Namibia country report

no calves at the time of the fieldwork, which could have been due to failure to conceive,current pregnancy, loss or sale. There were also no new productive cows, possibly becausethey had been sold. In general, fertility and reproduction could be increased but furtherdetails are needed to ascertain the cause of the low fertility rates. The year preceding thesurvey was considered to have been a drought period in which farmers had to reduce theirlivestock numbers.Cattle farming on the plains (“die vloere”) west of Maltahöhe was not possible as the lackof grazing makes the land unsuitable for large livestock. Cattle ownership was thereforevery low. Information provided by some FURS beneficiaries suggests that cattle take a longtime to recover from drought to become productive again. In a drought, cows are unlikelyto conceive due to weakness. If a drought is followed by seasons of good rain, they mightconceive again and nine months later give birth to a calf, but it can take one to two yearsafter the first good rains for a cow to become productive again.Table 18 reflects the numbers of small stock owned by the beneficiaries in the Hardap sample.The highly unequal distribution of small stock is striking: some farmers owned fairly largeherds, while others had very small herds with limited production prospects.The production of female herds was generally low. An increase in animal husbandry waspossible but was challenging and limited during a drought when fertility decreased. Goatnannies/does (i.e. females) and sheep ewes are able to produce three lambs within two yearswith optimal husbandry. It was difficult to assess the natural reproduction of small-stockherds in the Hardap sample because the owners suffered devastating losses in the yearpreceding the fieldwork. Lamb deaths in the sheep and goat herds were very frequent dueto cold weather. This reduction influenced the small-stock numbers dramatically.Table 18: Small-stock ownership on FURS farms in Hardap, 2008Goat wethersGoat kidsGoat nanniesGoat ramsSheep wethersSheep lambsSheep ewesSheep heifersSheep ramsFarmer 1 2 11 3 1 2 9Farmer 2 2 18 1 6 12Farmer 3 3 30 4 1 31 14Farmer 4 3 35 5 1 35 15 4Farmer 5 3 45 10 2 50 17Farmer 6 3 87 12 5 2 50 20Farmer 7 3 110 18 2 75 21Farmer 8 4 46 150 30 2 105 32 20Farmer 9 5 54 160 31 15 2 118 48 22Farmer 10 8 60 250 100 38 2 122 50Farmer 11 8 3 130 60 28Farmer 12 4 264 68 31Farmer 13 5 300 72 40Total 44 160 896 201 53 28 1 288 438 9998 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)