Regenerative Farming | Farm Blystroom

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Farm Facts

DESCRIPTION

Northern Thornveld.

ENTERPRISE

Cow-calf-ox production with periodic speculation
buying.

PROPERTY SIZE

5258 hectares.

FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF AREA

Very aggressive bush-thickening; limited frost.

AVERAGE ANNUAL RAINFALL AND VARIABILITY

Average: 450 mm.

ELEVATION

1230 metres above sea level

OWNED OR RENTED

Owned; full-time management.

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MAIN INNOVATION

Mechanical clearing of fi elds; manual planting of Bloubuff el (Cenchrus sp.) pastures.

MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE AND APPROACH

After the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 1961, a dry year occurred. As the farm was heavily stocked and no sales were possible, it was the turning point for the grass and bush encroachment began. During the good rainfall years in the 1970s, the bush exploded and fi nally took over the farm. The stocking rate of the farm plummeted, causing major financial implications to the extent that something needed to be done.

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A thick, aggressively bush-encroached area (left). A cleared, de-stumped and highly productive Bloubuff el-planted area (right).

Key Results

Having developed a very successful way of mechanically clearing fields and establishing Bloubuff el pastures, the farming family does not consider chemical treatment to be the right method.
1000 hectares of Bloubuff el pasture have been established.
From experience, it has been learned that bush clearing and the application of continuous grazing results in the bush returning after eight years.
In order to overcome the struggle of keeping up with the production of Bloubuffel, a high density, fast rotation is being investigated to maintain Bloubuffel growth during the growing season.
When the Bloubuff el pastures become weak they are replanted first with ground-nuts, and then with sorghum in the next season, which are grazed before being replanted with Bloubuffel once again.
Our stocking rates and densities have been too low and our recovery periods too long in order to stimulate the Bloubuffel eff ectively, keeping them in a productive and high-quality state of growth.
Farms with similar rainfall in South Africa aim to produce 200 kg/ ha on Bloubuffel pastures that were established 15 years ago. With 1000 ha of Bloubuffel already established on Farm Blystroom, the potential is immense, even if a quarter of this can be reached.

Farm Blystroom

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Dawie Kok. Three generations of Farm Blystroom farmers assess the effects of an unplanned fi re on production. Since the 1970s, they have fought against bush encroachment. Manual debushing and planting Bloubuff el (Cenchrus sp.) is their main solution to the problem. Cash and cover crops are being investigated.

Key Tips

For aggressive bush-thickening in areas with good soils and good rainfall, it makes sense to intensify your practices, using the most cost-eff ective ways to get rid of the bush.
Bloubuff el pastures are productive. However, you must make sure that you have enough animals for their grazing to stimulate the Bloubuff el eff ectively, keeping them in a productive and high- quality state of growth.

Approaches

RESILIENCE OF THE FARM

Low density grazing allows for too much selection and over-resting of the Bloubuff el, which results in tall, stalky plants with only small amounts of good quality forage at their tips. Low density grazing also encourages other grass species of poorer quality to establish. The Bloubuff el-planted pastures would benefi t from a high density, fast-moving rotation system to maintain their growth, to stimulate the liquid- carbon pathway, and to provide good animal performance and high production per hectare. This would encourage the Bloubuff el tufts to become larger and to creep along the ground to establish new plants. This approach would enable the planted Bloubuff el pastures to last longer before requiring additional intervention. The resilience and income generating potential of these fi elds can be improved by applying high density, fast-moving selective grazing to stimulate the plants.

CHOICE OF ANIMAL/S

Braunvieh and Nguni crosses in a fi eld fi rst planted with Bloubuff el in 2005-6, which now requires replanting