Assessment of production practices of emerging cattle farmers in the selected districts of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

A survey to assess the production management practises and challenges facing the developing cattle farmers was conducted by consulting with a total of 60 smallholder cattle producers in Amathole and Chris Hani districts situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The results of the current study are bringing evidence that our respondents are elderly people, with a lot of farming experience, sufficient land and being dominated by men. Extensive farming was the most (67%) recorded practised. A small proportion of the respondents were keeping farm records (n=21), as result they cannot really track the trend of their business. Most of them had infrastructures that were in poor condition such as fencing, farm houses and access roads, while handling facilities in most of the farms did not exist. Cows experiencing calving problems or failing to have a calf per year were culled and sold in most cases. Basic cattle management practices were followed by almost all the respondents with the exception of deworming that was practiced by only 33%. The findings show that developing farmers are aware of the importance of animal health management as there were very few individuals that were not vaccinating (11.7%) and controlling parasites in their herds. When farmers were experiencing grazing shortages they were supplementing, some were feeding animals with farm produced forage while others culled less productive animals. These results show that there are only a few emerging farmers (25%) that are conserving forage, which might be due to a lack of knowledge or resources for example shortages of infrastructures and implements. Lick supplementation was a common practise amongst farmers. In our study, many respondents had camp divisions regardless of their functionality and condition. There were no proper precautions in place for both bush encroachment and moribund grass. Breeding was done seasonally and throughout the year. Reproduction capability measuring (bull fertility and pregnancy testing) was an uncommon practise unlike parturition observation that was done by the majority of farmers. The respondents had good conception and calving rates. In many farms there were people that were permanently employed. Most sales of livestock were done through private buyers (53%), auctions (30%) and speculators (20%). The furthest marketing places from farms on average were butcheries, abattoirs and feedlots. Nevertheless, some farmers were not marketing their cattle. Over and above cattle sales, there were also other sources of income for the respondents. The farmers were spending significant amounts (R73861.67 on average) on fuel and labour payments. On average, respondents’ farming income was higher than their expenses. Thirty-seven percent of respondents reported an increase in cattle sales over the past three years while, 36% did not experience any improvement in their cattle enterprise. Poor fencing, stock theft and drought were challenges that were facing our respondents. Lastly, respondents were obtaining agricultural advises from DAFF, DRDLR and agricultural magazines.