Resource Guardianship week 1

21February-24February 2011

21/04/2011
At our first day of our 9week course we went out to put out mineral blocks for the animals this is a three in one block that gives the animals vital vitamins and helps with ticks.We had to put out 9 blocks on different parts of the farm.We then filled the Duncan Applicators with a poison called Amipor this is also for the prevention of ticks .How this method works is there is a feeding bucket where you put out something for the animals to feed on for exp.molasses there is a pole right in the center where the poison then runs down from. As the animals feed they rub there necks against this pole and then the poison comes of on to them and kills as well as prevents ticks.

22/04/2011
We fixed a fence broken by two fighting Kudus our first real fix this was more of an learning experience as most of as have not done it before .We took out and repaired droppers and  Sieg showed as a new method of fixing  a fence called gripple.The fence what was needed to fix is different from most  fences we have on the farm as it was bonox fence.This was in all a learning opportunity as we got to see how to fix a fence and what is needed.

23/04/2011
We started out the day at the 400ha where we monitored the fence and there were big parts broken the only thing was today I had to show what I have learned.I had to show practical .I did the following:

• A 90 degree fix this is were you take the part broken of and put a new piece in or bind those two by making a 90degree in the wire
• The gripple method
• Binding the onto a dropper
• Fixing "Varkdraad" 
  
  As this was my first time  there was still a lot of help and guidance from the second year students I managed to get the job done and correctly done.This was in all a great experience and I picked up much quicker than I thought
  
  24/04/2011
    Today we had an very early start because the giraffes ran straight threw the fence.We rushed there and started working it was a long piece that broke of but the teamwork was excellent it was great to see how fast we picked up and started working together.I had to remove droppers that were bent and fix them as well as y-standards this in all went very quickly.After this we started fixing the fence it self.Everything went really fast and we fixed it in time so that other animals do not escape from the same hole.
  
  This was a fast learning week and everything had to go fast as we already had to repair a big piece of fence on our third day it was really rewarding when we got everything to work  when we put our own knowledge into the working place   and everything worked out