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18 February 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo HO de Waal
Ground spiny Cactus pear
Shredded, sun-dried, and coarsely ground spiny cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica and O. engelmannii), ready to be included in balanced diets for ruminant livestock (cattle, sheep, goats) and wild antelopes.

Prof HO de Waal, researcher in the Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), has developed a standard procedure for the processing of spiny cactus pear (Opuntia spp.) into livestock fodder. This will ultimately assist in the management of massive infestations of spiny cactus pear and help to convert underutilised farmland back to natural grazing land.

In addition to applying biological control agents, mechanical control is used to harvest alien spiny cactus pear, and the large volume of material is processed as livestock feed.

 

Introduced to South Africa

 

Three hundred years ago, seafarers visiting the Cape of Good Hope introduced the well-known invading alien spiny cactus pear to South Africa. These were later transported inland and by the 1950s about one million ha of South Africa had been invaded by the alien cacti.

Some regions in the Eastern Cape have been taken over by dense, impenetrable thickets of these cacti. Invasive alien plants (IAPs) such as cacti pose a direct threat to, among others, South Africa’s water security and productive use of land.

A range of methods is used to control IAPs, including mechanical, chemical, biological, and integrated control methods.

A control programme must include the three phases of initial control to drastically reduce the existing population; follow-up control of seedlings, root suckers, and coppice growth; and maintenance control on an annual basis to sustain low alien plant numbers.

 

Processing spiny cactus pears

 

According to Prof De Waal, the harvesting and processing of the spiny cactus pear is fairly simple. Although it requires a good measure of physical strength, perseverance, and the necessary protective clothing, the cacti can be processed by harvesting the plants; shredding the cladodes through a cladode cutter; then drying them in the sun, and lastly grinding it in a hammer mill. “The long spines are degraded mechanically by grinding the sun-dried cladode strips in a hammer mill before including it in balanced livestock diets,” said Prof De Waal.

Infestations will be opened, reclaimed, rehabilitated and the natural pastures (veld) allowed to revert back to grazing for livestock.

The National Resource Management Programme (NRM)P) will be approached for official support in clearing and rehabilitating massive areas of infestation by alien spiny cactus pear in the Eastern Cape. Such financial support will be an investment in reducing the infestation by invaders and the rehabilitation and sustainable use of natural resources in South Africa.

News Archive

Innovation the focus of 28th Sophia Gray Memorial Lecture
2016-09-06

Description: Stratford furniture design Tags: Stratford furniture design

Stratford never lost his passion for designing
furniture. Pictured here is some of his furniture
exhibited at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum.
Photo: Francois van Vuuren: iFlair Photography

Al Stratford, designer, inventor and architect, presented the 28th Sophia Gray Memorial Lecture on 25 August at the Reservoir at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein. The event, hosted by the Department of Architecture at the University of the Free State, was also the opening of an exhibition of Stratford’s work.

In his career of 40 years, Stratford has patented many products and won several awards in industrial design and architecture. He is known in South Africa for his development of innovative building technology such as the Winblok Precast Concrete Window System. In 2009 and 2010, he also served as president of the South African Institute of Architects.

The title of his lecture was: Reductive Innovation in Architecture. Throughout his career, Stratford endeavoured – through his designs and inventions – to apply the principle of “reduction” to the building material he used and technology he examined.

Stratford designs and builds smart buildings
Stratford says a home is the paradigm of self-expression. His career as architect started with the building of five houses in Gonubie, near East London. Everything he knew about architecture at that stage, he had taught himself by reading on the subject at the local library. Later on, he achieved great heights in his career by designing and building, among others, the Stratford Guesthouse; the sustainable and resourcefully designed campus buildings for the University of Fort Hare (an institutional building not utilising any electrical air-conditioning); the Edenvale Baptist Church; and a community hall.

His technology is widely used in the building industry

“The arrogance in me gets humiliated when I
see what other people and God has done.”


His technical drawing skills, acquired at an early age during his training as motor mechanic, are still practised years later, particularly in his inventions. Stratford is the inventor of technology commonly used in the building industry today. Of these, the Winblok window system which he patented in 1981, is one of his best known patents. The use of these windows is characteristic of many of the buildings he designed and built. Other technology he invented and patented, includes the Winstep stairs, the Windeck flooring system, and the StratFlex furniture technology.

Furniture designs win him awards
He likes to quote architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: “A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is easier.” Stratford started designing and manufacturing his own furniture and never lost this passion. In 2013, he won the Innovation Award at the Design Indaba for his “flat pack” furniture technology.

The humble Stratford – designer, inventor, industrialist, and architect – says he is simply playing around with God’s creation. “The arrogance in me gets humiliated when I see what other people and God has done.”

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