Boran adapted to handle tough mountain terrain

When crop farmer Riaan Celliers decided to run a cattle farming enterprise with Frik Oosthuizen, they had to think outside the box on numerous levels. The first decision they needed to make was which breed would suit their operation best. They spoke to Sabrina Dean about why they chose the Boran.

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The Cherokee Boran Stud and commercial enterprise operates in the Badplaas area in Mpumalanga, where Riaan Celliers first started farming in 2012.

He says the region, located near the Eswatini border, incorporates an area that the old timers used to refer to as the ‘trek gronde’ (‘migration lands’), a type of middle ground between the Highveld towards Barberton and the Lowveld towards Nelspruit.

“This is the area where they would traditionally move their herds during the winter months as temperatures were up to 5°C warmer than on the Highveld.”

It is a tough area with harsh climate, stony, mountainous terrain, ravines, gorges and a high tick burden. The terrain is varied. The valleys near the rivers, including the Komati River, were cultivated generations ago and planted to irrigated crops. Moving away from here, the terrain changes to mountainous areas, some covered with grassland and bush, some planted to forestry plantations. There are also gorges and ravines full of thick bush, which are warmer and more sheltered at colder times of the year, but are heavily infested with ticks.

For the Cherokee Boran Stud, the summer grazing grounds are up in the mountains, while in the winter months, the herds are moved down to graze stover on croplands or lands planted to cover crops such as rye grass.

NO MAN’S LAND

Celliers says his own farm is surrounded by many tribal and communal lands, with many farms in the region also having been purchased by government for redistribution. In many cases, land was not used for various reasons, including inaccessibility due to the terrain and difficult farming conditions.

However, he and Oosthuizen saw an opportunity in the unused, fallow land surrounding them and decided to introduce a different model.

“There is a lot of talk about changing perceptions [...] this is what we are doing in our operation; changing perceptions and approaches.”