Pretoria
A herd health calendar brings practical focus to every season when working with deer on the Highveld.
We joined Pretoria-based game vets for a hands-on herd health calendar training day. Our sika and stud breeding experience helped shape the seasonal approach.
In early spring, the veld around Pretoria stands pale gold and crisp, with scattered thorn trees and the first hint of green grass after winter grazings. We gathered just outside the city, where several game veterinarians welcomed us to a quiet kraal tucked behind windbreaks. The morning air buzzed with birds and the hum of bakkies arriving, everyone keen to discuss practical herd health for deer managed under Highveld conditions.
Most of the veterinarians work across multiple properties, handling a mix of native antelope and exotic deer, so the location was chosen for easy access and ample space to set up work areas. The day covered how a well-planned health year spares animals and vets unnecessary stress, and how changes in rainfall or temperature can upset that plan.
Our team brought along examples from both the Sika Quiet Pasture initiative and the broader Stud Breeding Programme. These are the core of our seasonal management at Karoo Edge and on several partner farms, and they have shaped much of our thinking on year-round animal health.
We worked through a calendar on the stoep, mapping out when to boost nutrition, when to plan for vaccinations and parasite controls, and how to time low-stress handling for the least disruption during fawning and rut. Power backup for cold chains and electric fencing came up, as did drought buffers in the face of another El Niño. Each vet shared practical stories from their own camps, and we compared what works best for sika and mixed herds in these conditions.
One immediate change was how the local vets structured their seasonal planning. They began to group health interventions by camp location and deer species, taking into account fawning cycles and veld quality. We saw more attention to simple, reliable record-keeping and the need to keep movement permits and FMD paperwork in order for any stud animal sales.
The animals themselves benefitted from quieter handling and better-timed interventions, with less crowding at the kraal and reduced stress during the hottest months. The vets reported smoother procedures and fewer cases of preventable illness going into summer, especially for the more sensitive sika.
Next time, we would spend more time outdoors in the camps themselves. A walk among the veld and practical demos of low-stress moving would make the seasonal advice even more concrete.
We’d also bring along more examples of our digital stud records for hands-on practice, so vets can see how we track genetic diversity and health events across years. Anyone looking to join our next herd health day or ask about our veterinary collaboration is welcome to send a message through our contact form.
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