*2.1. Study Area*

The Setsoto Municipality is under the administrative district of Thabo Mofutsanyane in the Free State province (Figure 1). The seasonal rainfall usually starts in October and ends in April with more than 80% of the rainfall occurring from October to March [35,36]. The soil type is shallow, loamy soil with moderate water holding capacity [37]. Soil degradation and overgrazing are prominent environmental problems which have not received adequate research attention [38].

**Figure 1.** Map of the Free State province of South Africa showing the locations of the study area, the Setsoto Municipality and the target weather stations.

The availability of weather stations and completeness of data played important roles in the selection of the target stations within the municipality. This study targeted the weather stations in Clocolan, Marquard, Senekal and Ficksburg based on their spatial location and availability of data. There were five other stations nearby that were used for infilling missing data, these were selected based on the availability of data and proximity to the target stations (Table 1).


**Table 1.** List of weather stations used for this study with their longitudes, latitudes, elevation, duration of data availability and their data type. R denotes rainfall and T denotes both the minimum and maximum temperatures.

The average rainfall of Thabo Mofutsanyana is 600 mm per annum [39]. The province has the highest number of farming units in South Africa, with large areas of fertile and arable lands resulting in a significant proportion of the nation's agricultural production [40].
