Extensive review o f the literature found many references to the importance o f dry season grazing for pastoral and other communities in East Africa and northern Kenya in particular. However, most evidence o f dry season grazing tends to be
circumstantial, with little hard data quantifying the number o f cattle actually using forest resources at any one time (e.g. Struhsaker et al., 1989, Bronner, 1990).
The results presented in this chapter aimed: to establish the importance o f forest for livestock relative to other activities; to quantify current use o f the forest by cattle, both in terms o f the numbers using the forest and the proportion o f browse, and specifically tree species in the diet o f cattle; to compare the relative abundance o f other wild herbivores in areas o f known cattle grazing intensity; and finally to establish how use o f the forest for cattle grazing and watering has changed over the last 70 years.
In summary, the forest was perceived as being o f great importance for both cattle and smallstock, both for fodder and for water. Census data o f cattle using the forest during the height o f the dry season supported this perception, with 87% o f cattle regularly grazing inside closed canopy forest, representing around 6,000 animals. The forest was not used exclusively by members o f the forest adjacent community: thirty eight percent o f the cattle counted came from outside the group ranch. All, however, came from locations on the Lerroki Plateau. While 53% o f smallstock also used closed canopy forest for browsing and watering, the vast majority o f these were using forested areas outside the forest reserve. Smallstock are strictly prohibited from entering the Forest Reserve and my observations as well as these data support the fact that this rule is generally well observed. In contrast the majority o f cattle were
counted at waterholes inside the boundaries o f reserve.
The results o f the resource use ranking exercise overall shows similarities with a similar exercise carried out with Maasai around Oldonyo Orok Forest in southern Kenya which ranked forest resources based on their comparative economic advantage (Emerton, 1996). Grazing resources and water resources were ranked most highly. Firewood and building materials were next in importance reflecting perhaps less availability o f these woody resources outside the forest than seen on Lerroki, followed by medicinal products, honey, hunting, wild foods and utility items - the last being less valued as forest products given their greater availability outside as well as within the forest. Emerton also notes that households living further away from forest valued the forest as highly as households living adjacent to the forest as a source o f dry season fodder and water (Emerton, 1996).
The sample size for the livestock follows was small. However, the proportion o f diet from woody species averaged 18%, with almost half o f that made up o f tree species. There was little difference in browse intake between the height o f the dry season and the start o f the rainy season. These figures correspond well with those quoted at the start o f this chapter (e.g. Rees, 1972; Homewood & Hurst, 1986; Bayer, 1990) There was, however, a considerable difference in the proportion o f herbaceous plants in the diet, with herbs accounting for 34% o f food intake in January, compared to just 9% in April. The proportion o f time spent in closed canopy forest, open bush and woodland also declined sharply between January and April, from 71% to 13%, with a
corresponding increase in time spent at the forest edge and in forest glades from 8% to 62%. The dry season figures correspond closely with those found in Tugen cattle in an area o f poor pasture availability north and west o f Lake Baringo, where the cattle spent just 8% o f their active day in open grassland and more than 50% o f their active day in bush and bushed grassland (Homewood & Hurst, 1986). In the same study, the II Chamus cattle (to the south west o f the lake), kept in an area where high quality pasture was more available, spent most o f the active day in open grassland. The figures from this survey are inevitably affected by the herding strategies o f the herders, but comparison with data from the Baringo area suggests availability is an important factor in determining cattle habitat use.
The faecal pellet counts suggest the presence o f cattle may suppress the population of most other wild herbivores. The number o f cattle using the forest was much higher in January 1994 compared to January 1995, when evidence o f cattle using the forest was almost non-existent. These data, together with the results o f the cattle follows, support the assumption that cattle tend only to use the forest during the dry season when range quality and grass availability outside the forest is poor.
Another factor that might encourage herders to ‘drive’ the cattle from the forest at the start o f the rains is the rapid increase in the potentially disease carrying tick population associated with fresh grass growth (Potkanski, 1993; Norval et a l, 1994). The buffalo population found inside the forest almost certainly acts as a carrier for East Coast Fever and the tick load inside the forest and at the forest edge visibly increased at the onset o f the rains (pers obs. o f the number o f ticks on my socks at the end o f each day). The occurrence o f biting flies in the forest also increased considerably towards the end o f the rainy season and a number o f dead bush buck and one dead buffalo were seen in the forest\
' Unfortunately the disease was not identified, although the most likely is trypanosomiasis (District Wildlife Officer, Pers comm.).
Finally, systematic interviews with men o f different age-groups seem to suggest that the number o f cattle using the forest in the past was much higher than today.