Maintaining mammalian genetic diversity

In an attempt to lessen the impacts of inbreeding, and contributing towards and maintaining a strong genetic gene pool within our animals, ‘new blood’ is introduced from outside breeding stocks. These ‘new blood’ animals are ear tagged, with colour-coded tags, facilitating in their later identification and record keeping in years to come. This is an essential part of game reserve management and very expensive due to the costs of animals and losses can be expected.

Veld Burning

Certain sections of the game reserve were cultivated, by the previous land owner, and these areas are systematically burned. This burning process has various functions:

creates fire breaks should a natural fire occur

promotes the growth of natural grasses, which cannot grow as effectively because the natural fynbos prevents light from penetrating to the ground surface and hampers the growth of these grasses

a suitable area is created for animals which prefer open flat grasslands, such as our Black Wildebeest (White-tailed Gnu’s) and Springbuck

The grassed areas form a vital source of food for our species of grazers as much of our natural fynbos is unpalatable to many antelope species

Indigenous grass seed planting

After consultation with various experts 4 indigenous grass types were selected for re-introduction. These grass species were chosen for their nutritional value and growth suitability to our area. In an attempt to enable the grasses to grow and go into ‘seed’, which will then be wind distributed ‘natural and organic’ seed-beds were created.

These ‘natural and organic’ seed-beds were created by firstly choosing suitable areas of 3x3m and manually clearing them of any other vegetation, while slightly loosening the soil. Seeds were sown and covered with a thin layer of soil and then compacted. Hessian was then overlayed, which protects the seedlings from the harsh sun and retains moisture. The area was finally covered with thorn branches, to keep the animals at bay, enabling the seeds to germinate and the plants to grow and themselves to form seeds. As the thorn branches decompose valuable nutrients are returned to the earth and become beneficial to the newly planted grasses. The seedbeds are regularly irrigated as we are in a drought and fertilisers are occasionally used to maximize growth. Dung is also collected, were possible, and strewn over the seedbeds. This is a long term process and should pay dividends in years to come.

Some seeds were also randomly sown and compacted with a tractor. By using a length of pipe, down which the seeds were handfed, they were directed to the front of the tractors tyres as I drove over the area. The pipe enabled the seeds to be accurately placed, and largely prevented the wind from blowing them away, as the tractor tyres compacted the loose soil while slightly embedding the seeds. These seeds would germinate with the first rains and provide and immediate source of grazing.

Water for the animals

There are no less than 10 watering holes in the game reserve, mainly in the form of small dams built in the rain run-off areas, which would form small streams. During the winter of 2009 these dams systematically started to dry up due to the onset of a drought, apparently the worst the western cape has seen for the past 130 years.

In October of 2009 the situation became critical and artificial watering holes were created, near to some already dry holes. 2500L plastic tanks were bought and connected to metal baths, which were fitted with float mechanisms to control the water level. Three new watering holes were built and in the reserve. A tractor and water trailer transport water into the reserve, which is in turn pumped into the 2500l plastic tanks. The water, from the water trailer, is slowly emptied into a bath while it is in turn pumped out of the bath and into the holding tank. This is necessary as it is not possible to have the water free flowing directly into the storage tank. The water is also mildly treated with chlorine to prevent the build up of algae. In the height of summer 8000L of water was transported into the reserve every 2 to 3 weeks.

This process will continue until enough rain has fallen to adequately fill the existing watering holes. The earth is so dry and has up to now retained all the moisture.