The agricultural sector receives substantial support from livestock, which greatly contributes to the well-being of rural communities. Livestock offers animal-derived products, such as meat and milk, which serve as abundant protein sources for human consumption. While the majority of South Africa’s agricultural land is suitable for livestock farming within the smallholder sector, these farmers often face a variety of challenges. Among these challenges, there is insufficient access to superior forage resources, resulting in the limited availability of high-quality feed. Traditional nutrient sources for ruminants, such as soybean meal, grain, sunflower meal, and fish meal, are employed as supplementary feeds to provide exceptional nutrition and improve animal performance. Nonetheless, they present logistical, economic, and environmental challenges. To circumvent these challenges, smallholder producers have turned to leguminous trees, including Vachellia species and other locally available feed resources. They are utilized as feasible and cost-effective alternatives to supplement livestock, especially during periods of extended drought. However, these locally available feed resources exhibit inherent limitations, including thorn presence, high fiber content, low digestibility, and the presence of anti-nutritional and toxic factors. Cool season forage crops such as fodder radish present promising alternatives as autumn and winter forages for these farmers. Despite being widely used globally as a supplement for livestock during winter, fodder radish remains relatively underutilized, particularly among smallholder farmers. There is a scarcity of comprehensive information regarding its chemical composition, nutrient utilization, and remarkable potential to revolutionize livestock production, especially within the smallholder sector. Most of the available literature demonstrates the positive effects of fodder radish on soil structure, soil carbon and nitrogen levels, weed suppression, and other benefits. This paper systematically reviews the current state of knowledge on the nutritive value, opportunities, and challenges associated with the utilization of this crop in the cooler eastern regions.

Maize silage is produced to alleviate the effects of forage shortages on ruminant animals, particularly during the dry season. Microorganisms play a significant role in silage fermentation and thus, to a large extent, determine the silage quality. The modulation of silage microorganisms may help to inhibit undesirable bacteria and improve the silage quality. Therefore, condensed tannin extract from Vachellia mearnsii bark was used as an additive in maize silage during ensiling. Hence, this study evaluated the effects of a tannin extract (condensed tannin) additive on the fermentative quality, aerobic stability, and bacterial composition of maize silage. A mini-silo experiment on maize with five treatments was conducted for 75 days. The silage treatments were as follows: (T1) maize forage with no inoculation (negative control); (T2) maize forage inoculated with LAB and 1% tannin extract; (T3) maize forage inoculated with LAB only (positive control); (T4) and maize forage inoculated with LAB and 2% tannin extract; (T5) maize forage inoculated with LAB and 3% tannin extract. The results showed that the additives modulated the silage microorganism composition. However, this was without affecting the silage’s fermentative quality and aerobic stability. All the silages recorded a pH below 4.2, which indicated well-fermented silage. The tannin extract suppressed the growth of undesirable bacteria, such as Dysgonomonas, Gluconacetobacter and Clostridium genera, while promoting desirable bacteria, such as Lactobacillus and Weissella genera, which were attributed to the silage quality. It is thus concluded that tannins can be strategically used as silage additives to modulate the microbial composition of silage and improve the silage quality by promoting the dominance of the desirable bacteria in the silage.

This study evaluated the effects of barley sprout on the ruminal fermentation characteristics, enteric methane emission and microbiome profiles of meat-master lambs. Twelve uncastrated lambs aged 3 months were used. They were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments: Eragrostis curvula hay as a control diet (T1), grass hay plus 25% barley sprouts (T2) and grass hay plus 50% barley sprouts (T3). Animals were fed the diet for 61 days, including 10 days of adaptation. Four animals per treatment were used to collect methane and rumen fluid. Methane emission was recorded for nine consecutive days, from day 52 to 60, using a hand-held laser detector. Rumen fluid was collected on day 61 using an esophageal stomach tube for volatile fatty acid and DNA sequencing. The sprout supplementation had significant (p < 0.05) effects on methane emission and ruminal fermentation. Significant effects on rumen fermentation were observed with regards to ammonia–nitrogen (NH₃-N), acetic acid and a tendency (p < 0.0536) to increase propionic acid. Barley sprouts reduced methane gas emission, ammonia–nitrogen and the enhanced body weight of the animals. The bacteria Bacteroidota and Firmicutes were predominant among the identified phyla. In addition, there was a shift in the relative abundance of phylum among the treatments. The principal coordinate analysis showed a clear difference in microbiome among animals in T1 and those in T2 and T3. The sprout supplementation improves feed utilization efficiency by the animals. In conclusion, barley sprouts may be strategically used as a climate-smart feed resource for ruminants.

Feed shortage is the main cause of poor production performance in livestock under smallholder farmer’s in South Africa. Therefore, this study evaluated the growth performance, nutritive value and in vitro ruminal fermentation of Stylosanthes scabra accessions in climatic condition of Pretoria, South Africa as potential forage sources in order to improve feed quality and subsequently livestock production. Stylosanthes scabra accessions were planted in 6 m² plots following a complete randomized block design with three replicates per accession. The plants were allowed to grow to full maturity after which forage was harvested and yield, chemical composition, phenolic compounds, in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) and in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristic were determined. Forage yield of accessions ranged between 4.3 to 5.3 t ha⁻¹ in dry matter (DM), and only twelve accessions were identified to be adaptable over the three-year evaluation under rain-fed. Accessions 140, 9281, 11,252, 11,595, 11,604 and 11,625 were consistent in terms of forage yield over the three years. Significant differences among accessions were observed for crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), IVOMD, metabolizable energy, metabolizable energy yield, gas production, total phenols, total hydrolysable tannins and total condensed tannins. Principal component and clustering analysis showed that accessions 11,255 and 11,625 are distinct in their characteristics as compared to the rest of the accessions, and both accessions are suitable forage source for animals since they contain low NDF with good forage production and crude protein content. However, there is a need for further study to integrate these accessions into the feeding systems in order to improve livestock production.

Livestock from communities bordered by dune mining, urban areas and commercial forestry in northern KwaZulu-Natal spend substantial time foraging in the coastal forest that the mining company is obliged to restore. A survey of livestock owners and an experimental study of impacts of cattle on restoration processes were conducted to develop better knowledge of the perceptions of livestock owners neighbouring the mine, and the impacts of their cattle on rehabilitating coastal dune forest. Shortages of grazing and livestock diseases were perceived to be the major constraints on livestock operations. Mitigation included grazing cattle in the rehabilitating forest and treating livestock diseases with available medicinal plant species. An exclosure experiment in one of the older stands undergoing restoration showed that cattle grazing reduced grass biomass and Acacia kosiensis seedling recruitment. A study of seeds collected from cattle dung showed that Psidium guajava, an important invasive alien woody species...