How farmers perceive the state of their pastures is an important component of their management decisions and affects natural resources in arid and semi-arid regions. In an explorative study conducted in the Rehoboth farm area of central Namibia, we addressed the question whether the judgments of commercial farmers on pasture conditions are consistent with a botanical assessment of these pastures based on measurements. Keywords: cognition, private land tenure, range management, biomass, rangeland evaluation.