The Sunday News
Mhlupheki Dube
LAST week I had the privilege of participating in a webinar which was looking at the effect of climate change on rangelands and livestock production.
The presenter was Ms Trinity Senda Ndlovu, a PhD student who is rounding up her studies. It was a very insightful presentation which unpacked how rangelands especially in sub-Saharan Africa are responding to climate change and the effects of that on livestock production.
This got me thinking that perhaps it is time livestock breeders and farmers alike start selecting animals that can tolerate and survive in the new emerging environment which is being brought about by climate change. While the process of natural selection will obviously contribute to choosing animals that can survive in the new environment, a proactive action of selection by breeders can save us time and loss of animals.
Perhaps it is imperative that we define the new normal as it relates to the environment as a result of climate change. We will all agree that we are now receiving far less amounts of rainfall and the global atmospheric temperatures have increased significantly over the years.
This means there is very little water that is available for vegetation growth in our rangelands and hence we are getting very little regeneration of herbaceous material in the veld. Poor growth of grasses means the farm carrying capacity will drop drastically as the same number of animals can no longer be sustained on the same piece of land throughout the year without aid of supplementary feeding.
Also increased temperatures means that the very little water that trickles into our waterbodies is lost to evaporation because of excessive heat. Now as the environmental factors change, we have begun to notice an increase in such phenomenon as bush encroachment meaning your farm now has more woody species than your grasses further diminishing your carrying capacity.
There is a common adage which says “adapt or perish”, hence the question which livestock breeders and farmers in general need to answer is how we adapt to the change in environment so that we do not perish as farmers. We have noticed as livestock farmers and practitioners that some drier areas of the country like Beitbridge and Gwanda are home to some nice and large animals.
Their animals have been observed to browse significantly making them able to survive in that harsh environment.
Is it therefore, not possible that livestock breeders and farmers can pluck a lesson from the natural selection process that is happening right in front of our eyes in these areas and accelerate the selection through a deliberate breeding strategy that seeks to promote cattle with a more browsing inclination?
This way as farmers we can begin to look at the increase in woody components of our veld as an enabling factor for our cattle production enterprise as opposed to viewing it as a hindrance. Climate change is unlikely to retreat and therefore, forward thinking by all players in the livestock industry should be encouraged or else the industry may become extinct in not so distant future.
It is my view that a game changer in the livestock industry especially cattle ranging, will be that guy who will begin to produce cattle that are able to utilise and thrive on the various trees species in his farm instead of mourning about the dwindling rangeland.
I foresee a situation where the ability of the animal to browse and utilise woody species becomes one of the fundamental selling attributes of animals at a cattle sale. I implore all those players in the livestock industry that are interested in the posterity of this exciting industry, to begin to fund breeding programmes that seek to respond to climate change effects so that we as farmers can begin to realign ourselves with the new normal in the environment instead of being in cross hairs with it.
There is nothing wrong with a giant veterinary drugs company, or big abattoir operator, pouring money into breeding trials that seek to produce cattle that are better suited for the changing environment, because in the final analysis they are the ultimate beneficiaries of the livestock industry.
Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
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