NAMIBIA: Beef farming and wildlife preservation go hand in hand, writes Rob Crilly in Otjiwarongo, Namibia.
The clouds roll off the Waterberg plateau at this time of year, delivering rain and turning this dusty corner of Namibia into a green haven, the veldt thick with grass.
It is a welcome sight for the farmers who raise thousands of cattle here, much of it destined for the dinner plates of Europe.
Just as it fattens the hardy African breeds so too it fattens the gemsbok, kudu and springbok that attract cheetahs, making Namibia the world's last stronghold for the endangered species.
The two - cheetah and farmer - make increasingly uneasy bedfellows. The predator is blamed for snatching calves and eating into slender profit margins.
Hundreds are shot each year. But now conservationists believe they have the answer.
Later this year they will launch Cheetah Country Beef, a new eco-label designed to reward farmers who agree not to shoot the endangered predator.
Sigi Eimbeck runs a small farm about an hour's drive from the capital, Windhoek.
He is waiting for accreditation. "It's difficult. This year we have lost nine calves on a small farm of 200 cattle.
"That's a lot to lose," he said. "Usually we can just about live with the cheetah. The problems come with a problem animal. When it tastes the quality of our veal then it won't go for anything else."
He has been offered 10,000 Namibian dollars (about €1,500) per cheetah by local guides who run hunting safaris. "That is very tempting," he said.
Hunting is legal in Namibia. The Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species allows the hunting or live export of 150 cheetahs.
Farmers are also allowed to shoot predators that roam their land picking off calves or goats.
No-one knows how many are shot, but the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) estimates that about 10,000 were removed in the decade up to 1991. Today the figure is more than 300 each year.
That is a lot of losses for a country-wide population of 3,000, and a global total of about 15,000.
At its headquarters near Otjiwarongo, the CCF looks after 30 cheetah which have no hope of ever returning to the wild. A trio of orphaned cubs arrived in November - their mother most likely shot by a farmer.
Dr Laurie Marker, director of the CCF, said conservationists face a race against time if they are to successfully save the animal from extinction.
"This is the cheetah's most important world concentration - right around here," she said, gesturing across the acacia-dotted veldt towards the distant red cliffs of the Waterberg Plateau.
"Since this population is still large and contiguous in Namibia then it is very important to stabilise and maintain. It is impossible to stress its importance."
Farmers, she added, are the key to the species survival. More than 90 per cent of Namibia's cheetahs live on commercial farmland.
The relatively timid species struggles to compete with the lions and hyenas that dominate the country's national parks. Instead it has found a niche on the vast ranches that cover much of Namibia.
Lions and hyenas have been cleared from the cattle farms, and the land is also home to about 70 per cent of the country's wildlife, providing plentiful prey.
The new scheme follows well-established labels such as dolphin-friendly tuna in rewarding producers who abide by ecological guidelines.
David Bell, project manager at CCF said: "Farmers are sharing their farms with cheetahs. They always have done. This eco-label will go to reward those farmers who are already farming in a cheetah friendly way and will also act as an incentive to those farmers who could improve things."
The farmers will receive an extra few Namibian cents per kilogram of beef for agreeing not to trap or shoot cheetah, except under tightly defined circumstances. Their farms will be subject to routine monitoring and random inspections. And they will be expected to introduce modern management techniques designed to keep cheetah away from livestock.
"There are simple things that can be put in place to reduce conflicts between predators and livestock - corralling very young livestock, as cheetahs do not go for adult cows," said Mr Bell.
"So if you can keep young livestock in a corral until they are old enough to go out with the herd - that is one simple method."
Grass grows sparsely on much of Namibia's farmland. Herds must roam huge distances to find good grazing, which means young calves, often born miles from protection, are particularly vulnerable.
However, farmers are beginning to introduce breeding seasons - and with them calving seasons - so that they know when to bring pregnant cows off the veldt.
Even keeping donkeys or huge Anatolian guard dogs with cattle can ward off cheetah. Harry Schneider-Waterberg is one of the farmers who have pioneered the techniques.
His family have farmed here for so long that the imposing heights of the Waterberg Plateau were named after them.
"We have reduced losses drastically. In 2004 I lost 10 calves due to predators out of a production of about 400, which is something one can almost live with," he said.
"That is more than two thirds less than what used to happen - we would lose about 50 calves."
The added costs of employing extra herdsmen, deploying pregnancy tests and inoculating the confined calves are outweighed by the N$50,000 he estimates saving through reduced cheetah attacks on his 40,000-hectare ranch.
Then there is the growing revenue that ranchers are earning by turning over unproductive areas to become wildlife reserves and tourist attractions.
"Any initiative - cheetah conservation or whatever - can only succeed on the very unfortunate principle that if it pays it stays," said Scheinder-Waterberg.
"That is how commercial farmers will always look at predators. All over the world you have farmers looking at niche markets to earn more for their produce."
The first Cheetah Country Beef is due to go on sale in Namibia within months.
The real target, though, is Europe, with its well-established market for eco-labels.
Meatco, the largest meat processor in Namibia, is in talks with British supermarket suppliers to get the beef on to shelves by the end of the year.
Andre Mouton, marketing manager of Meatco, said Cheetah Country Beef is an essential part of turning Namibian meat into a sought-after product.
"The commodity value of products is going down all the time - whether it is maize or beef or whatever - so you have to get out of that commodity trap," he said.
"The only way to do it is to brand the product on issues related to other appeals.
"That is what interests us in a developing a more specific brand."
Labelling the product on menus and getting the beef into supermarkets is the first step to making consumers aware that Namibian meat is raised in animal friendly, free-range, chemical-free conditions, explained Mr Mouton.
For conservationists, such as Dr Marker, the prize is priceless - the chance to protect a species that could disappear within 30 years.
"We very soon could lose the fastest land animal to the hand of humans," she said.
"We know the problems, we know the solutions. It is whether humankind is going to be courageous and willing enough to take these steps that are going to be necessary."
Cheetah Country Beef, she said, is a a win-win product that connects consumers in Europe with a species on the brink of extinction.
"In our line of work - conservation - people often hear about endangered species and think 'well what can I do'?
"This is something active that people can do. There is a very direct benefit."