The Sunday News
THE dry season is here with us and the worst nightmare of a smallholder farmer begins. The farmer becomes anxious and restless for the next three critical months as he watches his animals progressively lose body condition and unfortunately animals begin to succumb to starvation and mortalities are recorded en masse. I have had the opportunity to drive around some districts in Matabeleland and signs of nutritional stress are beginning to manifest in most animals. The two most critical nutritional elements in this time of the year are water and feed in terms of mere herbage.
Animals are seen congregating around the few available water points which are usually far and wide apart or along the single major river within the community. Animals are noticeably with raised hairs and generally distressed. While raised hairs are a clear and conclusive sign of a sick animal in most cases it is important to note that during this time of the year animals also tend to have raised hairs as a sign of nutritional stress. This article therefore seeks to remind farmers of the dry season management practices that they can adopt to reduce stress on their animals and most importantly avoid mortalities.
Admittedly dry season mitigation measures do not start now but way back towards the end of the summer season but nonetheless it is still important and valid to talk about these measures and advise farmers on what to do.
Farmers need to go an extra mile and ensure that their animals access water within reasonable distances. This is by no means easy in dry regions such as Matabeleland but it still needs to be done and it is very important that it is done. Most farmers think animals lose condition and even die of starvation as a result of inadequate feed.
This is of course true but it is important to note that the major contributing and accelerating factor in body condition deterioration of animals is water more than the feed. Water deteriorates animal condition mainly due to the distances that the animal has to walk in the scotching heat to go and get some drinking water. This is against a background of very little feed in the veld. In Matabeleland region because of the seasonal nature of most rivers animals get water from the few available dams and the river beds of major rivers such as Tuli in Gwanda, Manziamnyama in Bulilima, Ngwizi in Mangwe, Umzingwane in Insiza and Utshangani in Nkayi and Lupane districts just to mention a few. These rivers can be as far as 20 kilometres to some animals and this is simply too far by any definition considering that the recommended distance that animals should walk to the watering point should not be more than three kilometres. If an animal has to walk a total of 40 kilometres to and from the water source everyday against a background of scotching heat and very little feed the result is inevitable loss of condition. One way or another farmers need to make water available within a reasonable distance during the three critical months of the dry season.
Feed is obviously another important factor in maintaining a healthy body condition for the animal. Farmers should make available feed to supplement their animals. The feed could be in the form of commercial feeds for those who can afford or in locally available feeds. These are maize stover, ground nut stover and hay. Maize stover can be mixed with salt or molasses to improve palatability and intake. Molasses is also an important energy source besides improving palatability of stover. It can be bought in Bulawayo for example at $8 for 20 litres and this is enough to feed about 50 animals for two months. Hay bales can also be bought at $2,50 each and a bale is usually 12-15kg with a potential to feed one animal for about four days if fed without supplementing with other forms of feed.
Farmers that grew fodder crops such as velvet bean and lablab can use the fodder hay to supplement their animals and the time to begin supplementing entirely depends on the veld conditions in your area and the body condition of your animals.
Lastly it is also important for farmers to pay attention to the health of their animals. Sick animals should be detained, treated and nursed until they recover before they are left to travel long distances for water and feed. Travelling long distances when the animal is sick greatly aggravates the condition.
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