​The Farming for Conservation (FFC) department of the organization is showing great signs of improvement with its Livestock Guarding Dog (LGD) programme. The programme is part of our carnivore-safe farming strategies which enable farmers to develop their ability to coexist with carnivores. As of the first quarter of 2020, the number of active dogs placed and monitored by CCB stands at an impressive 53. These dogs are living with and assisting farmers in our communities of operation in the Ghanzi district. 
 
The 21 dogs which were monitored in the first quarter were found to be in remarkably good health, which attests to both the training given to the farmers regarding their care, as well as the conditions these farms are kept in. Prior to being assigned to farms, the dogs are trained as puppies at the CCB demonstration farm in Ghanzi. 
 
At present, there are 11 puppies in initial training. These puppies are expected to be placed with their farmers during the month of April when they are ready – all conditions permitting. Due to the proven success of the LGD programme, CCB is dealing with a back log of requests from farmers. As a result, a dual training model is to be trialled where some puppies are placed with 3 of our model farmers, while others undergo training at CCB’s demonstration farm. 
 
We hope that through working with farmers who have experience working with LGDs we will be able to shorten the lag between puppies being available for training and for placement with farmers. Additionally, this approach will enabled us to train a good number of dogs at a time without crowding them in one kraal – which often poses management challenges, including increased chances of disease outbreaks and parasite loads. The organization is proud of the FFC department’s work, and thankful to all the stakeholders – especially our model farmers – who continue to contribute to the success of this programme aimed at promoting farmer wealth and coexistence with wildlife. 

​On the 27th of February, members of the CCB Farming for Conservation (FFC) team visited Kalkfontein Primary School in the western region of Botswana. The purpose of the visit was to hand over a donation of two female goats to the school. The donation was made as part of an event hosted by the school, which was attended by the Kgosi (Chief) as well as students, teachers, non-teaching staff, the Parent Teacher Association, members of the village community and representatives from the Botswana Police Services, Social and Community Development Office, and Village Development Committee
The event was held under the theme, “Enhancing Student Learning through Practical Work”. The inspiration for the donation stemmed from an engagement which took place in 2018 when Standard 7 students from the school attended one of the CCB conservation bush camps. Conducted under the Education, Engagement and Awareness-Raising department, these bush camps are designed to build interest in participants and provide a holistic view of conservation. The Kalkfontein students and their subject teachers in 2018 saw an opportunity to extend the bush camp learning to their school and requested assistance from CCB to do so. 
 
The goats will serve as practical teaching aids for Agriculture students at the school. It is hoped that the two goats are only the start of small stock donations to be made to the school, as there have been additional pledges made by village community members. For CCB, this collaboration serves as a fitting expansion of our Environment and Awareness-Raising programs, and it is encouraging to see communities actively engaging with us this way. Through occasional visits by the FFC team, CCB will continue to have contact with the school and monitor the progress of this initiative. We reciprocate the school management’s gratitude for the donation and hope to nurture a long lasting relationship with them and their students as we continue to work toward promoting coexistence.

​Fostering skills in youth and farming communities remains a key component of the work that CCB does. In light of this, on the 28th of February, CCB joined forces with the Ghanzi Department of Youth to train recent grantees of the Youth Development Fund (YDF) operating in agriculture related fields. The fund, administered by the government of Botswana under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, aims to provide much needed capital to youth-run and youth-led initiatives in an effort to alleviate poverty across the country. 
 
Africa has the largest youth quotient worldwide and Botswana is no exception in this regard. Unfortunately, while the number of young people is high, so too is the rate of unemployment within this demographic. As such, initiatives like the YDF help mitigate the gap between job seeking and job creation. Attended by 41 participants, the workshop also featured various other key stakeholders such as Botswana Police Services, Departments of Agricultural Business Promotion, Forestry and Range Resources, Wildlife and National Parks, Veterinary Services and Animal Production. Each organization gave a presentation on subjects relating to optimized livestock production, management and business acumen – including record keeping. 
 
CCB gave a detailed presentation on predator-safe livestock farming with particular emphasis on the use of livestock guarding dogs (LGDs) as a method which has proven to be very successful among many of those who have implemented it. Our work with LGDs has shown remarkable progress with a notable rise in the desire for trained puppies among the farming communities. Other important topics included rangeland management, livestock diseases, and alerting the grantees to factors which contribute to livestock theft. By leading such interventions, CCB hopes to continue to build partnerships with other organizations and strengthen its relationships with farmers to truly promote coexistence while encouraging independent livelihoods among the communities we work in. We remain grateful to state departments which collaborate with us on projects like these workshops. 

While we are Cheetah Conservation Botswana, we still endeavour to assist farmers when they suffer from conflict with carnivores – even if they’re not necessarily cheetahs. CCB received a phone call from a farmer in the Ghanzi District recently asking for assistance with problems he and his neighbour were having with lions. Following severe conflict several years ago, the farmer built an electric fence on two sides of his farm where the lions were entering the farm. This intervention substantially reduced lion problems to almost none. However, seasonal heavy rains caused the fence to malfunction and lions entered the farm and killed six cattle. One animal (pictured below) miraculously managed to escape the attack with only minor injuries and is continuing to recover near the homestead.
 
The CCB team discussed several deterrent options with the farmers, which could be used to help repel lions from their livestock. Our field teams are working on a proposal that might include testing novel scent deterrent devices in the area to see if this helps keep lions from their prize-winning cattle. We will keep you updated on the progress of these plans and any carnivore problems in the area. However, we are incredibly impressed by the farmers’ willingness to experiment with non-lethal approaches to promote the coexistence of farmers and carnivores. We hope that we can provide them with additional non-lethal measures which they can use to minimize their livestock loss to carnivores.

Other farmers and community members can learn more about the dangers different carnivores pose to their livestock, ways of telling which carnivore you are dealing with, and preventative measures to take through using our resources (available on the Resource page of our website, and in print at our various offices.)