Annelie Coleman
Annelie Coleman represents Farmer’s Weekly in the Free State, North West and Northern Cape.
Agriculture is in her blood. She grew up on a maize farm in the Wesselsbron district where her brother is still continuing with the family business.
Annelie is passionate about the area she works in and calls it ‘God’s own country’. She’s particularly interested in beef cattle farming, especially with the indigenous African breeds.
Agri shows to return to local calendar this year
Grain SA is going ahead with arrangements for the 2022 Nampo Harvest Day while it awaits the outcome of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s undertaking to lift the state of emergency, instituted in 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Teaching children about the crucial roles of insects in nature
Prof Johnnie van den Berg, an entomologist at North-West University, is passionate about insects and their critical contribution they make to the environment by pollinating plants and dispersing seeds. He is equally committed to teaching preschool children about the importance of insects.
Urgent action needed to fight locusts across large parts of SA
The enormous swarms of brown locusts currently in evidence across the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape need to be eradicated as soon as possible to prevent further damage to the provinces’ farmland.
Sexed semen: a game changer for Damara stud
Using sexed semen in an artificial insemination programme carries a 90% assurance that the surrogate animal will deliver offspring of the desired sex. Annelie Coleman spoke to Damara farmer Stan Burger and embryo-flushing expert Dr Fanie Steyn about the technical process and how to prepare the surrogate ewes.
Call for Free State farmers to pay for road repairs met with dismay
Farmers in the Free State are in a catch-22 situation following a call by the Free State provincial government for the province’s farming sector to repair the ever-deteriorating provincial road network at their own cost.
Small livestock farmers in the Free State ‘besieged’ by thieves
Farmers in the Phuthaditjhaba district of the Free State are left at the mercy of stock thieves, with little or no support from the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Former Tongaat Hulett executives released on bail in fraud case
A culture of deference and a lack of challenging authority at Tongaat Hulett Limited (THL) resulted in employees following instructions without questioning the basis for accounting practices, according to an investigation by auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Call to halt captive breeding of all big cat species
Animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS is urging government to include all big cat species, including tigers, in its new protective legislation for lions, and prohibit the commercial trade in all big cats and their body parts.
Fears mounting about renewed FMD outbreak in KZN
Farmers in the Mtubatuba district of KwaZulu-Natal are “hoping and praying” that the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) case detected at a dip tank in the previously reduced Disease Management Area (DMA) does not mean the disease has spread further.
World Wetlands Day: SA farmers praised for wetland conservation
Wetlands and the essential role these areas play is often overlooked, neglected and abused.
SA Veterinary Council committed to change
According to Dr Alfred Tlolo Kgasi, president of the South African Veterinary Council, the transformation of the veterinary profession is a priority.
Santa Gertrudis bulls show their value in extended veld tests
Extensive veld tests by the Bosveld Santa Gertrudis Study Group have made a valuable contribution to establishing the breed’s reputation amongst other beef cattle in South Africa.
‘Minimum wage should create opportunities for the unemployed’
Agri SA has called on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Commission to move its focus on the national minimum wage to the unemployed and the creation of job opportunities.
High rainfall causes extensive damage to summer grain crop
Twenty percent of grain producers in South Africa have lost more than 60% of their white maize plantings to water damage so far in 2022, according to a survey done by Grain SA earlier in January 2022.
Farmers assessing damage caused to farmland by flooding of mine dam
Farmers in the Welkom district are still in the process of assessing the extent of the damage to grain lands and grazing after an evaporation dam belonging to the local Sibanye-Stillwater mine breached its walls at the end of December 2021.
Turning young bulls into productive herd sires
All beef cattle producers want their young bulls to develop into productive sires, but for this to happen, they need to manage these animals carefully. Annelie Coleman spoke to livestock nutrition specialist Dr Francois van de Vyver about how to achieve this.
Vast areas of grazing destroyed by locusts in the Eastern Cape
While difficult to quantify, it could be safely assumed that thousands of hectares of grazing have thus far been destroyed by brown locusts (Locustana pardalina) in the Eastern Cape since the start of the 2021/22 summer season.
High rainfall could see major drop in maize crop expectations
The damage caused by excessive rain in virtually every part of the summer grain production area, and especially in the western Free State and North West, has destroyed vast tracks of grain fields, and thus it is necessary for government to declare a State of Disaster. This was according to Francois Strydom, chairperson of Agbiz.
Unpredictable year awaits the SA wool industry
The South African wool industry is in uncertain territory, although the country experienced fewer COVID- 19-related challenges in 2021 than in 2020, when the wool market saw a dramatic drop in prices and the Cape Wools SA market indicator fell to R118,58/kg in September 2020.
Large yields, high input prices forecast for grain
Despite South Africa exporting substantial volumes of maize, ending stocks as a proportion of local usage are projected to remain above 20% for both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons.
