Radical veld improvement

Many livestock farms in South Africa suffer from resource damage such as denuded areas with little or no vegetation cover, water erosion, bush encroachment and alien plant invasion, all of which result in water wastage. In these cases, the land cannot be rehabilitated through normal grazing practices; special measures, which fall under ‘radical veld improvement’, are necessary.

RESTORATION

In bare areas, the topsoil has been removed by wind and water erosion, exposing the rock-hard subsoil with low water infiltration and leaving the soil dry and with few places where seedlings can establish themselves. The first step in the rehabilitation process, therefore, is to restore the soil’s hydrology by breaking the impenetrable topsoil layer to improve water infiltration. There are two ways of doing this, and one’s choice will