David's Digest

Near the town of Limpopo, about one and a half hours drive east of Pretoria, South Africa, there lives a farmer called Mike Bosch. His father was one of the first to leave Zimbabwe and re-settle elsewhere after that countrys' independence because he foresaw what has since happened there. He brought with him the nucleus of a herd of Beefmaster cattle - a cross between Herefords, Brahmans and Shorthorns established in America in 1954. Mike now runs their fine looking successors in a herd several hundred strong.

But one of the biggest problems of keeping cattle in hot country's is insects, especially ticks, that worry the cattle and reduce performance, quite apart from regular trips through dips or spray races necessary to protect the animals. 

Observing this and how wild birds land on cattle's backs in hot countries to eat the ticks, Mike wondered if it would be possible to breed a domesticated hen to do the job more comprehensively and efficiently. He crossed three indigenous African breeds, the Venda, the Ovambo and the Matabele on the basis that they should have the right instincts and be hardy. He then selected the hardiest of their offspring, which he hoped would be capable of surviving the rigours of South African weather and predators, and put them in the cattle pastures with only simple sheds for protection.

The result was a significant reduction in the tick problem enabling him to halve the number of cattle spray treatments and better growth rates. He continues to select ever hardier hens, perfecting the system and supplying birds to other African farmers. In addition he has built up a flock of 100,000 of the so called Boschveld hens which he keeps on a free range system selling their eggs at a substatial premium price.

Egg production is about two thirds of what would be expected from hens bred for maximum numbers. But the premium he gets means the light brown speckled hens are now more profitable than the cattle. Mike is a genuine innovator and original thinker. It was a pleasure and an education for the Farmers Weekly study tour of southern Africa to visit him.

One of the offshoot organisations of the ill fated Royal Show is the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth. Inspired by Prince Philip when he became the Queens Consort and reflecting his personal interest in and knowledge of agriculture it holds conferences in Commonwealth countries around the world and try's to help farmers in those countries wherever necessary. Next year the delegates will travel to Zambia for their get-together and The Princess Royal is expected to attend.

One of the villages they will visit is Mombeshi, about two hours drive from Lusaka. There they will be met by Anna Nawa, a tribal princess in her own right and an agricutural adviser, employed by the Zambian Ministry of Agricuture, to hundreds, if not thousands of small native farmers in the district.

But Anna is more than just an adviser, as the Farmers Weekly tour party visiting Zambia soon realised. She is a driven woman motivated to improve farming methods and enable the farmers to produce more and combat hunger. Her target is to raise yields by a factor of 4 so that the small farmers production matches the per hectare yields achieved by bigger Commercial farmers. She is making significant progress.

But she doesn't stop at that. She took us to a prison farm where she helps the Governor and the Farm Manager to teach the prisoners how to farm before they are released back to their villages. And she took us to a school where many of the lessons are farming related. The FW party were shocked and saddened to learn that almost 75% of the 1500 pupils were orphans - that one or more of their parents had died of Aids.

There were tears in our eyes as the entire school sang a song of welcome and a group of youngsters whose ages ranged from about 12 to 8 recited an animated poem about the dangers of Aids and how to avoid it. That such young children should be exposed to the problem seemed tragic.

We put our hands in our pockets and left Anna a donation to spend at the school. Then we went to Anna's modest house and had a traditional Zambian lunch under a tree in her garden. We left for our hotel in Lusaka with heavy hearts but inspired by what Anna was trying to achieve. The Princess Royal and the RASC cannot fail to be similarly impressed when they follow in our footsteps.

As I watched the weeks weather forecast last Sunday I was full of hope that the two periods of rain experts thought would cross the country - one on Tuesday and one on Thursday - would give our land the soaking it so desparately needed. Nitrogen applied to wheat weeks ago had never been washed in; the sugar beet had not all germinated and skylarks had been biting off many of those that had; spring rape drilled to replace failed winter crops had never had enough moisture for even germination either; and crops generally were beginning to look very ordinary.

But the rain on Monday evening amounted to about 3mm and never did more than dampen the surface of the soil. Tuesday was hot and dry and by lunchtime all signs of it had disappeared. Wednesday was another lovely day for tourists but equally unsuitable for farmers. And today, Thursday, the sun is shining brightly again here in Norfolk with hardly a cloud in the sky. That rain the forecasters promised may have helped farmers west of Cambridge but has not reached this part of East Anglia and we are becoming steadily more parched with yield potential for this year disappearing like dew off a dyke.

In London yesterday I met farmers from Northern Ireland, Wales and the west country and most were complaining about too much rain. On average, therefore, the UK is probably having a wonderful spring! But averages are misleading as the above illustrates. If only the weather gods could give us all the appropriate amount we would be happy. But when did that last happen?