Predator control: do your homework!

Know your farm. Know your livestock. Know your predators. These are the keys to successful predation management, says Niël Viljoen, predation specialist at Predation Management South Africa. Susan Marais spoke to him about the lessons he has learnt over the past 13 years, and how farmers can benefit from them.

- Niël Viljoen

Livestock losses caused by predators cost South Africa’s farming community more than R2 billion per annum. “This is one of the biggest issues facing every livestock farmer,” says Niël Viljoen, a Karoo-based sheep farmer and predation specialist at Predation Management South Africa (PMSA). “These losses must be kept to an absolute minimum to ensure survival and financial security. It should be the goal of the sheep farmer to ensure that every in-lamb ewe raises and weans at least one lamb. “Small-stock producers fight an endless battle to protect their animals against predators,” he says. With the help of the PMSA, which works with the National Wool Growers’ Association (NWGA) and the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation, a standard has been set to assist and train producers to reduce the effect of predation.

SUCCESS THROUGH PROPER MANAGEMENT

Between 2008 and 2020, the PMSA monitored 27 farms in six provinces to study the effect of proper predation management practices. The project spanned more than 136 200ha. The participating farms were spread out across the Northern Cape (Sutherland, Fraserburg, Loxton, Victoria West, Britstown, Noupoort), Free State (Phillipolis, Wepener, Trompsburg, Brandfort, Senekal and Vrede), Mpumalanga (Amersfoort, Ermelo and Carolina), KwaZulu-Natal (Underberg, Utrecht and Lüneburg), the Eastern Cape (Jansenville, Aberdeen, Hofmeyer, Bedford, Dordrecht and Maclear) and the Western Cape (Struisbaai, Gouritsmond and Beaufort West).