AGRICULTURE NEWS - Short-duration, low-input overnight kraaling can work wonders for rehabilitating degraded sites or fertilising fallow or abandoned cropland in moist grasslands. Short-duration kraaling can lead to increased grass cover on such bare patches, but, surprisingly, it can lead to more bare ground if kraaling is done where the grass cover is intact.
This is according to research carried out on communal farms in the southern reaches of the Drakensburg in the Matatiele Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, an area that receives 710mm summer rain per year.
As with other communally grazed mountain grassland areas in the Eastern Cape, the study area is largely characterised by moderate to steep slopes, high stocking rates (up to 1,5 MLU/ ha where 0,25 MLU/ha is recommended), continuous grazing of cattle, sheep and goats, little co-ordinated grazing management, and widespread soil erosion and veld degradation.
Read the full article here on the Caxton Publication, Farmers Weekly
