Top female farmer’s Dorper success in the Karoo
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.
For the love of the landsheep
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 farming in their blood
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.
Mastering the art of extensive Angora farming
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.
Persian sheep: Putting fat back onto Dorpers
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.
Letelle – The perfect-balance sheep
Locally bred Letelle sheep are known to be economically balanced, hardy animals that are well adapted to South Africa's sometimes harsh environment.
Sprouts for sheep
A livestock farmer, plagued by stock theft, turned to feeding sprouting grain in a feedlot to protect his sheep. And his trial has yielded some impressive results. Robyn Joubert reports.
Boosting Merino potential with lucerne
Ben Lategan is the national runner-up of the National Wool Growers Association/FNB best economically classed clip in South Africa for 2009/10. His Merino enterprise on 6 000ha in the Burgersdorp district of the Eastern Cape includes 180ha of irrigated lucerne, allowing him to get the most from his sheep. Mike Burgess reports.
Dohnes add real value to irrigation farm
Free State father-and-son farming team, Leon Trollip and Leon Trollip Jr, found that their Dohnes prosper on lucerne, helping to stabilise the income of their irrigated farming enterprise. Breed manager Henri Londt of the Dohne Merino Breed Society SA reports.
Indigenous Mbuzis: veld-efficient survivors
In 2009 Lionel Whittal became the first registered Mbuzi goat breeder in South Africa. Mike Burgess recently visited him on his 400ha farm Sandilli, in the Bolo area of the Eastern Cape to see what impact these small, well-proportioned, disease-resistant indigenous goats are having on his farming enterprise.
Goat’s milk – tapping into global health demands
Powdered goat's milk is one of the world's biggest agricultural value-adding businesses because it is more digestible than cow's milk. Now former Zimbabwean farmer Jean Vos and his brother-in-law François de Chalain have tapped into the potentially lucrative local market with their Saanen goat's milk products.
E Cape farmers desperate to stop sheep massacres
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.
