Turning things around with Savannah goats
As many extensive farmers in the Karoo know, raising lambs successfully can be an enormous challenge. Farmer Flippie Loock from the Middelburg district knew he had to find an alternative,...
Supporting a family, week by lonely week
Malekaleke Maila farms with Pedi sheep on communal land in Limpopo. Unable to run his flock near his village, he is forced to spend each week away from home. Yet,...
The rise of Swakara farming
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...
The legacy of the Wellwood Merino stud
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...
Making it in the mohair business
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....
Damara sheep: Adaptable and profitable
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...
Matriculant farms successfully with Boer goats
An early passion for farming can lead to a successful, profitable business for a teenager.
Diversifying production with goat’s milk cheese
Brothers Jan and Dries Wiese recently added goat's milk cheese to their sheep farming operation.
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...
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...
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.
