Thaba Goats Business Plan — Grazing, Land and Water

Carrying capacity, grazing management, water provision and the land requirement as the herd scales toward 300 does.

Grazing, Land and Water

Jump to section

On this page

10.1 Carrying capacity
10.2 Rotation and water
10.3 Drought

10.1 Carrying capacity

	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5
Breeding does at year end	50	80	130	200	300
Total herd including followers	Approximately 118	190	310	475	715
Large stock units, approximate	24	38	62	95	143
Camps in rotation	1	2	4	5	6
Water points	1	2	3	3	4
Grazing confirmation required	Stage 1 lease	Stage 2	200 does, independent	300 does	Secured

A breeding doe with followers is conventionally taken as approximately one fifth of a large stock unit. At 300 does the herd is roughly 143 large stock units, and the veld required depends entirely on the grazing capacity of the specific block, which in South African conditions ranges from under four hectares per large stock unit in the better sourveld to more than twenty in the arid west. That is why this plan states the requirement in stock units and requires an independent assessment rather than assuming a hectare figure.

10.2 Rotation and water

Camps before does. The camp fencing at each stage is built before the herd that will use it, not after. A herd that arrives before its camp overgrazes the camp it is already in.
Rotation from Stage 2. A single camp cannot be rested. The second camp at Stage 2 is what converts continuous grazing into rotational grazing, and it is the point at which veld condition becomes manageable rather than merely observable.
Water is the binding constraint in the dry months. A goat drinks little but drinks daily, and a camp without water is a camp that cannot be used regardless of the grass standing in it. Four water points by Year 5, the last solar-pumped.
Stocking rate below 85 per cent of assessed capacity. The margin exists because drought does not announce itself, and a herd stocked at capacity in a good year is overstocked in an average one.

10.3 Drought

Drought is the risk that removes the grazing and the herd in the same season, and it is the one risk in this plan against which capital provides no protection. The response is structural and is set out in Section 19: stocking below assessed capacity, a lick and supplementary feed budget that can be doubled, an established relationship with a trader who will take animals at short notice, and a clear rule about which animals go first.

Previous section9. Kid Mortality: The Industry's Named Constraint

Next section11. Animal Health