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Johan Tijssen, owner of Dicla Farm and Seed and a first-generation South African of Dutch descent, demonstrates how it’s possible to generate a multi-million rand annual turnover from just 260ha.

Lawrence Maduna (65), the Agricultural Research Council’s Eastern Cape Emerging Beef Farmer for 2014, farms a Bonsmara-dominated herd of 160 breeding females in the Lady Grey district of the Eastern Cape. Mike Burgess visited him to learn about his winning approach to beef production.

Input costs are biting hard, but Matla-Gamede Farming’s owners are determined to turn their operation into a fully-fledged commercial business.

In the trend towards increasingly extensive livestock production, are we not moving too far from natural production systems and placing our hope in feed from a bag? Roelof Bezuidenhout poses the question.

For Moorreesburg Merino stud breeder Johann Kotze, careful selection based on performance testing, BLUP values and strict visual selection of wool and conformation traits are all essential for a successful breeding programme.

Eastern Cape farmers on Tuesday received genetic-improving livestock from MEC for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform Mlibo Qoboshiyane as part of the department’s livestock production improvement scheme.

In his controversial new book, legendary Southern Africa cattleman Johann Zietsman urges other cattle farmers to buck the status quo, innovate and increase their production by more than 50%. Heather Dugmore summarises his views.

Father and son team, Paradise and Temba Mahlangu, believe in sound education, hard work, service to the community and a balance between the drive to succeed and a sense of contentment. The Mahlangu men spoke to Nan Smith about farming Bonsmaras in Mpumalanga.

SA’s stud cattle breeding societies and breeders needed to realise that commercial cattle breeders were their most important clients and position themselves accordingly, said to Prof Frikkie Neser, animal scientist at the University of the Free State.

Maize and sunflower producer from Senekal, John Dipale, ascribes his success to hard work and passion for agriculture. At 64, John works even harder than the young men on his farm, he tells Annelie Coleman.

Farming is an intricate business and should be managed accordingly, says Richard Hobson, Grain SA’s 2014 Grain Producer of the Year and manager at Botselo Farming. Annelie Coleman visited Richard on Nonen Ranch to learn more about the Hobson family’s business philosophy.

Mojala Mosoeu has been farming with cattle for 16 years. In 2011, after a nine-year wait, he received a farm as part of the government’s land reform programme. Now he stands to lose everything after the state recently decided to stop supporting him financially. Jaco Visser visited Mojala’s farm outside Heilbron.