Nguni and Brahman: crossbred to perfection

Theo Maqashalala runs approximately 100 commercial Nguni breeding female animals near the town of Seymour in the Eastern Cape. He spoke to Mike Burgess about his appreciation for the Nguni breed, and why he opted for a terminal crossbreeding programme that uses Brahman bulls.

-  Mike Burgess

Theo Maqashalala has run purebred Nguni cattle on his farm Blackwood 2 in the Amathole District Municipality of the Eastern Cape since the early 1990s, and is still impressed with their no-nonsense production on the veld.

Five years ago, his decision to introduce Brahman bulls to a portion of his Nguni cows highlighted the latter breed’s value as a dam line for use in terminal crossbreeding programmes.

He says that, as a commercial beef farmer, introducing a terminal crossbreeding programme was the best production decision he’s ever made, adding: “Nothing beats an F1 Nguni-Brahman cross weaner.”

Maqashalala was born in 1937 near Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal. His father, Meshack, was an Anglican priest who also dabbled in communal livestock farming.

In 1959, Maqashalala enrolled at the University of Fort Hare (UFH) in Alice, Eastern Cape, where he completed what was then a three-year advanced diploma in agriculture, followed by a bachelor of social science degree.

He eventually took up a position as a junior lecturer at UFH, went on to become a professor of social work, and retired from the university in 2000.

During his time at UFH, he became interested in the Faculty of Science & Agriculture, and was even involved in designing some of its course content. He simultaneously began toying with the idea of running a small herd of beef cattle, and in 1989 acquired a 341ha mixed-veld farm, Blackwood 2, in the Kat River Valley near Seymour, about 62km from Alice. He started with just 10 crossbred cattle, but was soon convinced of the value of Nguni genetics by members of UFH’s Faculty of Science & Agriculture.