Namibia's First Romagnola Stud

The Romagnola cattle breed is a relatively new entrant to Namibia, but is set to add great value to the country’s beef production industry in the long term. Annelie Coleman visited Babette Stöck and Andreas Wiese, owners of Ongeama Romagnolas near Windhoek, to find out more.

- Annelie Coleman

Andreas Wiese and Babette Stöck came across the Romagnola breed virtually by accident after they started farming on the Stöck family farm, Ongeama (4 500ha), in 2006. Babette is the fourth generation to farm on Ongeama, some 60km east of Windhoek.

“We wanted to increase the kilograms of meat produced per hectare and were on the lookout for a larger-framed and hardy breed adaptable to the extensive farming conditions in Namibia,” she recalls.

Then in 2010, she heard about a new large, white cattle breed in South Africa, which sparked an intensive search on the Internet. The couple eventually came across an article about a Romagnola auction in South Africa in the Farmer’s Weekly, which combined with their extensive research, clinched the deal.

BACKGROUND

Ongeama is situated in Namibia’s Khomas region, which is characterised by rolling hills. Grazing consists of, among others, silky Bushman grass (Stipagrostis uniplumis) and blackfooted signal grass (Brachiaria nigropedata). The woody component includes bastard umbrella thorn (Acacia luederitzii) and brandy bush (Grewia flava).

The couple initially produced Charbrais weaners by crossbreeding Charolais with Brahman cattle.

“The decreasing profitability of livestock production in Namibia forced us to find a new means of increasing production per hectare to ensure long-term sustainability and profitability,” Babette says.

Andreas adds that breed choices available in Namibia did not meet their requirements for increased weaning weights. Most bulls on the local market are medium- to smaller-framed.