Kyoga
(local/other name)

(most common name):
• Nganda
(local/other name):
• Nsoga
• Nyoro
• Serere

The Kyoga is a Small East African Zebu belonging to the Teso group.

The Kyoga was previously believed to originate from Ankole cattle being crossed with both Large East African Zebu cattle and Small East African Zebu cattle (mainly the Nkedi). It was this interbreeding that led some sources to identify the Kyoga as a Ankole sanga-zebu intermediate type (Felius, 1995).

However, it has more recently been argued that the Kyoga is not phenotypically different from other zebu of the African Great Lakes region (Rege and Tawah, 1999). Also, recent genetic studies show that the Kyoga possesses only the zebu Y chromosone (Mason Encyclopedia, 2016).

The Kyoga gets its name from Lake Kyoga in Uganda and ‘Kyoga’ is used as a breed local name for the Nganda. The Kyoga is kept by the Kunam tribe in the Lango and Kaberamaido areas of the Teso district of central Uganda.

NOTE: Ankole cattle are found in East Africa in an area extending from Lake Albert (formerly Lake Mobutu) to Lake Tanganyika. (Both lakes belong to a series of lakes known as the African Great Lakes.)

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-18

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