Continual improvement wins loyal customers

From small beginnings, Lizemari de Klerk, who farms just outside Pretoria in Gauteng, has expanded her Brahman cattle operation from only three cattle to a breeding herd of around 200 animals. Her relentless quest to improve the quality of her animals has earned her a loyal client base. She spoke to Pieter Dempsey.

- Pieter Dempsey

Lizemari de Klerk started farming in 2006. At the time, she and her father, Hans Terblanche, bought three animals with which they established the De Blanque Brahman Stud.

“To be able to farm Brahman cattle is a dream come true! I am very pleased with the adaptability of the Brahman. These are hardy animals that adapt well to any environment,” she says.

The herd is run on a 8ha smallholding near Pretoria, but De Klerk and her father lease an additional 300ha of grazing veld, which is divided into four camps, each with its own watering point. The De Klerks also have a farm in Limpopo, where they run a commercial herd and raise bulls to include in the stud.

VELD AND FEEDING

As they are situated in a relatively high rainfall area, the smallholding and grazing veld that they rent consist mostly of sourveld. There are no planted pastures, and for this reason they can keep only between 180 and 250 animals.

Due to the drought in Gauteng over the past few years, they have had to maintain a low stocking density because of the poor condition of the veld. Moreover, De Klerk says that during the drought, their borehole and underground water levels dropped significantly, leaving most of the dams on the farms dry.

“The veld struggled to recover, forcing us and many other farmers to cut back on numbers,” she explains.