Thirteen qualitative and six morphometric variables on a total of 651 adult cattle (76 oxen and 575 cows) from four purposively selected districts were recorded to characterize the cattle populations in and around the breeding tract of Raya cattle. General linear model, frequency, and multivariate analysis procedures of Statistical Analysis Software (SAS 9.0) were used to analyze the data by splitting and merging the sexes. Higher measurement values for oxen were recorded over the cows. Location affects the studied traits significantly. The cattle population from Habru district was significantly differentiated from Raya cattle. Among the districts of Raya cattle, lowest values for most of the linear measurements were observed in Kobo district. Majority of the Raya cattle possess upright, lyre-shaped horn, small, and erected hump placed at the cervical thoracic position, large dewlap, naval flap, and perpetual sheath sizes and dominantly dark red body color with uniform body color pattern. Stepwise discriminant function analysis reveals horn length, ear length, and height at wither were the first three most important morphometric variables used in discriminating the cattle populations. Canonical discrimination analysis showed that the first canonical structure explains majority (94.13%) of the total variation with eigenvalue of 2.07 and canonical correlation of 82.14%. Discriminant function analysis showed the classification of an average 61% of the studied animals into their respective districts. Pairwise Mahalanobis distances between populations from different districts were found to be highly significant. Habru cattle population relates distantly from Raya cattle except its short distance with Kobo district. The shortest distance was observed between Raya cattle of Alamata and Raya Azebo districts. In conclusion, cattle from Alamata, Raya Azebo, and Kobo districts can be categorized as Raya cattle, while strong similarities between the first two districts in showing the real characteristics and morphology of Raya cattle were also revealed.

记录了四个有意选择的地区的总共651头成年牛（76头牛和575头牛）的13个定性和6个形态计量变量，以表征拉雅牛育种区内和周围的牛群。使用统计分析软件（SAS 9.0）的通用线性模型，频率和多元分析程序，通过分解和合并性别来分析数据。牛身上的牛的测量值更高。位置显着影响所研究的性状。哈布鲁地区的牲畜与拉雅地区的牲畜有明显的区别。在拉雅（Raya）牛区中，大多数线性测量的最低值出现在Kobo地区。大部分拉雅族的牛都有竖立的，竖琴形的角，小，和竖立的驼峰位于颈胸位置，大的垂垂度，海军襟翼和永久的鞘大小，并且主要是深红色的体色，具有均匀的体色模式。逐步判别函数分析显示，喇叭长度，耳长和枯萎高度是用来鉴别牛群的前三个最重要的形态学变量。典型判别分析表明，第一个典型结构解释了总变异的大部分（94.13％），特征值为2.07，典型相关性为82.14％。判别功能分析表明，平均有61％的被研究动物被分为各自的地区。发现来自不同地区的人口之间的成对马氏距离非常重要。哈布鲁族的牲畜与拉雅族的牲畜关系较远，但与科博地区的距离不远。在阿拉马塔的拉雅牛与拉雅阿泽伯地区之间的距离最短。总之，来自阿拉马塔，拉雅阿泽伯和科博地区的牛可归类为拉雅牛，而前两个地区之间在显示拉雅牛的真实特征和形态方面也具有很强的相似性。