Description
This study was set in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa which is predominantly rural and where livelihood sustainability is largely dependent on agricultural outputs including livestock production. Land in many of the rural, former homeland areas is held under communal land tenure which means access, utilisation and management is on a collective basis. A number of grazing strategies have been applied over the last hundred years including camp rotational grazing system. However, due to a number of factors including the absence of the communal rangeland and camp boundary fence, most villages do not have a rangeland management strategy in place. Instead, unregulated continuous grazing occurs, where animals are led to the communal rangeland in the morning and collected in the evening. According to the communal farmers they do not prefer this grazing practice as it promotes selective grazing, leading to grass species composition change, invasion of alien plants and soil erosion. Hence, there is a need to explore a rangeland management strategy that will promote optimal utilization of the communal grazing. This study was, was therefore aimed at assessing the impact of herding on livestock grazing patterns using Livestock GPS Trackers impact of herding on livestock grazing patterns using Livestock GPS Trackers within three sub-villages namely, Guquka, Gilton and Sompondo. The objectives was to compare the herbaceous species composition within areas frequently visiting by herded livestock as opposed to those that were free ranging. Results showed that the grazing patterns of both the herded and free ranging cattle in Guquka and Sompondo were focused on areas close to the homesteads, arable fields and foothills. However, cattle from three households (two herded) in Gilton, did graze areas that are up the slope. Herbaceous species composition results showed that the frequently grazed areas were dominated by Eragrostis plana, Cynodon dactylon, Themeda triandra, Sporobolus africanus, and Sporobolus fimbriatus. The types of species encountered in areas frequently grazed by herded and free ranging cattle did not differ much. These finding can be an indicator of the long term grazing pressure on areas both the herded and free-ranging animals frequently visited by livestock from the three villages.
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The Use of Livestock GPS Trackers to Determine the Grazing Patterns of Herded and Free Ranging Cattle in the Communal Rangelands of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
This study was set in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa which is predominantly rural and where livelihood sustainability is largely dependent on agricultural outputs including livestock production. Land in many of the rural, former homeland areas is held under communal land tenure which means access, utilisation and management is on a collective basis. A number of grazing strategies have been applied over the last hundred years including camp rotational grazing system. However, due to a number of factors including the absence of the communal rangeland and camp boundary fence, most villages do not have a rangeland management strategy in place. Instead, unregulated continuous grazing occurs, where animals are led to the communal rangeland in the morning and collected in the evening. According to the communal farmers they do not prefer this grazing practice as it promotes selective grazing, leading to grass species composition change, invasion of alien plants and soil erosion. Hence, there is a need to explore a rangeland management strategy that will promote optimal utilization of the communal grazing. This study was, was therefore aimed at assessing the impact of herding on livestock grazing patterns using Livestock GPS Trackers impact of herding on livestock grazing patterns using Livestock GPS Trackers within three sub-villages namely, Guquka, Gilton and Sompondo. The objectives was to compare the herbaceous species composition within areas frequently visiting by herded livestock as opposed to those that were free ranging. Results showed that the grazing patterns of both the herded and free ranging cattle in Guquka and Sompondo were focused on areas close to the homesteads, arable fields and foothills. However, cattle from three households (two herded) in Gilton, did graze areas that are up the slope. Herbaceous species composition results showed that the frequently grazed areas were dominated by Eragrostis plana, Cynodon dactylon, Themeda triandra, Sporobolus africanus, and Sporobolus fimbriatus. The types of species encountered in areas frequently grazed by herded and free ranging cattle did not differ much. These finding can be an indicator of the long term grazing pressure on areas both the herded and free-ranging animals frequently visited by livestock from the three villages.
