Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
04 August 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Johan Barnard
Experimental farm
The Paradys Experimental Farm donated 428 bales of animal feed to farmers who lost veld in the Fauresmith and Tierpoort districts.

“I wish I had more to give.” These are the words of Johan Barnard, Junior Lecturer and manager on the Paradys Experimental Farm of the University of the Free State (UFS) after he donated the last of 428 bales of animal feed to a farmer from the Tierpoort area this morning (4 August 2021).

After large parts of the Paradys Experimental Farm were destroyed by veld fires three years ago and 24 famers came out to help fight the fire, Barnard believes in planting a surplus of food that would enable him to share with farmers in need. Last year, he donated bales of animal feed to farmers in the Hertzogville district whose veld was destroyed.

Sharing resources

More recently – less than a month ago – veld fires destroyed thousands of hectares of land in the Tierpoort and Fauresmith districts. Barnard, who helped to put out the fires and saw the destruction, decided to make the extra animal feed available to the farmers who needed feed for their animals.

Together with research and teaching and learning, the community is one of the university’s focus areas. “As a university, we are sharing our knowledge. The destruction brought about by the veld fires has created an opportunity where the university can also share its resources,” says Barnard.

When he made the decision to help, the feed was, however, still on the fields and had to be cut, processed, and baled. But where there is a will and a community that stand together, there is a way.

The farmers in the Koppieskraal district brought their tractors and machinery to cut, rake, and bale the sorghum and grass. BKB contributed fuel to cover the running costs of the tractors and machinery.

Once the animal feed was baled, Barnard contacted Jack Armour, operations manager at Free State Agriculture, who not only spread the word to farmers that animal feed was available, but also provided fuel to deliver the bales to the farms destroyed by fires. Since last week, volunteers have come to collect the animal feed and distribute it to the farmers.

Barnard, who believes it is difficult to put a price value on the animal feed provided by the university, says to the farmers who received it, the value of these bales is priceless.

A priceless gift

Besides the thousands of hectares of pasture destroyed during the raging fires, farmers also lost a significant number of sheep and cattle. When Leon Kruger, Lecturer in the Department of Animal Science, on the experimental farm, saw the devastation caused by the fires, he posted on Facebook that he was available to assist in treating the animals.

Together with two government veterinarians and a colleague from the Glen Agricultural College, Kruger drove hundreds of kilometres to farms in the south and southwestern Free State to help farmers treat animals affected by the fires.

He says they have treated more than 800 animals, including sheep and cattle. “We treated the animals one by one, administering antibiotics and pain medication, as well as ointment to the burned areas. This difficult ordeal was, however, a baptism of fire for all of us; we are not familiar with burn wounds. A friend in Australia helped to compile criteria to classify the different degrees of burn wounds and we treated the animals accordingly.”

“Seeing the suffering of the animals was one of the most difficult ordeals I had to experience,” states Kruger, who helped several farmers save their animals during this time where they have already lost so much.


News Archive

Inaugural lecture celebrates Qwaqwa founder, Morena Mopeli Mokhachane
2014-09-12

 

Photo: RooistoelTV

Every historical era presents its own challenges and creates its own leaders who take up the call to address those challenges.

This was expressed by Dr Nyefolo Malete who presented the Inaugural Memorial Lecture on 6 September 2014 at the Qwaqwa Campus. The lecture honoured the live of the Qwaqwa founder, Morena Paulus Mopeli Mokhachane.

Dr Malete said that Morena Mopeli played his part in history as a skilled negotiator, formidable team player and a liberator who held good human relations in high regard.

“Morena Mopeli lived at the time when Southern Africa was experiencing a moment of frustration and despair. It was faced with conflicts, battles, starvation and turmoil in preparation for a transformation that was to serve as the mirror of the political and social stage which existed until 1994,” Dr Malete said.

“He was a hopeful leader and thinker who played a critical role in assisting his brother Moshoeshoe to build and protect Lesotho where it was humanly possible. He participated in most of the negotiations with all the groups to create peace and protect the borders of Lesotho. He was a good, intelligent and formidable diplomat who was aware of his role as a leader. He was aware that he could influence the future through dialogue.”

Dr Malete said that Africa needs leaders like Mopeli. Leaders who can expand the capacity to remain open to possibilities and “envision a positive future in the face of uncertainty and to creatively construct pathways that can be embraced by all people who collectively seek to turn possibilities into reality.”

In attendance at the lecture were dignitaries from the Lesotho Royal House, the Free State Provincial Government and the Free State House of Traditional Leaders. 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept