Fig. 1

Agro-ecological zones in Ghana and study districts. Districts (turquoise blue areas) were selected from the Sudan savannah (yellow area in the north-east corner), Guinea savannah (canary yellow area in the north), the forest to savannah Transitional zone (lime green area in the middle), and Coastal savannah (lemon yellow area in the south). Two to three districts were selected from each of the four agro-ecological zones noted for cattle production. Ghana is surrounded by Cote d’Ivoire to the west, Togo to the east, Burkina Faso to the north, and the sea Gulf of Guinea (Maya blue area) to the south