The Sunday News
THE rains keep pounding most areas of the country and this has been received with utmost joy, especially by cattlemen.
It has been a while since we received such rains and judging by the pattern especially in the Matabeleland region it will be after five or so years before we get another harvest of rains like this.
To the cattlemen rains solve a plethora of challenges which have been keeping them awake for most of the nights.
There will definitely be vigorous rejuvenation of the grazing lands.
The heavy rains that are currently pounding our veld is what our grazing lands have missed for a long time. This season is therefore a season of serious production for cattlemen. This is the season when you should have ruthless culling. There is no reason for keeping cows which are not going into breeding.
Why is the cow not cycling because the veld is in pristine condition and animals in superb body condition score? So if your cow(s) cannot breed during such a year of abundance then it’s safe to take it out. It is also time to get rid of those animals which never seem to improve condition to satisfactory level.
You have always thought maybe it was being affected by poor rainfall seasons, now here we are and the animal still gives you below optimal body condition score. It’s a problem animal, just get rid of it. This year will also expose those cattlemen who do not invest in own bulls and there are many such smallholder farmers who will have a herd of close to 40 cows but no bull.
You will notice several of your cows coming on heat with no bull on sight to service them. You will have the whole kraal with cows mounting each other, a clear sign of heat and yet there is no bull to take up the mission. Effectively most of your cows will come in and out of heat with no chance of being serviced because you did not find the wisdom of investing in a bull.
There is nothing as frustrating to a cattleman as watching your cows go in and out of heat with no bull close by to service. In communal setups the few bulls will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of cows coming on heat in the veld. This is a year when you should get more calves than most years because the conditions are more than optimal for production.
It is a year of maximised production and therefore if your ranch does not perform to perfection this year, take corrective action of the factors. Most of the years you could easily blame it on the poor veld condition, challenges with drinking water and so on, but all those have been addressed by the more than abundant rains which we are receiving as a country.
Having said all that above, it is important to remind livestock farmers that good rains also bring along pests and diseases and these need to be managed. Your dipping regime has to be top notch and thoroughly adhered to. There will be lots of tick infestation because of plenty grass in the field.
In some cases, you may even need dipping cycles shorter than a week, if you are to keep your animals clean. Vaccinations are also an important aspect of animal health management and they become very handy when diseases become a challenge.
Vaccinate your animals against diseases such as Blackleg, Lumpy skin and Botulism. You don’t want to lose your well conditioned animal simply because you did not vaccinate it. Also control of internal parasites is important because parasites tend to proliferate in a good season like this. Your animals will without doubt pick parasites as they graze and hence the need to dose them even if physically you think they look fine.
Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo. Feedback [email protected]/cell 0772851275
