By Erastus Ngaruka
As Namibian farmers eagerly anticipate a favorable rainy season, signs of climate change persist.
Although the previous rainy season may have ended with a sigh of relief for farmers, every rainy season has become spatially and temporally unique in terms of its initiation, intensity, distribution, and duration.
This means farmers need to continuously prepare for every rainy season, as each season may present different challenges and climate change related risks. These include floods, lightning,
heavy winds, cold, drought, disease, and pest outbreaks, among others.
The previous rainy season provided much-needed relief for many livestock farmers in the country as the grazing capacity improved, although not optimally in terms of value. All the while, the density of unwanted plant species has increased as well.
Much of the forage yield from the previous season was underutilized due to poor grazing value, and a significant number of grazing animals, especially cattle, were drastically reduced during the drought years.
This has left significant quantities of grass as fuel load, which can intensify the impact of veld fires that destroy large tracts of grazable land.
Moreover, as much as farmers always wish for a good rainy season to improve their grazing conditions, they must also be cautious of and prepare for the veld fire events at the end of the season.
To this end, it is very important that the rangelands are prepared to benefit from rainfall while ensuring that sufficient forage materials are preserved, protected, and available until the next season.
At this point, farmers need to adopt sustainable and restorative rangeland utilization practices such as re-seeding with valuable perennial grasses, bush-thinning, soil rehydration and stabilization to control erosion and excessive run-off, and evaporation.
Moreover, farmers need to adopt the application of sustainable grazing practices to preserve valuable grazing materials.
With the positive hope of good showers, farmers need to prepare and protect farm infrastructure and livestock from possible floods, especially in risky areas such as the northern parts of the country.
Moreover, farmers need to adopt techniques of harvesting rainwater and storage for later use in gardens and other household needs.
On the other hand, moist environmental conditions also predispose the prevalence of insects such as mosquitoes, ticks, and biting flies.
These insects can transmit common diseases such as lumpy skin disease and tick-borne diseases such as sweating sickness and anaplasmosis (gall sickness), among others. To this end, farmers need to vaccinate their animals, especially against lumpy skin disease by November, as it can also disturb cattle marketing when there is an outbreak.
Similar to the previous rainy season, there will be a high prevalence of internal parasites, more especially the liver fluke, among others.
The liver fluke’s intermediate host is a snail, and as it moves around, it leaves parasites on the grass or in water.
It is therefore vital for farmers to understand the seasonal prevalence of parasites and related symptoms such as itching, anemia, bottle jaw, diarrhea, and running nose, and to select the correct anthelmintics or antiparasitic remedies.
As much as rainfall provides relief for livestock farmers, it can also be a disturbance to the well-being of livestock. Apart from diseases and parasite prevalence, rainfall also comes with cold and windy conditions, lightning strikes, and damp environments that can be unhygienic and uncomfortable for livestock, for example, muddy kraals.
Livestock kraals should always be cleaned and sheltered to protect animals from rain, cold, wind, and lightning. These stressful conditions can result in incidences of lung infection (pneumonia or pasteurellosis), especially in goats and sheep. However, pasteurellosis can be prevented through vaccination.
Furthermore, rainfall also affects livestock foraging activities, limiting their foraging time and daily intake as they run for cover to avoid getting wet.
To that end, extra feed should be provided to compensate for the possible loss of dry matter intake and to enhance the animals’ metabolism for them to keep warm from metabolic heat.
Lastly, livestock farmers need to maintain hygienic and safe environments for their animals to ensure that their welfare and performance are not compromised. Moreover, farmers need to keep abreast of information related to climatic activities and prepare for every possible challenge that can come with every rainy season.
* Erastus Ngaruka is a Technical Advisor- Livestock & Rangeland Management at Agribank
