'Red Gold' Brings Success For Small-scale Farming Couple

The Barui-Driehoek Co-op was the ARCs 2017 National Small-Scale Commercial Livestock Producer of the Year. Annelie Coleman visited the owners, husband-and-wife team Kabelo and Matshidiso Mooketsi, to learn more about their top-performing Bonsmara cattle.

- Annelie Coleman

The Barui-Driehoek Co-op is a family affair, and is owned by Kabelo and Matshidiso Mooketsi, their daughter Lesego, and her husband Moses Mohlala. But it is Matshidiso who is mainly responsible for the farming concern; she has steered the operation to great success, winning a number of prizes for the co-op’s achievements in the emerging farmer category.

Driehoek farm (1 855ha) is situated close to Lykso village, on the road between Vryburg and Kuruman in North West.

The sweetveld on the farm is typical of the area; it consists of round-leaf pioneer grasses such as burr weed (Tragus racemosus) and bristle grass (Setaria sphacelata), and climax grasses such as red grass (Themeda triandra) and bushveld dropseed (Urochloa mosambicensis).

The woody component includes shrubs and trees such as the silver cluster-leaf or vaalboom (Terminalia sericea) and shepherd’s tree (Boscia albitrunca).

It is on this land that Matshidiso and Kabelo run their 187-strong Bonsmara herd, which includes four stud bulls, 123 breeding cows, 49 replacement heifers and 11 calves.

Matshidiso calls their Bonsmaras ‘red gold’. According to her, the breed’s exceptional traits make it ideal for breeding under the harsh, extensive conditions of North West.

“They have even temperaments, are hardy, and the cows are good mothers. All of this helps to increase profitability,” she says.

“Excellent Bonsmara genetics are readily available in South Africa, and there is good networking among Bonsmara breeders and support through training and mentoring.”

THE EARLY YEARS