SA’s oldest family owned Angora stud seeks a perfect balance

The Martyrsford Angora Stud in the Eastern Cape was founded in 1871. Current owner Sean Hobson explained the standards and commitment that have long inspired the farm’s owners to Annelie Coleman.

- Annelie Coleman

The town of Jansenville in the Eastern Cape is situated on the banks of the Sundays River on the southern border of the Camdeboo Plain. The area, known as the Noorsveld, is named after the succulent shrub Euphorbia coerulescens, known in Afrikaans as noor or noorsdoring.

Angoras are ideally suited to the Karoo and the Noorsveld in particular, and Jansenville is widely known as the prime production area for Angoras in South Africa. These goats form the main branch of farming in the district, and the economy of the town and region is largely dependent on mohair.

Martyrsford farm, between Pearston and Jansenville, was founded by William Carey Hobson a century-and-a-half ago, and its current sixth-generation owner, Sean Hobson, is steeped in the local history of the breed. According to him, the first Angora goats to arrive in South Africa were sent as a gift by the Sultan of Turkey, Mahmud II, in 1838.

“But because he wanted to protect his own country’s mohair industry, he sent one ewe and 12 infertile rams. What the sultan fortunately didn’t know was that the ewe was pregnant. She bore a ram, and this ewe and her lamb formed the genesis of Angora farming in South Africa. That was the start of the industry that today produces the biggest volume of and highest- quality mohair in the world,” says Sean.

CONSISTENCY AND CONTINUITY

Martyrsford’s main breeding objective, he explains, has remained unchanged since its inception. It is to provide the industry with wellbuilt, balanced Angora goats that have fleeces with good length, solidity and yolk.