Curriculum · Module 10
Cattle: The Big Grazer
Cattle are the deepest-sourced species in this course and the one where the biggest money decisions are made. Every lesson opens on the two-way relationship with the land, then settles a decision: which cow, when to mate, what to feed in winter, what the grid pays, whether pasture dairy works, and whether an ox span is defensible.
- 43 What a Cow Does to Veld, and What Veld Does to a Cow Settles the ecological job of cattle on SA rangeland and the two-way relationship that decides whether they are a tool or a cost. State what a bulk roughage harvester does for a sward that a browser or a small-stock grazer will notConvert your own cattle herd into LSU and into stock days per hectareRun a leader-follower sequence without believing the parasite myth attached to it 12 min
- 44 Breeds and the Veld-Adapted Cow Argument Settles what SA trial data actually supports about indigenous, composite and imported cattle on veld — and where the cow-size argument runs out of evidence. State what the SA breed trials found on natural pasture, including the halves each side leaves outConvert your own cow's frame size into a stocking-rate consequence measured in hectaresName the SA data that does not exist, and say what follows for the cow-size argument 15 min
- 45 The Breeding Season, the Bull and Reconception Settles when to mate and calve on SA veld, why the bull is more often the problem, and what a bad calving interval costs. Set a mating and calving date from your own farm's rain-onset recordSpecify a breeding soundness requirement before a bull is bought or usedBenchmark your own reconception against the SA smallholder and commercial reference points 15 min
- 46 The Winter Lick, Classification and Handling Settles how to carry cattle through the SA winter, and how handling and carcass class decide the price you are actually paid. Apply the winter protein and summer phosphate targets to a named cow herd, in bags and randsRead a carcass classification stamp and price the age penalty in randsList the handling faults that show up as damage codes on your own carcasses 14 min
- 47 Pasture Dairy and the Raw-Milk Law Settles how SA pasture dairy works, its nitrogen flashpoint, and why raw milk is a legal question before it is a farming one. Describe the kikuyu and ryegrass system and state the production ceiling it buysState the nitrogen conflict at the centre of regenerative pasture dairy in South AfricaApply the raw-milk regulations, in the right order, before planning a milk enterprise 13 min
- 48 Draught Oxen and Animal Traction Settles what an ox span still does in South Africa, and whether it can be defended against the minimise-disturbance principle. Describe how a South African ox span is assembled, trained and workedJudge animal traction against principle 2 instead of assuming it passesName the welfare law that applies to a working animal and the two failure points it usually catches 11 min