Outstanding breeding cows lead to sustainable beef cattle production

The success of a beef cattle operation rests largely on the performance of its cows, says Dr Hentie van Rensburg, who bred the 2022 Agricultural Research Council National Best Elite Cow in the Afrisim category. He and his farming partner, Lourie van Pletzen, spoke to Annelie Coleman about their approach.

- Annelie Coleman

In the early 1990s when Potchefstroom gynaecologist Dr Hentie van Rensburg took over the running of his family farm near Leeudoringstad, North West, the cattle herd was a mishmash of animals heavily influenced by the Afrikaner breed.

With the upgrading of his herd in mind, and incorporating Simmentaler genetics, he and his late herd manager, Lynton Vermaak, followed a strict process of selecting for traits that would ensure a financially sustainable herd. The result was an adaptable and uniform herd of Afrikaner-Simmentaler crosses.

Today, Van Rensburg and his son-inlaw Lourie van Pletzen run the Demeter Afrisim Stud, which comprises 200 breeding females and 10 to 12 stud bulls.

The stud is run on two farms, Klipkop and Kareeboskuil, on a total of around 1 850ha. The grazing on the former consists mainly of red grass (Themeda triandra), while the Kareeboskuil grazing comprises a significant woody component of velvet raisin (Grewia flava), karee (Searsia lancea) and sweet thorn (Vachellia karroo). The herd is kept on the Klipkop and Kareeboskuil veld in summer and winter respectively, and the stocking rate is approximately 6ha/MLU.

AFRISIM STUDS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Van Rensburg was one of the first Afrisim breeders to register a stud in South Africa.

"For many years, Afrikaner-Simmentaler was arguably one of the most popular crosses among commercial beef cattle producers [...] It was therefore logical for breeders to formalise the business of Afrisim stud breeding," Vermaak told Farmer's Weekly in an earlier article (see FW, 22 July 2016).

The breed was registered as 'a breed under evaluation' in accordance with the Animal Improvement Act (No. 62 of 1998), and the Afrisim Breeders' Society was finally founded in 2009 under the auspices of the Afrikaner Cattle Breeders' Society of South Africa.