Veld Management: Reading the Veld

The types of grasses or shrubs that grow on any particular piece of veld will give you an idea of what phase of plant succession that veld is in. This will guide you on how to manage it, writes Roelof Bezuidenhout.

- By Roelof Bezuidenhout

Knowing the phase that your farm, camps or sections of camps are in will help you understand the general condition of the veld, its grazing capacity and its realistic stocking rate. It will also help you to plan management strategies for each section.

THE THREE GRASSVELD STAGES

The main phases of succession are the pioneer, subclimax and climax stages, with environmental stability increasing towards the climax stage, and vice versa. When veld reaches the pioneer stage, you might have to implement special measures to kick-start it into the next stage.

The pioneer stage is found on bare and disturbed soils; such areas have low grazing capacity. As the condition of the soil improves with time, the plant cover increases and the pioneer species give way to species better adapted to the improved conditions. As this happens, grazing quality improves.

The climax stage has the highest production capacity of all the stages. However, it is not necessarily the best stage for grazing, and you might have to use good veld management techniques, such as judicious burning, to maintain the vegetation in the optimal grazing condition.

Progressive succession leads to veld improvement while retrogressive succession leads to veld deterioration. Retrogressive succession can result from overgrazing.

Certain plant species are characteristic of the different stages of succession and can therefore be used as indicators of veld condition. For example, in summer rainfall areas, brown stick grass (Aristida adscensionis