Sheep & Goats

Father-and-son team Hansie and Johan Sauer’s Droogfontein Merino Stud is doing exceptionally well in one of the harshest areas in the northern Eastern Cape. Gavin Isted paid them a visit.

The Suffolk is an outstanding mutton sheep breed that can add real value to sheep farming in the country, according to award-winning Suffolk breeders Abraham and Carel Greyling.

The National Wool Growers’ Association (NWGA) chairperson for the Joe Gqabi district, Lawrence Maduna, is a developing sheep and wool farmer who runs a self-sustaining farming operation in the tough, dry conditions of the northeastern Cape. Grant Hollins visited him on his farm, Elsieskraal, near Lady Grey, to discover the secret of his success in these harsh conditions.

Communal and emerging wool farmers produce 12% of the national clip. One of these is Nophumzile Sithole in Naledi, between Sterkspruit and Lady Grey. She is a regular contributor to the provincial wool clip and has been congratulated by the National Wool Growers’ Association (NWGA) for the quality of wool she provides.

Is there a place for the hardy Tankwa feral goat in smallstock production? Roelof Bezuidenhout investigates.

Freddie Peters has combined the best qualities of two breeds to establish the Meatmaster breed.

Dewormer resistance in small ruminants has increased worldwide. Veterinary scientist David Bartram provided an insight into this problem at the recent World Merino Conference.

In the second part of a two-part series on managing sheep nutrition, Dr Francois van de Vyver takes a closer look at various economically efficient methods of readying slaughter lambs for markets and feedlots.

Once a ewe’s maintenance nutrient requirements have been met, nutrients can be effectively channelled to achieve optimum production. Dr Francois van de Vyver looks at nutrient requirements during the crucial production stages of the breeding ewe.

The first person to successfully commercialise Merino farming in South Africa was Michiel van Breda. He started farming Merino in 1817 on the historical Zoetendals Vallei farm in the Overberg near Cape L’Agulhas.

Goat farming is central to the economy of the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela Traditional Authority (BBKTA) in North West. A project to improve the local goat herds through world-class genetics is now underway. Annelie Coleman spoke to BBKTA leader Kgosi Nyalala Pilane.

For Elmarie van Aswegen, returning to the family farm, Patria, near Smithfield in the Free State in early 1997 went hand in hand with producing sheep’s milk cheese and breeding South Africa’s first recognised milk sheep breed. Mike Burgess spoke to her about pioneering the SA sheep milk industry and the impact that fat-tailed Awassi sheep may have on its future.