Gauteng Smallholder September 2015 | Page 7

NEWS Township teachers seek farming help F ive township maths teachers calling themselves the GreenAge Team are asking for help from Gauteng's farmers: they want advice and a helping hand to make their small farming venture successful. Says group spokeswoman Mapaseka Vryman, “We are five young black ladies who are interested in farming on a small scale. We have a plot. We are undecided between animals and planting. “Would you consider inviting us to help on your farm for a full day, say from 06:00 to the afternoon, for free so we can get a picture of reality? “We are interested in chickens, pigs, goats, cows and horses. On the planting side, we are interested in vegetables, wheat, maize, root crops such No shortage of AHS vaccine this year V accine for African Horse Sickness is readily available this season and from now on is the time to be administering it. Horse owners can buy the AHS vaccine kit from their local veterinarian or ask for them to be ordered if they are not kept in stock. The Smallholder's August edition gave details on how the vaccine should be used and the information is also available on www.sasmallholder.co.za. It is important to note that foals born of unvaccinated dams can be inoculated at any age but foals of immune dams should not be vaccinated until they are at least six to seven months old. Immunisation of mares should be avoided during the first three months of pregnancy. Annual immunisation is strongly recommended. According to Onderstepoort Biological Products, the vaccine's sole South African manufacturer, it takes two to three vaccinations for horses to become immune to all the serotypes in the vaccine. It is therefore important to combine vaccination with the control of the Culicoides midges which transmit the disease. Horses can be Continued on page 6 5 www.sasmallholder.co.za as beetroot and potatoes, and greens such as spinach etc. “We do not know if this qualifies but we are interested in flowers, too. “We would like to visit your farm on public holidays or on Sundays. “We cannot visit on Saturdays because the five of us teach Maths in a township on Saturdays.” The group can be contacted through Vryman via her email address [email protected]