26 February 2024
By: Charl van Rooyen
A world record price of R270 000 was paid on Saturday for a Kalahari Red ram named Rocket, bred by Albie Horn of Kuruman and offered for sale at an auction of the SA Kalahari Red Club in Pretoria.
The buyers were Ivan van Heerden and his father, Malan, who own the Van Heerden Kalahari Red stud in Bronkhorstspruit.
This is the fourth world record price that Albie has received for a ram. Previously, he received record prices of R60 000, R160 000 and R235 000 (for Rocket’s father, Rock). Albie has been breeding Kalahari Red goats since 1991 and he and his son, Louwan, own the Albian Kalahari Red stud.
Albie describes Rocket as a ram capable of elevating the quality of a stud, as his name suggests. He is a well-balanced animal with a long body and a good head. Rocket is bred from genetic material on both parents’ sides that came from South African champions.
His maternal grandfather was the reserve grand champion ram of the world in 2019, while Rocket was named the reserve senior champion ram at the recent national championship show.
Malan says he and Ivan have been farming with the goats for about seven years and are in a herd-building phase. “We are still increasing the herd because the industry cannot keep up to provide enough genetic material. The demand is very high because there are constantly new breeders joining the Kalahari Red industry,” he says.
Another exceptional price at the auction was R160 000 for a ram from Ratelpost Kalahari Reds owned by Nico Prinsloo of Still Bay, sold to Bernick Fourie of Ellisras.
Albie also sold the ram Red Pepper for R85 000 to Coetzee van der Merwe of Amersfoort, while a ram from Josef and Amor Kleynhans, of Dhidejak Reds, Lephalale, was also sold for R85 000 to Theo Coetzee of Koster. Tollie and Pieter Jordaan of Somerset East sold a ram for R70 000 to Casper and Chris Coetzee of Bela-Bela.
Ewes also achieved good prices. Honey from the Jordaans was sold for R75 000 to Elmeri Jones of Lephalale. CW Dreyer of Pretoria sold a ewe for R35 000 to Bernick Fourie.
CdP Auctioneers conducted the club auction under the auspices of the Kalahari Red Breeders Society. Corné du Plessis was the auctioneer.
