Prepared by Brigid Letty

Work done on behalf of

Mdukatshani

Rural Development Trust

PLAAS/MRDT Smallholder

Research Workshop

11 September 2012

Goat research in Msinga

Provincial goat numbers

MRDT staff counted all livestock at households within the

area feeding into a particular diptank.

Compared with official cattle registers

Added other livestock types (goats, chickens)

Then DAEA asked us to add donkeys, horses, dogs, cats

Port Shepstone - KwaMadlala

33% of households

Av flock: 5.08

Ixopo - Endlovini

61% of households

Av flock: 8.33

Msinga - Nodada

82% of households

Av flock: 15.42

Umzumbe - Amadlalathi

48% of households

Av flock: 7.08

Bergville

Maphophomeni

53% of households

Av flock: 8.39

Harding - Exhameni

26% of households

Av flock: 8.36

Msinga - Mathinta

68% of households

Av flock: 13.83

Msinga -

Mhlangane

73% of households

Av flock: 14.41

Msinga Top

53% of households

Av flock: 11.83

Uthungulu - Inkunzane

64% of households

Av flock: 11.32

Uthungulu - Nhlngano

43% of households

Av flock: 8.48

Mbazwana - KwaMahashi

15% of households

Av flock: 9.98

Goat : Cattle ratios

highly variable:

0.32:1 at Mbazwana

to

5.7:1 at Nodada

How to use the figures we have….

Which diptanks are still outstanding? Empangeni

Now that we have some numbers from various

diptanks…..how do we extrapolate to get reliable figures for

the whole province?

Can we work with what we have?

What areas are represented by a particular diptank? Do we

base this on vegetation and tenure?

Can we calculate numbers based on census household figures

combined with % households having goats and average flock

sizes?

Baseline survey findings

Outcomes of survey Goat numbers

35 households

Total of 865 goats (flocks with 3 – 87 goats)

Kraaling practices

74% say goats are always kraaled

20% say never kraaled

6% sometimes come home (often not in winter)

Herding – no goats are herded, though some are collected (especially in winter when they travel further seeking food)

Purchase of feed - 40% spend money on feed (including 1 person buying water)

Purchase of health product - 91% spend money on inputs (commercial or traditional)

Deworming

29 (82.9%) dose their goats

Mainly when they see signs (big stomach, diarrhoea, thin, etc)

Tick control

20 (57.1%) control ticks in some way (plunge dip, dip in a bath

/ spray with dip, use Jeye’s fluid, use Blue Death)

Factor changing

flock size

% of

households

No. of goats

Sales 48.5% 41

Slaughter 77% 73

Traditional payments 20% 47

Theft 31% 59

Type of movement No. % of June

2010 total

% of June

2010 total

Goats moving out

Mortalities 201 20.41 %

Sales 41 4.16 %

16.34 Slaughter 73 7.41 %

Payments 47 4.77 %

Theft 59 5.99 %

Goats moving in

Purchases 35 3.55 %

Swapping 4 0.41 %

Lobola 8 0.81 %

Donation 1 0.10 %

In through birth 237 24%

Causes of mortalities Hunger (mentioned by 11)

Lung-related illness (7)

Diarrhoea (5)

Heartwater / twisted neck (4)

Sickness, ‘water on the brain (impethu)’ (each mentioned 3 times)

Accidental deaths (drowning in canal, hit by vehicle, hit by child) mentioned one each

Other reasons (each mentioned once) included snake, burst gall (qhumenyongo), limping, giving birth, nasal discharge, dogs and mange.

Perceptions of flock size changing 34.3% said flocks were increasing (some said this was slow) 60% said flocks not increasing (decreasing or unchanging)

Current research:

Factors impacting on goat production

Key objective:

The focus of the study is on understanding

factors that are responsible for the limited

growth shown by household goat flocks in

Msinga Local Municipality in order to be able to

make recommendations regarding

interventions that could improve the

efficiency of production and offtake of animals.

Goat movements: energy expenditure

How far do they go?

How do distances vary between summer and winter?

What key resources do goats access during drought periods?

Goat movements – initial findings

10:00-11:30 – height

above kraal ~150 m;

tot. dist. travelled ~1.8

km

12:00-12:30 – height

above kraal ~75 m;

total dist travelled ~2.5

km

14:00-15:00 – height above

kraal ~0 m; tot. dist. travelled

~3.7 km

09:35 – height

above kraal ~75 m;

total dist. travelled

~1.4 km

16:00 – height above

kraal ~10 m; total dist

travelled ~4.5 km

Kraal

Goats left kraal at 09:00,

returned at 13.00, hung

around and finally got

back at 17:00

Impacts of movements on vegetation

The “piosphere effect”

Resource availability for goats

How do we quantify available feed resources?

How do we take into account effect of phenology?

Is it about what food (mainly grass) is available in winter

rather than what’s available in summer?

Considering three villages where flocks are being monitored

on a monthly basis:

Ngubo, Ncunjane, Jolwayo

Resource availability: browse

Tot tree density Avg tree density Browse units/ha Avg browse units/ha Ngubo 3650 1150 Acacia 1000 1000 Broadleaves 7000 2000 Houses 0 0 Ncunjane 4500 3300 Acacia 3000 1000 Broadleaves 6000 5000 Houses 0 0 Jolwayo 3375 2000 Acacia 3000 1000 Broadleaves 7500 5000 Houses 0 0

Resource availability: grass

Village Reserve Rel area Ave height Weighted av

height (cm)

Ngubo bank 0.20 6

Ngubo nonbank 0.80 1 2

Ncunjane bank 0.90 7

Ncunjane nonbank 0.10 1 6.4

Jolwayo bank 0.12 10

Jolwayo nonbank 0.78 1 1.98

Development of local ration options for

winter

Some on-farm R&D at Msinga

MRDT is working

with farmers to

investigate ways to

process and store

stover, improve

utilisation…and

improve animal

production (through

reduced kid

mortalities)

Stover at the irrigation

scheme at Tugela Ferry

is burnt……

Why are people

obsessed with keeping

their fields clean?

Did they learn it from

commercial farmers?

Did they learn it from

extension officers?

Fed early gestation starting in April, added ewes as they

kidded up til May – fed through winter (up til end Sept)

Compared two kraals of Mr Muthwa

Compared kid growth, ewe condition and mortalities

Ewe supplementation

How can

we store

the stover?

To protect against

termites, livestock,

weather and so on?

And now suddenly the value is recognised

(again) by farmers……

Are there

Opportunities for

integrating the youth

and people without

land or livestock into

the sector through

processing of maize

stover?

Outcomes of pilot trial Condition did not respond to feeding levels – why?

Kid growths did not not appear to be improved – perhaps because

‘unsupplemented’ kid group were actually being grazed in a

camp……which we were not aware of

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

We

igh

t (K

g)

Age (Days)

A B

C D

E F

G H

I J

K M

L N

O P

Q R

S T

U V

W X

AA BB

CC DD

EE FF

GG HH

II JJ

KK LL

MM NN

OO PP

QQ RR

SS

Condition scores

Ewes Average

condition

score: July

Average

condition

score: August

Supplemented 1.56 1.32

Unsupplemented 1.35 1.38

Proposed crop-livestock interaction

work

Quantify the extent to which fields are unused

Understand why lands lie fallow

Undertake action research to address institutional issues (e.g.

deteriorating social rules) and technical issues (e.g. declining

soil fertility)