Planning and timing: crucial success factors in cattle production

Lerato Senakhomo, the 2020 Agricultural Research Council's National Emerging Beef Farmer of the Year, runs her Nguni herd in a semi-intensive feeding system. She believes the keys to successful cattle production are proper planning and good time management. Siyanda Sishuba visited her farm in Gauteng.

- Siyanda Sishuba

FAST FACTS

Lerato Senakhomo runs a 130-head Nguni herd on 453ha of leased land in Nigel, Gauteng.

She is a participant in the Industrial Development Corporation’s Nguni Cattle Development Project.

Senakhomo also plants around 100ha to maize, and is a proud member of Grain SA's 250t Maize Producers' Club.

If her parents had not decided in 2006 to buy a piece of land near Nigel in Gauteng on which to farm, Lerato Senakhomo might never have ended up being a farmer herself.

She had always been interested in looking after animals and wanted to become a veterinarian. That changed when she was given the opportunity to farm alongside her parents Joseph and Bridget.

The Senakhomos started out with goats, sheep and cattle. At first, the farm’s cash flow was supplemented by Joseph’s salary, but when he was retrenched in 2009, the farm became the family’s only source of income.

To ensure the financial viability of the operation, the family started looking for a bigger piece of land. After several years of trying to obtain access to more land through one of government’s land reform and agricultural transformation programmes, they ended up selling their plot and renting another, larger property near Nigel.

In 2012, on the advice of her parents, Senakhomo studied agriculture, completing courses in poultry, livestock, project management and hydroponics at Buhle Academy in Delmas, Mpumalanga. She also attended short courses with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Grain SA.