Animals

It is not uncommon to find a horse that bolt s its feed. This means that it eats so fast that it hardly chews or breathes.

The husband and wife team of Joe and Belinda Strydom auctioned off most of their precious racing pigeons in Edenvale on 27 May.

South African cattle breeder Nico Olivier has negotiated semen and embryo exchange with top studs in Paraguay and Brazil. Animals from Nico's Angus Africa stud are winning championships and strengthening gene pools in the huge South American cattle industry. Glenneis Erasmus found out more.

MEC for Agriculture and Environmental Affairs in KZN, Mtholephi Mthimkhulu, has committed R100 ­million to the ­rehabilitation of dilapidated livestock dip tanks and the formation of livestock associations in the province's communal areas this year.

Farmers in the Eastern Cape towns of Indwe and Dordrecht have sustained huge losses of their Merino sheep as they are attacked, killed and mauled by stray dogs. Tim and Sharon Salmon investigate.

Riders must choose a bit to suit their young horse's shape and development.

Cyril Leibach is a distinguished SA pigeon fancier who takes pleasure in racing pigeons from an orderly loft complex in the garden of his Boksburg residence.

The mention of hunting brings to mind pictures of men with guns posing proudly amid a sea of animal carcasses. But the truth is somewhat different. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports on a study that found that often being merely outdoors is a greater consideration than actually killing animals.

It was in 2006, the driest year Australian sheep farmers have ever experienced, that the SA Dohne Merino came into its own, delivering excellent lamb crops and wool clips. Former South African Dohne Merino breed director Cameron McMaster gives a first-hand account of the phenomenal success of this South African breed in Australia.

Texas is widely known as some of the best cattle country in the world. It evokes images of whooping and hollering cowboys on horseback herding vast herds of Longhorn cattle across trackless terrain, and the art of roping and branding calves without the benefit of a crush.

The hunting community has been divided since minister of environmental affairs and tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk outlawed the hunting of captive-bred large predators earlier this year. Issue date 15 June 2007

One of the highlights of the 2007 Nampo livestock section was the ­Romagnola, an Italian beef cattle breed, which made its debut at this prestigious agricultural show.

The end of may and first week of June marked the ­beginning of the 2007 racing pigeon season. Issue date 15 June 2007

Various factors can contribute to resistance in your horse - the bit is not necessarily always the problem. Issue date 15 June 2007

The best time to start feeding a foal is two months before weaning. Once a foal has been weaned it is up to you to provide it with a good diet. Issue date 8 June 2007

Besides competitions and various tasks that absorb many hours of the pigeon ­fancier's week, there are incidents that lure us into a state of pigeon ­hypnotism. One of these is the breeding cycle.

What makes teenagers, adult men and women so interested in the world of racing pigeons?

To maintain the high quality of a superior gene pool, most pigeon breeders follow a breeding plan using line breeding or inbreeding from the foundation pigeons.

Facial paralysis is a fairly common ailment in horses. The paralysis of the facial nerve can be slight or very dramatic. If treated immediately it normally can be reversed

Farmer's Weekly recently spoke with Gert Roodt, chairperson of the Overberg Racing Pigeon Union, who was very proud of his region's achievements.