Sheep & Goats

The South African Karakul industry was all but decimated in the 1980s and 1990s. Jaco Visser visited Karakul stud breeder Johan Moller in the Kalahari to find out about the industry’s resurgence and the high demand for Swakara pelts.

Near Graaff-Reinet, on the farm Wellwood, one of the oldest and most respected Merino studs in the country, five generations of Rubidge sons have consistently bred outstanding Merino sheep. Heather Dugmore talks to Robert Rubidge.

an Lottering and Andries Mopiley’s Angora goat farming enterprise in Prince Albert shows that an agricultural empowerment project can succeed driven by motivated beneficiaries and mentored by the industry’s experts. Denene Erasmus reports.

The Damara breed originated in Asia and spread to Southern Africa 2 000 years ago. Down the centuries, the extreme environment continually selected the hardiest, most adaptable specimens. Stud breeder Stan Burger spoke to Annelie Coleman about his passion for this remarkable breed.

An early passion for farming can lead to a successful, profitable business for a teenager.

Brothers Jan and Dries Wiese recently added goat's milk cheese to their sheep farming operation.

Allie Gordon from Leeu-Gamka in the Karoo, named the Top Entrepreneur Smallholder in the Western Cape Female Entrepreneur 2011 awards, started farming with 50 Dorpers in 2005. By 2010, her flock had grown to 370 ewes. Last year she sold 200 of them in preparartion for her next plan: starting a white Dorper stud. Denene Erasmus reports.

Trientjie and Gerhard Knoetze's Katryn Merino Landsheep Stud has been named the 2011 SA Studbook Sheep Stud of the Year after only being founded in 2005.

Merino SA president Julian Southey talks to Heather Dugmore about the need to be adaptable and to change farming practices to meet the current economic challenges and benefit from the knowledge available today.

Against all odds, Barries Snijman has tamed the tough Karoo to develop a flock of veld-adapted Angoras that produce quality mohair. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports.

Breeders are quietly optimistic that they can develop a modern animal for the profitable sheep-fat market, while Persians are increasingly being used to breed fat and fertility back into Dorpers, writes Roelof Bezuidenhout.

Locally bred Letelle sheep are known to be economically balanced, hardy animals that are well adapted to South Africa's sometimes harsh environment.