Top Emerging Farmer Bets on Bonsmaras

Desmond Siteti was named the Agricultural Research Council's Eastern Cape Emerging Beef Farmer for 2021. Mike Burgess visited him and his Bonsmaras near Makhanda to better understand his journey to successful beef production. Desmond Siteti was named the Agricultural Research Council's Eastern Cape Emerging Beef Farmer for 2021. Mike Burgess visited him and his Bonsmaras near Makhanda to better understand his journey to successful beef production.

- By Mike Burgess

“With Bonsmaras, I can produce quality weaners that are attractive to the market, says Desmond Siteti, who runs 75 commercial breeding female animals on the 500ha mixed-veld farm, Tower Hill, near Makhanda in the Eastern Cape. Correct genetics is everything; I'm serious about quality rather than quantity.”

Achieving genetic progress in a livestock enterprise requires a long-term vision.

“When breeding livestock you must be patient; it's a journey without an immediate destination, says Siteti. “You can never relax and must be dedicated to improving genetic quality. An integral part of this vision for Siteti was to commit to work in the mining sector of Gauteng for almost four decades to be able to acquire top genetics for his livestock initiative back in the Eastern Cape. Family members and managers kept an eye on the animals in his absence.

He finally returned to the Eastern Cape for good in 2016 and admits great relief in being able to personally oversee the management of his livestock, a situation that has resulted in fewer overall mortalities. Now that I'm back, there are fewer skins from dead animals!” he says.

Siteti grew up as a farmworker's son on a commercial farm in the Makhanda district. His father, Thompson, was responsible for a flock of goats that Siteti helped manage after school. In the 1970s, the family relocated to the nearby Pikoli area of the former Ciskei, where Siteti and his brother Metford managed a handful of goats and cattle on communal land.

In 1979, after much deliberation, Siteti decided to leave for the mines of the Witwatersrand, while Metford agreed to manage the livestock in his absence.