PRESERVATION FOR STOCK FOOD 733 



and tends to the propagation of scab and other evils among CHAP, 

 the animals. xv - 



The usual arguments against providing winter food are 

 (1) that it involves too much personal labour, or (2) that it 

 costs too much for hired labour, or (3) that trekking to the 

 winter-veld is easier and cheaper. The answer is, that without 

 necessarily working harder himself, the farmer can increase his 

 profits by more intensive agriculture, and thus afford to employ 

 more white labour ; that trekking results in too much loss of 

 stock and risk of infection, and indirectly involves the locking 

 up of too much capital in a second farm, with consequent loss 

 of interest ; therefore it is not cheaper. By keeping the same 

 amount of stock on a smaller farm, the farmer could either (a) 

 let a portion of his present large holdings and use the rent for 

 the hire of labour or purchase of labour-saving machinery, or 

 (b) sell one farm, or a portion, and use the proceeds for the per- 

 manent improvement of the remainder. Farmers who have 

 given up the annual trek to the winter-veld have found that 

 their profits are greatly increased, as they lose less stock from 

 the depredations of vermin and Kaffirs, and do not incur the 

 risk of annual reinfection of their farms with scab and ticks. 



At best, trekking is a poor makeshift ; it cannot be depended 

 upon as an infallible means of saving the stock in winter, for 

 in some seasons, such as the winter of 191 2, even the Bush- 

 veld grass is insufficient to save the stock. 



692. The Remedy. — When we speak of such losses as 

 occurred during the winter of 191 2, as unnecessary, we do so not 

 merely from a theoretical point of view, nor merely because 

 the farmers of other countries have proved them unnecessary, 

 but because we already have the proof of it before us in South 

 Africa. We can point to farmers whose stock did not suffer 

 during the winter of 191 2 ; their oxen were ploughing through 

 the winter, and were still fat at the end of the season, their 

 cows were giving milk, and their sheep and lambs were healthy 

 and in good condition. And these men did not have irrigated 

 lands on which to grow lucerne and root-crops. Many South 

 African farmers now have hundreds of acres of winter pasture- 

 grass— New Zealand tall-fescue (Feslnca arundinacea), Phalaris 

 bulbosa, Paspalum dilatatum, and sheep's burnet {Sanguisorba 

 minor)— which prove particularly valuable in the months of 



