Home: TRD: Worcester Veld Reserve: HISTORY
Lees oor die plaas in Afrikaans.
Office and house on the Reserve in
the early years
During the 1920's the country battled a drought and the general impression was that the natural veld was deteriorating. In January 1935 the government purchased land from Worcester's municipality for the amount of 10 shillings. The farm is situated just outside Worcester on the N1 in the direction of De Doorns. The main aim of the purchase was for the production of seed to re-establish the natural veld.
Mr NG van Breda
doing root studies
The first farm manager was Mr NG van Breda. He was also the first to establish Bietou (Tripteris sinuata) here. This planting is still being harvested annually. He also charted all permanent plants on the farm. Mr van Breda also instituted basic research projects, investigating root studies, sowing in of seed into the veld and also the pilling of seed (covering the seed in a humous-rich layer to promote germination.
His son, Mr PAB van Breda, continued his father's work. He expanded the plantings to large fields, and at present 5 ha Tripteris sinuata (Bietou), 1 ha Eriocephalus africanus (kapokbos), 1 ha Hirpicium integrifolium (haarbossie), 0.5 ha Erharta calycina (rooisaadgras) and later 2 ha Chaetobromus dreageanus (hartbeesgras) were established. They are still used for seed production.
In 1987 Mr MB Bayer became the manager, and started with research into various salt bush species. He did both introduction and production trials. Spacing of plants, edibility as well as grazeability was investigated. 30 Merino sheep were introduced on the farm for these experiments. They were later returned to the farms they came from.
