Thriftiness pays in cattle ranching

This article revealed some of the production secrets of one of South Africa's original Beefmaster herds.

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Young Beefmaster bulls in preparation for a production sale.

Are you still paying top prices for supplementary feeds such as licks?

Look around: it pays to examine and test the less expensive brands, says Mike Bosch of Mantsole farm near Radium in Limpopo. He has cut the cost of licks by changing to a little-known brand, but still gets full production from his cattle.

"I invited representatives of a number of feed companies to visit me," says Bosch. "I studied the formulations of their licks, and ran a few tests. Then I changed to the one I am now using, and am saving about a third of the previous price."

He stresses that "top production at lowest cost" must always apply in regard to beef cattle, because farmers can no longer afford to spend money unnecessarily or keep unproductive animals.

For the past six years, he has been working with his father, Peter Bosch, who started the Beefmaster herd in 1982.

This herd made history a few years ago when about 3 000 embryos were implanted over three years to enlarge and upgrade the herd with top-quality stock, using semen imported from the US. For some time, they also held the national record with 24 live calves born [out of] ova taken from a single cow.