From subsistence to commercial farming

Ga-Mothapo farmer Thabana Mokgohloa grew up looking after his family’s livestock, and in 2009 took over the running of his parents’ farm. With his focus on maize and sheep, he has turned their subsistence farm into a commercial operation. Siyanda Sishuba reports

- Siyanda Sishuba

Thabana Mokgohloa is a part-time smallholder and producer of maize and sheep on a farm near Nnoko village in Ga-Mothapo, Limpopo. His parents had always been subsistence farmers, and Mokgohloa attributes his love for farming to the experience he gained while watching over the family’s livestock when he was a young boy.

His father, Selepeng, could not farm full-time, as he worked in Johannesburg and was only able to spend some weekends and holidays on the farm. However, when he retired in 2000, he moved back home to Ga-Mothapo permanently to focus on his livestock.

Mokgohloa studied towards a BCom through Unisa, which he completed in 2004. He worked as an economic development practitioner in the local government sector, and is now an assistant manager for economic planning and development at the Polokwane Local Municipality.

In 2009, he took the decision to become more invested in the family’s farming business and began to introduce Dorper genetics to their mixed-breed sheep flock. After the death of his father in 2011, Mokgohloa hired a shepherd, who helped him continue growing the flock. When he had first joined the farm, the family had about 20 sheep, but he grew the flock to more than 200 head in less than five years. Then, in 2020, inspired by an article in Farmer’s Weekly, he switched to Meatmaster breeding.

WORKING WITH MEATMASTERS

“I decided to change to Meatmasters because the breed is hardy, the animals can graze and browse and therefore make maximum use of the veld, and the breed has been developed along economic principles,” says Mokgohloa.