Cattle

Farmer’s Weekly brings you the latest cattle farming news and updates from South Africa and the rest of Africa.

The high cost of poor bull management

Badly managed bulls are costing the national beef herd dearly, with disease and financial consequences that cattlemen will feel for years to come. Susan Botes investigates the re-emergence of STDs.

Livestock Disease Trends – August 2013

Introduction and summary of diseases and other conditions during August 2013.

A head for figures, a heart for farming

Karel-Günther Jordaan began his working career in big business. But this chartered management accountant chose to farm Merinos and Bovelders in the Karoo instead, and is doing so well he is Toyota Agri Eastern Cape Young Farmer of the Year for 2013. Heather Dugmore reports.

Full-time mine worker & commercial farmer

Desmond Siteti farms in a communal area of the former Ciskei as well as on a 500ha commercial farm with Boer- and Savannah-type goats and a small, but impressive herd of Bonsmara-type cattle. Incredibly, as Mike Burgess reports, he manages his farm while working as a shift foreman on a Gauteng mine – an arrangement that has proved critical in the development of his livestock initiative.

Parasitic wasps to the rescue

Implementing an integrated fly control programme can prevent overwintering fly populations from exploding in spring and help to improve udder health and reduce somatic cell counts. Robyn Joubert reports.

Unravelling the double helix

The science of genomics allows livestock breeders to predict the genetic merit of an animal. Dr Japie van der Westhuizen of SA Stud Book explains the basic principles to Annelie Coleman.

Fighting mortality with indigenous knowledge

For many years, Frekkie Sentsho had very little option but to accept the deadly effects of poison leaf on his cattle and goats. He explains to Peter Mashala how he managed to reduce the problem by 80%.

Dealing with clostridial diseases (2)

Identifying and preventing botulism and tetanus.

Stud farmer with youth experience

Agri North West’s 2013 Young Farmer of the Year, Heinrich Bruwer believes that it makes economic sense to increase individual animal productivity as this will be reflected in optimum income per hectare. Annelie Coleman reports.

How to stop your hens from eating their own eggs

Fairly common, especially among free-range layers, this can be a hard habit to break – so prevention is better than cure.

Dairying on the cutting edge

Genomic testing and the ability to transfer embryos gives dairy company Inovula an edge in the industry. Dr Kobus Hendriks, the company’s managing director is also a vet and the business has raked in more awards than its shelf space can handle; the most recent of which was the National Master Dairyman for 2012. Lindi van Rooyen reports.

From Cabinet to courtroom to cattle

Former Cabinet minister Dr Penuell Maduna has been out of politics for some time and is now building a name for himself in cattle-breeding circles. Peter Mashala visited him.

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