Drought is a frequent occurrence in the arid and semi-arid Karoo rangelands of South Africa. Rangeland productivity is expected to decline with drought thereby reducing livestock productivity and consequently livelihoods of the farmers. This study aimed to document the effects of drought on livestock farming in the Karoo region of South Africa and the strategies used by farmers to reduce the risks of drought. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a random sample of 35 livestock farmers. The data was analysed using SPSS. Most farmers in the Karoo region had over 20 years farming experience and 60% of them have tertiary qualification. Profit loss and losses of animals were major impacts of drought in the two biomes. Results showed that coping and adaptation strategies adopted by farmers in the two biomes were largely similar. These included destocking before the drought to reduce grazing pressure, income diversification during the drought and evaluation of the rangeland after the drought to determine the number of animals they can keep and when to graze a specific area. These findings provide a framework for decision makers to promote self-reliance so that drought adaptation among livestock farmers is more effective.

南非干旱和半干旱的卡鲁牧场经常发生干旱。牧场生产力预计会因干旱而下降，从而降低牲畜生产力，从而降低农民的生计。本研究旨在记录干旱对南非卡鲁地区畜牧业的影响以及农民为减少干旱风险而采取的策略。使用半结构化问卷从 35 名畜牧农民中随机抽取样本收集数据。使用 SPSS 分析数据。卡鲁地区的大多数农民都有20年以上的农业经验，其中60%拥有大专学历。利润损失和动物损失是干旱对这两个生物群落的主要影响。结果表明，这两个生物群落的农民采取的应对和适应策略基本相似。这些措施包括干旱前的去库存以减少放牧压力、干旱期间的收入多样化以及干旱后对牧场进行评估，以确定可以饲养的动物数量以及何时在特定区域放牧。这些研究结果为决策者提供了一个促进自力更生的框架，使畜牧农民更有效地适应干旱。