English

Abstract

Marselle farmers have continued to struggle to produce effectively despite obtaining free land and funding from the Land Bank. One key challenge thought to be behind this poor performance is the farmers’ lack of proper livestock farming skills and knowledge. This study thus sought to determine the effect of various socio-economic factors on the acquisition of critical livestock rearing skills and knowledge of Marselle farmers. The long term plan was to pave a way to improve the farmers’ skills and knowledge; thereby, enhancing their productivity based on the findings of this study. The gender of farmers had an influence on their skills and knowledge acquisition, followed by education. On the other hand, the famers’ marital status was not an issue at all, whereas family labour only affected the farmers’ health care knowledge. Thus, planned capacity building interventions should be tailored to ensure that they suit every individual farmer and are in accordance with their respective socio-economic characteristics. Key words: Animal healthcare, feeding, housing and handling, marketing, slaughtering, veld condition.