2.1. Study location
The Ibarapa area is divided into three LGAs by the Federal Government of
Nigeria in 1996 with an estimated human population of about 322,295 by
the National Population Census of 2006. The Ibarapa area is located
approximately 100 kilometres north of the coast of Lagos and about 95
kilometres west of Oyo State capital and neighbouring city, Ibadan
(Duze, 1984). The landmass of Ibarapa area is approximately 1,600 square
kilometres, and the area borders with the rain forest belt to the south
but consists of rolling savannah with residual patches of forest growing
near watercourses. Most of the land lies between 400 to 600 feet above
sea level, but rocky outcrops rising to 1,000 feet occur within the
setting, adding to the natural beauty of the landscape (Ogunlesi et al.,
1989). The area provides good arable land for animal pasture and
agricultural production which is the major occupation of members of the
community and the attractive force keeping the residing pastoralists in
the land. The Ibarapa area can confidently boast of over 10 thousand
heads of cattle. In addition to the rearing of cattle, agro-pastoralist
also plant crops like yam, maize and millet for subsistence. They tether
their cattle in open kraals that are not too far away from their
homestead. During the dry season, they become transhumant because they
travel far with their herds in search of lush pasture for their cattle
to graze, to return home when the rain starts.