Land, farming and livestock
Cattle in Somalia: Boran and the Somali breeds
Somalia has about 3.9 million cattle, according to an FAO estimate. They are zebu, humped cattle. The Boran is a beef breed of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia; Kenya's improved Boran was bred partly from the 'Somali Boran'. Large brown-red cattle from Somalia make up an estimated 60 to 70 percent of the cattle sold at Garissa in Kenya.
How many cattle?
An FAO study estimates Somalia had 3.93 million cattle before the 2016/17 drought, against 6.61 million camels and over 42 million sheep and goats. Cattle and their milk were worth about USD 0.48 billion a year, three-quarters of it from milk (FAO Statistics Working Paper 23-37, 2023). Cattle are the least drought-hardy of the four species: they die first when the rains fail (same source).
Somalia exported 291,692 cattle in 2024 (Central Bank of Somalia, Annual Report 2025). Cattle also walk across the land border to Kenya, and less than 30 percent of them are formally taxed at the border (Ng'asike and others, Pastoralism, 2020). See The cattle trade to Kenya.
The Boran
The Boran is a zebu beef breed whose origin is given as Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. It descends from the shorthorned zebu of the Borana people of southern Ethiopia (Wikipedia, Boran cattle).
- Weight: bulls 650 to 850 kg, cows 350 to 500 kg.
- Colours: white, fawn, red, black or spotted.
- Traits: fertile, early to mature, hardy and calm, and adapted to local conditions over more than a thousand years in Africa. It has little resistance to the tsetse-borne disease trypanosomiasis.
- Ancestry: a DNA study found it 64 percent Bos indicus (Indian humped cattle), 24 percent European Bos taurus and 12 percent African Bos taurus.
All from Wikipedia, Boran cattle.
The Somali Boran and the Kenyan Boran
Three types are named: the small Orma Boran, the Somali Boran, and the Kenyan (improved) Boran, which was developed from the Orma Boran, the Borana and the Somali Boran. The Boran Cattle Breeders' Society has managed breeding in Kenya since 1951 (Wikipedia, Boran cattle).
Cattle from Somalia in Kenya's markets
At Garissa market in Kenya, an estimated 60 to 70 percent of cattle come from Somalia. They are described as large brown-red cattle that resist drought, weigh 280 to 350 kg live at grade II, and fetch higher prices than the smaller Boran kept by Kenyan herders (Ng'asike and others, Pastoralism, 2020).
Related pages
- Rinderpest in Somalia, the cattle plague eradicated by 2010
- How many livestock does Somalia have?
Sources
- FAO Statistics Working Paper 23-37, 2023 · doi.org
- Central Bank of Somalia, Annual Report 2025 · centralbank.gov.so
- Ng'asike and others, Pastoralism, 2020 · link.springer.com
- Wikipedia, Boran cattle · en.wikipedia.org
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Same era
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- DjiboutiAbout 13,900 refugees from Somalia live in Djibouti (Aug 2026): numbers since 1990, Ali Addeh, Holl-Holl, the 2017 refugee law, Arta 2000 and 2025 returns.
Keep reading
- Pastoralism in Somalia: how herding worksSomali pastoralism in facts: how many people herd, what they earn, milk and meat, seasons and movement, herd splitting, risks from drought and disease, and the move to towns.
- How many livestock does Somalia have?Somalia's livestock in numbers: herd size by species, what the animals produce, how many die each year, exports, and why sources disagree.
- Camels in Somalia: the world's largest herdCamels in Somalia in facts: herd size, share of the world's camels, camel milk, exports to the Gulf, the 2016 to 2018 export fall at Berbera, and the first camel milk yoghurt factory.
- Blackheaded Somali sheep: the breed behind the livestock tradeThe Blackheaded Somali sheep: what it looks like, where it is kept, why it suits dry land, its role in exports through Berbera and Bosaso, and the breeds descended from it.
- The Somali goat: breed, milk and tradeThe Somali goat in facts: what it looks like, where it is kept, milk yield in drought, meat exports with sheep, and what DAD-IS records about the breed.
- The camel milk trade: from herds to city marketsCamel milk in Somalia: how much is produced and what it is worth, the abakaar women traders who supply Mogadishu, seasons and prices, milk 'tourism', and new dairies and yoghurt.