Cart-horses Cut Costs

Input costs have always been difficult to manage. This farmer looked to carthorses to save on machinery costs.

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27years ago 

“By harnessing the pulling power of his cart- horses, Peter Dommett totted up a machinery bill of well under R10 000 [R60 000*] last year. He has 100 ha each of irrigated pastures and permanent dryland pastures and 235 ha of veld. And he leases an extra 1 000 – 2  000 ha of grazing land.

“‘Most farms of this size,’ says Dr Dommett, ‘would run up machinery bills of R40 000 – R50 000 [R241 000 to R302 000] yearly’.

“Dr Dommett, who uses Percherons for pulling machinery, first saw cart-horses in use when he was a student at Onderstepoort. When he went farming, a couple came up for sale and he bought them, thinking he would use them one day.