Onions to the rescue of a sheep farmer!
Dwars-in-die-Weg, near Matjiesfontein in the Karoo, has suffered five consecutive years of drought, receiving less than 60mm of its 170mm annual average rain over the past three years.
Climatic conditions appear to have normalised this year, but PF Theron, who joined his father, Wilhelm, on the family farm at the start of the drought, estimates that it can take up to 10 years for Karoo vegetation to recover its full carrying capacity.
“The problem is that you can’t accelerate veld recovery by sowing seed, because the ecosystem is highly sensitive and the vegetation extremely diverse,” he explains.
‘WE LOSE UP TO 30% OF OUR SHEEP EACH YEAR TO PREDATION BY BLACK-BACKED JACKAL AND CARACAL’
With climate change expected to result in more extreme conditions, the chances are
