The effects of various methods of utilizing summer spared sourveld were investigated on two sites at the Döhne Agricultural Research Institute. A grazing trial was conducted where the utilization of veld of northern aspect was investigated when grazed in either early or late winter by sheep and cattle together, at different ratios and different stocking intensities. In the grazing trial very small differences in utilization resulted from the treatments, these differences being correlated mainly with botanical composition. Tuftiness occurred on camps with relatively large proportions of Elyonurus argenteus and Themeda triandra, while uniform utilization was achieved in the other camps. Grazing in autumn or early spring had a slight depressive effect on the herbage yield in the subsequent spring compared with grazing in mid?winter. No differences in regrowth due to treatment were significant. Comparing mowing, burning and grazing, results showed that mowing had the least harmful effect on regrowth and seeding while spring burning depressed regrowth more than did grazing. Winter grazing depressed seeding slightly, but did not prevent the seeding of any of the species investigated.
Journal articles from the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) African Journal of Range and Forage Science as well as related articles and reports from throughout the southern African region.