The Sunday News
THROUGH this platform, I have raised the issue of research and innovation that answers farmers’ problems, especially by institutions of higher learning.
My belief being that these institutions can and should contribute not only the body of knowledge but practical solutions for an everyday farmer. In keeping with the need to provide farmers with solutions to their everyday challenges I feel I should share one innovation that I saw on a farm belonging to a commercial farmer here in Zimbabwe.
The invention will prove very useful even for smallholder communal farmers especially during the rainy season. One of the immediate challenges that a livestock farmer faces in such a condition is the muddy kraal. This inevitably comes with diseases and discomfort for the animals. Some kraals have mud deep enough to almost touch the chest of the animal.
Your animals will be standing the whole night because the environment does not allow them to lie down. It is well documented that such rainy conditions come with an increase in the population of vectors and by extension an increase in disease transmission and incidences. I will therefore, not dwell on this part but discuss a possible solution to a muddy kraal.
The commercial farmer I referred to above, uses mobile pens albeit for his calves.
His main reason for using mobile pens is that he wants the flexibility to change the layout of his farm as and when he feels like, something solid permanent pens cannot allow. My suspicion though is that he was reluctant to invest in permanent structures which he will not be able to load into a truck should the need to relocate arise. I think smallholder livestock farmers can adopt these simple mobile pens which you can be able to shift around in such situations and protect your animals from an excessively muddy kraal which may cause health problems.
The pens are made of steel with small steel wheels on all corners. These can then be dragged from one position to another as and when the farmer wants. My feeling though is that the wheeled pens are ideal for a small herd or calf pens. I would say farmers can modify the pens by removing the wheels. You can make an easy assemble and easy dismantle type, so-called do it yourself type.
Then you can be able to move animals round to new places and avoid muddy kraals. Actually it can be an easy way of fertilising your field because you can move the pens and station them at different sections of the field for a certain period.
This is one innovation which I strongly recommend farmers to adopt and use during such periods of heavy rains. It may have come in a bit late but it can still be done next year going forward as the problem of muddy kraals is usually experienced every year during the rainy season.
It is time farmers adopted the concept of properly constructed pens for their livestock including small stock. It is very common especially among farmers in Matabeleland to just have open housing for goats and these become very inappropriate for goats during the rainy season. Goats also need to be housed in properly constructed shelter which prevents rain.
Cold and moist housing can increase kid mortality among goat farmers. This pen will appreciate feedback or further information from farmers who may be already using the mobile or movable pens that I discussed above so that we can refine the prototype and make it applicable to smallholder communal farmers. Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
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