How to grow beetroot

This popular vegetable is fairly easy to grow and produces a good yield.

Liver fluke facts

An overview of this deadly zoonotic disease and the parasites that cause it.

Interested in selling vegetables?

Before starting production, you should obtain as much information as possible – and ask yourself some tough questions! Commercial vegetable-growing is not for everyone.

Grazing perennial ryegrass

To survive, perennial ryegrass needs good management practices. In particular, farmers should ensure that grazing does not take place too frequently.

Keeping records for layers

A management calendar is crucial for success even if you are simply supplying eggs to your own family.

Know your crop pests: False codling moth

The false codling moth is a major pest of citrus and other commercial fruit in South Africa, causing a substantial financial loss every year.

Towards happy, healthy hens!

To keep the eggs coming, make sure your hens stay healthy.

Managing weeds, pests and diseases

A brief overview of the basic steps that you should take to protect your crops.

Farming eggs for family and profit

How to build, manage and maintain your own affordable household egg production unit.

Preventing zoonosis

Controlling the spread of diseases to humans is generally easy, as most of the measures are grounded in common sense, writes Paul Donovan.

Feeding pen problems

Rounding off lambs under intensive conditions requires sound management, especially of aspects such as disease prevention and housing.

Starting with onions – Part 4

Bill Kerr explains how and when to harvest this crop, how to cure the onions, and how to pack them.

Rounding off lambs in a feeding pen

When mutton prices are high or grazing is scarce, this practice can be extremely profitable.

Starting with onions – Part 3

Bill Kerr shows us how to take a crop through to maturity.

Know your crop pests: Leaf miner

‘Leaf miner’ is a generic name used to describe the larvae of a number of insect species such as moths, sawflies, flies, beetles and some wasps.

Starting with onions – Part 2

This week Bill Kerr discusses how to prepare the soil and plant the crop.

Dealing with hydatid disease

This parasitic disease, caused by the tapeworm E. granulosus, affects cattle, sheep, goats and even humans.

Home-made tonic for sheep

Roelof Bezuidenhout recommends this remedy to boost your sheep’s condition.

Getting started with onions

Onions are either an easy crop to grow or a disaster. Bill Kerr offers basic guidelines for success.

Ticks: a major parasite

It is estimated that tick-borne diseases kill more than a million cattle a year in Africa. This amounts to a loss of more than R1,6 billion.

Farming Basics