Stocking rate of extensive land-reform livestock farmers during 2018/2019 drought: Bloemfontein grassland biome case study

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the average stocking rate among land reform beneficiary farmers specialising in livestock production in order to establish differences between calving percentage, fodder availability, and mortality rate of sampled farms, as well as to compare forage scarcities of Land Reform farms with their neighbouring farms during the midsummer drought of 2018/2019 in the Bloemfontein area. The average stocking rate was 5.9 ha/LSU in comparison with the Departmental grazing capacity norm of 6 ha/LSU for rangeland in good condition. However, 31% of the sampled farms were found to be severely overstocked, and the mortality rate on these farms, in relation to grazing capacity of 6 ha/LSU, was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the mortalities on the other remaining farms. Naturally available fodder was found to be heterogeneous, with 37.9% of the respondents observing their available fodder as worse than that of their neighbours. The total mortality of 176.77 LSUs was recorded for the 29 sampled farms. These findings will assist the local extension personnel prevent future rangeland condition degradation and increase land reform farmers’ productivity. The study concluded that training is paramount to farmers’ development and further recommends more research undertakings.