How to manage grazing effectively in South Africa

Dr Mias van der Westhuizen spoke to Octavia Avesca Spandiel about the core principles of effective grazing management for commercial and emerging farmers, with practical insights on stocking rates, rest periods, monitoring, animal performance and drought planning.

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Effective grazing management remains one of the most decisive factors influencing livestock productivity, veld health and long-term farm profitability in South Africa's diverse and often unpredictable rangeland conditions.

While farmers frequently focus on genetics, supplementary feed or infrastructure, specialists warn that none of these investments deliver full value if the grazing system is poorly managed. Speaking to Farmer’s Weekly, Dr Mias van der Westhuizen from the Department of Agriculture in the Free State said healthy veld forms the foundation on which all livestock systems are built.

“Farmers underestimate how quickly veld can deteriorate when it is mismanaged. Once the root reserves are damaged, the veld takes years to recover. Prevention is far cheaper than restoration,” he says.

UNDERSTANDING GRAZING MANAGEMENT

Grazing management is often reduced to moving animals from one camp to another, but Van der Westhuizen emphasises that it is a much more deliberate process.

“Grazing management is the planned interaction between animals and plants. It is about ensuring that animals harvest grass in a way that stimulates growth instead of suppressing it,” he says.

At the centre of this approach is the understanding that grass is a living organism with specific requirements. It needs leaf area to photosynthesise, time to regrow after defoliation, and a healthy root system to anchor the plant and provide energy reserves.

When grazing exceeds the plant's ability to recover, the result is overutilisation, soil exposure and a marked decline in the biodiversity in the veld.

“Once you lose the desirable grasses that hold the system together, you invite invader species that offer poor grazing value at that point and the veld becomes a liability instead of an asset,” says Van der Westhuizen.

WHY REST IS THE MOST POWERFUL TOOL