Abstract:
In South Africa, communal livestock farming is predominant in the
foot and mouth disease control zone adjacent to the Greater Kruger
National Park (KNP), where infected African buffaloes are common. During routine veterinary inspections of cattle in this area, a large
amount of production and demographic parameters were being
recorded. These data were collated for a five-year period (2003-2007)
in three study sites to better understand the temporal dynamics and
spatial heterogeneity in this system. A decreasing gradient from
South to North with respect to both human and cattle population densities
was observed. Rainfall and human population density alone
could explain 71% of the variation in cattle density. Northern and central
sites showed an overall decrease in total cattle numbers (15.1 and
2.9%, respectively), whereas a 28.6% increase was recorded in the
South. The number of cattle owners in relation to cattle numbers
remained stable during the study period. Only 4.0% of households in
the South own cattle, compared to 13.7 and 12.7% in the North and
Centre. The overall annual calving rate was 23.8%. Annual mortality
rates ranged from 2.4 to 3.2%. Low calf mortality (2.1%) was recorded
in the North compared to the South (11.6%). Annual off-take in the
form of slaughter averaged 0.2, 11.7, and 11.0% in the North, Central
and South sites, respectively. These figures provide valuable baseline
data and demonstrate considerable spatial heterogeneity in cattle
demography and production at this wildlife-livestock interface, which
should be taken into consideration when performing disease risk
assessments or designing disease control systems.
