Henry Labuschagne, [01 Nov 2023 at 13:41:17]: Good day. Anybody seen mortalities in antelope due to cold weather recently? Bossie Boshoff, [01 Nov 2023 at 13:56:48]: Yes. But they were all skinny animals in a negative energy balance. Mainly nyala on farms without much natural brows yet. Henry Labuschagne, [01 Nov 2023 at 14:23:38]: Thx. We had a cold, wet spell 2 days ago. I saw 6 dead sable, 2 adult cows and 4 x 9 month-old calves that died acutely on the same day. The Body Condition Score were not bad for this time of year. They are fed lucerne and game pellets. The PM was fairly negative I have however not seen sable dying of hypothermia even in worse conditions than what we have seen now. Erik Verrynne, [01 Nov 2023 at 14:49:36]: We have seen kudu and eland, also not too skinny, dying during the cold spell. Louis Greeff, [01 Nov 2023 at 23:17:34]: Here the animals died by the hundreds in this cold spell and rain. This included a lot of sable that were not in bad body condition – they died during Sunday and Monday when the wind was freezing. One owner lost 23 out of 37 animals. Nyalas, and kudu and eland died in large numbers. This farmer with the nyala and kudu reported 57 deaths - he is a good farmer and feeds ample lucerne and game pellets. The animals were not in a condition that I would think they would die, but still a lot died. Nature’s way of selecting for the strongest. I think it was like in 2007 - the severe heat of the past week and the sudden cold did not correlate with their bodies ability to generate heat. We also had a lot of lightning that also caused lots of losses here. I lost 3 heavily pregnant Brahman cows under one tree and 6 sable (one breeding bull, 3 females and 2 calves). Another farmer reported 37 impala that died under one tree and another 11 white Brahman heifers under one tree. Henry Labuschagne, [01 Nov 2023 at 23:36:34]: Thx for info Louis. Sorry to hear about your loss. Keep up the good work. Ryan Jeffery, [02 Nov 2023 at 20:06:20]: The last four days has been terrible. To add to the death list - eland, sable, nyala, waterbuck, zebra, blesbok, springbuck and lots of cattle. The cattle are still dying today of Pasteurella or sponsiekte, but all as a result of the cold.
