Planned Grazing reduces cattle deaths

Two villages in ward 10 in Chinyika, Gutu District are working with PELUM ZWE Member, Chinyika Community Development Trust to regenerate their landscape using livestock. Twenty-five (25) smallholder farmers started planned grazing in January 2021 and are already witnessing dramatic changes on the landscape, in particular, the availability of abundant forage, unlike in previous years were grazing was done haphazardly. Photo: Rufaro Madzenenga/PELUM ZWE

A group of smallholder farmers in ward 10 of Gutu district in Masvingo province that are working with PELUM Zimbabwe member, Chinyika Community Development Trust say planned grazing has significantly reduced the mortality rate in cattle.

Sheilla Zishiri (43) is one of the smallholder farmers who has brought her cattle to join the community herd that is following a grazing plan. Sheilla is working with 24 farmers who have combined 234 cattle to form a community herd following a plan for grazing. The 234 cattle graze on approximately 51 hectares divided into eight paddocks.

Sheilla says many cattle in her village succumbed to the January disease (Theileriosis), a tick-borne disease that is common during the rainy season in Zimbabwe. But this was not the case for Sheilla and 24 farmers.

“Ever since we started planned grazing no deaths of cattle have been recorded in our group,” says Sheilla.

Losing cattle is a social and economic blow for resource poor farmers who depend on cattle for their livelihoods and food security. The Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX) Officer working with smallholder farmers in Chinyika communities, Charity Kwenzani (47) says approximately 300 cattle in Chinyika died from January disease during the period starting January 2021 and ending March 2021.

“Most of the farmers in the nearby villages lost their cattle but the cattle in the planned grazing initiative were not affected, “says Charity.

Osmond Mugweni (66) is a specialist in Holistic Land and Livestock Management and has been working with smallholder farmers to properly manage land and livestock since 1986. He says planned grazing is a critical strategy for reducing January disease and other tick related diseases.

“In areas where controlled grazing is practiced they are not recording any deaths. This is because in controlled grazing, cattle are moved from one paddock to the other. This gives time for the other paddocks to recover. The recovery period is between 60 to 90 days depending with the area. During this recovery period the ticks in that area will die due to lack of food or host,” explains Osmond. “By keeping the animals moving we break the life cycle of parasites,” adds Elias Ncube, another land and livestock specialist.