VN October 2020

Vetnuus |Oktober 2020 48 Life plus 21 without parole Mike Lowry Mike Lowry has been in veterinary practice for "life plus 21" years. In this column, he shares his experiences and opinions . Regulars I Life plus 21 The last few articles have been based on me looking back on my life and in some way stock taking. Recently an article in the Farmers Weekly (28 th August 2020) described what Andrew Ardington was doing to improve agriculture and make it far more sustainable. Yes, Andrew Ardington comes from a family well known to the veterinary profession; his uncle is our much esteemed colleague, Peter Ardington. Andrew, with his RegenAg, brings to attention the importance of sustainability in agriculture and just how far many of the current agricultural practices are from this highly desirable state. This took me back a little over 50 years. In the early 60’s as an agricultural student I was introduced to the man who would later become my father-in-law, a sugar cane grower from the south coast. He ran a huge operation which he had developed single-handedly from a small mixed farming base. He had no formal agricultural training and had left school before completing matric. His entire operation was a delight and if RegenAg needed a mentor he would surely have done that without altering a single part of his farming methods. There was no burning of sugar cane; all weed control was by hand or mule; soil health was cared for by sound practices which included the addition of cane residues, basic slag and milo. Beans were also grown on the lands after plough-out. The soils on his operation had abundant humus and plenty of earth worms. On a two-year cycle yields of in excess of 100 tons per hectare were not uncommon and sugar cane ills were virtually unheard of – the cane never suffered moisture stress, unless there was a severe drought and moisture retention was exceptional. There were fields were 15 ratoons were still producing economically. In the years that followed, his farm management was taken over by a university graduate. Burning became the norm, as did chemical weed control and fertilisation. Infield harvesting by machine also resulted in soil compaction. The earthworms had all disappeared, as had the old bushbuck ram that could often be seen standing in the shade of a spreading fig tree in evenings following a hot day. Yields declined and moisture stress was not uncommon. Yields were down to 60 to 70 tons. Effectively the entire operation had become a green desert. Talking to a colleague from one of the maize producing areas not so long ago, he expressed concern that the cattle numbers in the area were declining drastically because it had been found that, with no-till practices, the presence of cattle in the maize residues after harvesting were causing soil compaction and reduced yields in the ensuing crop. Are these the only changes we are seeing in this ever- changing and rapidly expanding world? No, not at all! And are all these changes good? Certainly not. This brought me to the position of the veterinary services in so far as agriculture was concerned. Of the highly effective CA eradication program that Dr Max Bachman introduced in southern Natal when he was deputy heard of the veterinary services in Natal. And of the TB accredited herds – one of my commercial beef herds was CA and TB accredited and this was despite the fact that there were 1200 head of cattle in the herd. And what of the position with regard to the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. There was no doubt that OVI was a world leader. The vaccines produced were probably the best available world-wide and as for the Foot-and-Mouth Research lab – it left nothing to be desired. And now, all these years later? Vaccines produced cannot be trusted. CA vaccine for heifers has been only sporadically available. I believe the Foot-and-Mouth Research lab has been closed. Is this so? And now RegenAg has become part of the attempt to restore what was, all those years ago, the norm. And now who is going to attempt to save SA Vet Services and the once mighty, world renowned Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute? The wheel has surely turned the full circle and one thing that is blatantly obvious is that nature cannot be raped and man has to play a very gentle but crucial part in making things sustainable if the inevitable is to be averted. v