ANIMAL TRACTION
Eco-friendly option of value on plots
The use of animal traction over mechanised traction by smallholders holds many advantages. Animal traction
SNAKES
From page 29 information call 083 448- 8854. There are measures that you can take to discourage snakes from taking up residence on your smallholding. Start by removing anything that might provide shelter or food for snakes. Keep the grass around your house well mown, aslonggrassisa favoured habitat of snakes. Also keep shrubs trimmed round their base and ensure that tree branches do not overhang your house or seating areas in your garden. Make sure that there are no holes in your roof that snakes refers to the use of animals to carry out a variety of tasks, such as: ❑ Ploughing, harrowing, planting, ridging, weeding,
can get through- particularly if trees overhang your house. Ensure skirting boards do not have gaps under or behind them. Seal all holes where wiring, plumbing or gas enters your home. Cover gutters and drain pipes with fine gauge mesh. Regularly sweep up leaves and other garden debris. Fill gaps, cracks and crevices in brick and stone walls. Wooden decking in seating areas should be solid, rather than slatted, to prevent snakes climbing through it. Be aware that play areas such as wendy houses, tree houses, sand pits etc might be mowing and harvesting, ❑ Pulling carts and carrying loads, ❑ Driving water-pumps and pulling water from wells,
appealing to snakes. Stack your wood on a suitable platform – such as a pallet – off the ground. Try to avoid piles of building rubble near your house or sheds. Compost heaps could potentially attract many different species of wildlife which, in turn, may become the prey of a snake, so make you heap far from the house or enclose it with a wall. There are commercially marketed repellents for snakes. There is no confirmation that any effective product exists to repel snakes humanely. Some people suggest using moth balls,
❑ Carrying building materials, earth moving, and, ❑ Mixing materials and providing power for threshing
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which do not harm the snakes but still deter them from coming inside. However, moth balls can also be hazardous to children, pets and domestic animals. Johan Marais of African Snakebite Institute maintains that the only effective solution to keep snakes off your property is to cordon off the entire property with fine shade cloth. It has to be about a metre high and dug into the ground( about 30 cm deep), although given the average length of a plot boundary this could prove expensive.
30 www. sasmallholder. co. za