Cathcart fire devastates farmers
THE wildfire that killed at least 41 pregnant cattle and destroyed 30 000ha of grazing land on more than 50 farms in the Cathcart area on Friday will have devastating effects for the Eastern Cape economy.
Hundreds of livestock in upper Cathcart and Thomas River are still missing after fleeing the blazing forest. No one was injured in the fire, which took 18 hours to put out.
The Upper Cathcart Farmers’ Association (Ucfa) will meet with Agri SA Eastern Cape and other stakeholders today to assess the damage.
Richard Armstrong and wife Mandy, of Tweedale Farm, have already confirmed that they lost 41 pregnant Fenfield cattle to the value of R615 000.
The couple also lost 50 Dohne merino sheep with newborn lambs with a combined value of R125 000.
It took 75 farmers and their 450-strong workforce the entire day on Friday to put out the flames.
Yesterday, Agri SA Eastern Cape chairman Douglas Stern said farmers might have to let some of their employees go because of the fire.
“It will definitely have a negative effect because there are farmers who lost everything.
“It would be very difficult for them to recover soon due to the drought, and the first option would be to cut expenses . . . so farmers might look at retrenching.”
He said the loss of livestock would mean less meat in the market and less money for farmers in the region.
It took 72 firefighters from Amahlathi fire department, Working on Fire, two choppers, one spotter plane and one water bomb carrier plane to get the fire under control.
Armstrong said 3 000 hay bales were also destroyed when his shed caught alight.
“The most devastating is the fact that this happens while we were in the grip of a drought and we were only left with a little feed for the entire winter, but it is now all gone.”
Glen Finelas Farm owner and fire protection officer Chris Purdon said hundreds of animals had gone missing after fleeing the blazing forests.
Purdon said they had been receiving offers from farmers in Post Retief, Tarkastad and even the Free State to help them with animal feed.