20 October 2023
By: Vida Booysen
In the aftermath of the recent fires in the Reivilo district in North West, a miracle has touched and inspired farmers.
Cobus Badenhorst farms with commercial crossbreed cattle between Reivilo and Vryburg. His cows with their young calves were grazing in a field when the large fire reached Uitsig farm on Saturday afternoon, September 9.
The field was completely burned but the cows moved themselves to the water source and could be saved, Badenhorst explains.
“There was one cow whose udder was tight, and I realised she must have lost her calf when she fled for her life ahead of the flames. I assumed there wouldn’t be a way for that calf to survive the intense fire.”
He lost 600 hectares of pasture in the fire and is now struggling to find enough grazing land for his cattle. On the Sunday morning after the fire, the cows were forced to move to another field where there would be food for them.
“On Tuesday, I separated some of the larger calves and started feeding them, just to spare the cows a bit. That night, the cows bellowed all night as they searched for their calves.
“Early the next morning, I found a calf standing alone outside the fence of the field where the cows had bellowed so much.
“I realised this calf probably belonged to the cow with the tight udder. I placed the calf next to her and she immediately allowed the calf to nurse.”
Badenhorst says the calf had walked more than a kilometre, following the sound of the bellowing. It had been four days since he was separated from his mother.
“I think it’s only the Lord who helped there.”
He shared the photo of the calf nursing from his mother on the local farmers’ WhatsApp group. Many farmers later shared how much the photo encouraged them.
One of them is Hennie Kruger, community safety coordinator of Reivilo. “All our spirits are low now. This is a very bad phase. But just think, if the dear Father looked after that old calf, how much more does He not look after you and me?”
On Thursday, 14mm of rain fell in this district.
