The Science Of Producing Good Silage

Leading Boran stud breeder Hurwitz Farming in Mpumalanga operates a number of enterprises, the latest of which is a silage contracting business. Pieter Dempsey interviewed Jarren Hurwitz to find out more about the new technology in silage that makes their operation different.

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Jarren Hurwitz, who owns and runs Hurwitz Farming with his brother, Simeon, did not grow up on a farm. He and Simeon were city folk, he explains, with no farming background and little knowledge of agriculture. Despite this, they launched their farming operation in 2010.

When they started on the farm, which is near Davel in Mpumalanga, the property was not in a productive state, according to Hurwitz.

However, over the years, they have built a successful commercial operation that has expanded to include several divisions.

AT THE DEEP END

“It was a baptism by fire. We threw ourselves in at the deep end,” recalls Hurwitz, adding that when they took over the farm it had infrastructure for a small feedlot and very few animals. These included a handful of commercial breeding cattle, and a small cropping operation producing maize and soya bean.

Some of the cattle on the farm were the remainders of one of the pioneering Boran studs in South Africa. Their performance and breeding records, however, were woefully out of date. Despite this, one of the first decisions the brothers made was to revitalise the stud.

In addition, they started scaling up other operations on the farm such as the commercial beef breeding herd, the feedlot and the cropping division. According to Hurwitz, they now run one of the largest registered Boran studs in the world, with 3 000 animals.

They have also grown the cropping division and now produce maize, sorghum and soya bean on about 2 500ha.

Apart from their primary farming activities, the brothers have also invested in a registered quarantine centre, an auction house and a meat distribution business.

SILAGE