of herbivores partitioning resources can utilize much more of the vegetation than cattle can.

An additional advantage of the game ranch is in the potential for selling the hides. Those from the game should have a much higher value than cowhides, but at the moment the sale of game hides is prohibited by the Kenyan government-quite properly, since most of them are obtained by poaching. It is possible that a licensing system could be devised to allow game ranchers to market their hides, as mink ranchers do in the United States.

Breaking Traditions

There are, of course, some problems still to be overcome. The main difficulties involve breaking traditions-traditions of what meat is good to eat, traditions among scientists in animal husbandry for whom the idea of game ranching is too novel, traditions among African pastoral peoples such as the Masai, to whom cattle are the main symbol of wealth.

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