Regenerative Farming | Farm Dabis (East)

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Farm Facts

DESCRIPTION

Eastern Sandveld.

ENTERPRISE

Speculation: Buying in cattle with high weight gain
potential, fattening and selling.

PROPERTY SIZE

6700 hectares.

FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF AREA

Non-aggressive bush- thickening; severe frost.

AVERAGE ANNUAL RAINFALL AND VARIABILITY

(For the past 66 years): Average: 433 mm; lowest: 164 mm; highest: 832 mm.

ELEVATION

1286 meters above sea level.

OWNED OR RENTED

Owned; full-time management.

MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE AND APPROACH

Chris wants to develop the farm to its optimum income generating potential, starting with the grasses, and then all the other possibilities, such as dryland maize production and vegetable production.

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MAIN INNOVATION

Aerial bush-thinning and rangeland man- agement at low density with long recovery periods and burning as an eff ective aftercare method.

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The visible expansion of Finger grass tufts that have established themselves as runners in a straight line (left). Finger grass growing from within an old Stipagrostis tuft. Chris believes that the application of cattle at low densities over-rests the Stipagrostis, which turns them into ideal locations for other broadleafed grasses to establish (right).

INSPIRING PROPOSAL FROM THE FARMER: The days of the small farmer are over. Farmers now need to think bigger, work together, and share resources. An idea for the future would be to assess the potential of a collection of owned farms in the same area based on rainfall, ground water, frost and arable land. As such, a land potential plan could be developed, which would include the formation of a company under which all of these farms would be managed. The company would include a director to manage the farms as a company and skilled technical people to realise the enterprise’s potential. The farm owners would not be involved in the day-to-day decision making but would receive dividends depending on their contribution to the enterprise.

Key Results

Before Chris ran a cow-calf herd, he has never had to sell or move livestock because of drought.
Aerial spraying of arboricide has left a good balance of trees, palatable shrubs, forbs and grasses.
Instead of using arboricide for aftercare six years after the aerial spraying, fi re is used. The camps are rested for one year to build up fuel, and then burned. Burning is cheaper and more eff ective than arboricide.
Low input costs after aerial spraying.
Several perennial grasses have returned under various condi- tions. Regeneration is clearly under way.
Panicum is taking over from the suurgras (Schmidtia) in the riverine areas and is now starting to move into the open. As frost kills the Sekelbos (Dichrostachys) in the area, it remains at a usable height.
Kweekgras (Cynodon) has steadily colonised the gully walls, which are now sloping instead of steep. This indicates that the water is staying on the land and not fl owing fast and angrily, causing damage along the way.

Farm Dabis (East)

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Chris Coetzee says that the cost of a bakkie bought in 1970 is the same for a number of weaners today (R2200). Cars are not more expensive; rather, farm productivity has drastically declined, and this we need to intensively interrogate as a business, as a science, and as an art.

Key Tips

To be a good farmer you must get to know your farm (i.e. the layers of soil and how they function, regrowth rates on diff erent soils, arable soils, best-potential areas, and suchlike).
Every plant (grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees) has a function as well as a reason for being where it is. Get to know the plants on your farm, and how to manage them.
Waterpoints are good stocking indicators. If the waterpoint is dominated by annu- als, you are overstocked; if dominated by good perennials, you are moving in the right direction.
After each management action, walk through the camps from time to time and observe what has happened. What has changed or not changed?
When controlling bush, regardless of which method you use, make sure that you leave enough big trees to provide shade and shelter and enough palatable bush. This is vital for animal performance as well as maintaining a healthy biodiversity balance of trees, shrubs, forbs and grasses.
When to move to the next camp:
• Know what to expect from each camp (i.e. what is there, quality and quantity with regards to time spent in the camp, animal performance and stimulation of favourable plants).
• When lick consumption increases and/ or animals spend more time at the water, move to the next camp.
• Observe what is being eaten. Move the animals before the preferred plants are re-eaten.
You need to plan what to do when and where, and you need to decide which approach gives you the greatest marginal outcome (i.e. the best return for the money spent).
Do not use arboricide in rivers or areas that have a shallow (2 metres) sand layer with a clay layer below. The arboricide penetrates the sand layer but travels downslope above the clay layer and kills trees far from where the chemical was applied.