From Poor Grazing To Meat, The Patriot Way

The Patriot Boer Goat Stud of the farm Grasrant in the Graaff-Reinet district, alongside the Sneeuberg Mountains in the Karoo, is Johan Steyn’s pride and joy.

- Carin Venter

Johan has been farming Boer goats for 27 years and has been exporting top-quality genetics to countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Far East for the past twelve years. He says the breed is highly sought after locally and abroad – something South African Boer goat breeders can be very proud of.

“The Boer goat’s ability to convert low-quality grazing into meat under difficult conditions and with little input, is simply amazing. It is also a very intelligent small-stock breed, with each animal’s unique character revealing itself the more you work with them. It makes them very easy to farm,” he says.

Sought-after core values

For over 65 years strict selection criteria have been used to improve the Boer goat breed, focusing specifically on improving fertility and hardiness under extensive and difficult farming conditions. There are five important economic factors that contribute to the Boer goat’s popularity as a meat goat: fertility, good maternal traits, rapid growth, hardiness and adaptability.

Johan has always looked beyond numbers, striving instead for maximum efficiency. His passion for the breed drives his continuous effort to improve and strengthen the Boer goat’s core values.

“The responsibility of producing and supplying functionally efficient animals, rests firmly on the shoulders of stud breeders,” he says. “This can only happen through rigorous selection processes. Take a ram, for example. If he cannot cover 30 ewes in the veld while maintaining his condition without the aid of expensive supplements and other inputs, he is definitely not functionally efficient.”