HOME  |  CONTACTS  |  DIRECTORATES  |  TECHNICAL INFO  |  PUBLICATIONS  |  SEARCH

agricultural production guidelines  veld in kwazulu-natal

m

 

Veld in KwaZulu-Natal 

---

Co-ordinated Extension

KwaZulu-Natal Veld 3.5 1999

K G T Camp
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture

---

 

INTRODUCTION

Having gone through the planning process a farmer should be able to implement an efficient veld utilization and management programme. Just how efficient the veld management system is, and where improvements could be effected, can be measured only if veld and animal performance can be monitored. Monitoring and record keeping allows for adaptive veld management to be applied (see Production Guideline 3.6 of this series). The procedures to be followed are detailed below.

Measure stocking intensity
This is measured in AU grazing days per hectare (GD/ha) and is the extent to which the grazing in a camp has been utilized over a stated period of time (see the procedure given in Production Guideline 3.2 of this series).

While stocking intensity can then be measured for each camp for each grazing cycle, some norm is necessary to assess whether the grazing intensity is excessive. This can be done on a yearly, seasonal or grazing cycle basis and varies according to veld type (Table 1) and the grazing capacity of the camp concerned. The grazing days measured should be related to animal performance.

 

Table 1. Recommended grazing days per hectare per annum per Bioresource Group.

Bioresource Group	Grazing days per hectare
	Per cycle	Per season *
1 to 8 9 11, 12, &15 13, 14, 16-20 21 & 23 22	20 20 20 16 14 14	160 140 120 80 70 56

* ‘Season’ refers to the period during which the grazing animal can be totally reliant on the veld for maintenance and production.

Record keeping
The following records should be kept for each camp. Use a separate sheet for each camp. Table 2 provides an example of a record sheet for each camp.

Camp detail

• Camp number or name: this should relate to a number or name on the farm map.

• Soil type: this information may be invaluable for interpretative purposes at a later stage.

• Veld condition score: both the grazing value and veld condition trend recording sheets should be attached to Table 2 if veld assessments have been done for the camp.

• Vigour: this will be your own subjective assessment of the vigour of the Key Grass species in the camp. Score as a percentage of the expected vigour of the same species in the benchmark.

• Area: the area of the camp expressed in hectares.

• Vegetation type: record the major vegetation features such as, ‘thatch grass dominant’, or ‘patches of Acacia’.

• Grass density: this refers to basal cover and is the subjective assessment of the manager.

• Survey date: the date on which the veld condition assessment was done and the date that any other information relating to the camp was gathered.

• Grazing season: each recording sheet will record the information of grazing cycles of one year. This includes rest periods or seasonal rests. Record the summer grazing season date, e.g. 1993 - 1994.

• Aspect: this can be recorded as N, NE, S, etc., or as degrees of the compass.

• Catenal position: this refers to crest, midslope, footslope or bottomland or to a combination of these.

• Bush density: recorded in tree equivalents (TE) per hectare.

• Grazing capacity: this is the estimated number of hectare required for each AU as calculated from rainfall and veld condition. Several Veld Type Units may be included in a camp and a weighted grazing capacity would therefore have to be calculated.

• Grazing days per ha per cycle: this is the norm for the veld type concerned and can be taken from Table 1. The actual GD/ha/cycle recorded and entered in the table can be compared with this figure.

• Grazing days per ha per season: this is the norm for the veld type concerned and can be taken from Table 1. The progressive total for the season can be compared with this figure.

Actual grazing records for the camp

• Date in: this is the date that the herd, flock or group of animals is introduced into the camp. A new line will be used for each period of stay in each grazing cycle.

• Date out: the date the animals are removed from the camp at the end of a period of stay.

• Numbers of livestock: entered by sex and age classes of the animals.

• Total AU's: this gives the total AU’s of all classes of livestock included under " Numbers of livestock".

• Days in: the period of stay in the camp, that is, the difference in days between the first two columns, "Date in" and "Date out".

• Grazing days/ha/cycle: the GD/ha for the cycle are calculated as presented in Production Guidelines 3.2 and 3.3. This information is compare with the norm defined in the table heading.

• Grazing days/ha (progressive): this is a progressive total grazing days per ha for all cycles. At the end of the grazing season the total of this column will reflect the total utilization that has been extracted from the camp. Compare this result with the norm set in the table heading.

• Days out: this is the period of absence and is the difference in days between the dates of "Date out" of one line and "Date in" of the next line below.

• Rainfall: record the rainfall for the period of stay and the total for the grazing season.

• Remarks: here it would be useful, for example, to record an estimation of the percentage of ungrazed grass after the animals have left the camp, i.e. "Date out".

Note: It is of no use to the farmer to keep records and then not to act on the information contained in them. The farmer should keep comparing the records against the norms for the veld type. More importantly, the records of each camp should be compared between years. This will provide the farmer with an excellent insight of the animal production potential of each camp on the farm.

 

Table 2. Camp management record

	GRAZING SEASON:............................................
Camp name or number: ...........................	Area: ................................................ ha	Aspect: ...............................................
Soil type: ...................................................	Vegetation type: ...................................	Catenal position: ................................
Veld Condition score: .............................	Grass density: .......................................	Bush density: ......................................
Vigour: ......................................................	Survey date: ..........................................	Grazing capacity: .................... ha/AU
	Grazing Days/ha/cycle.........................
	Grazing Days/ha/season.......................

 

HOME  |  CONTACTS  |  DIRECTORATES  |  TECHNICAL INFO  |  PUBLICATIONS  |  SEARCH

Copyright © 1999 KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs