Sponsored content
For this Northern Cape farm, sustainable sheep farming is not just a goal, but a way of life. Under the leadership of Charl Saunderson, who was recently named a climate-smart ambassador by an agricultural magazine, investment is being made in farming at various levels – from herd improvement to the preservation of natural resources.
Land improvement, field improvement, infrastructure improvement and flock improvement are a continuous process to ensure a profitable sheep farming, says Charl Saunderson.
He was recently named the Veeplaas Climate Smart Ambassador and farms on the farm Nooitgedacht near Kenhardt in the Northern Cape.
Nooitgedacht radiates a kind of joy and passion that is contagious, and it seems like the kind of farm where everyone understands and enjoys their role in the goals and in the strategy. Charl’s farming is based on four important aspects that are part of the DNA of the entire team:
Firstly, the carrying capacity of the soil must be increased, so that production can be increased. The approach of improving carrying capacity to ensure sustainability has been followed at Nooitgedacht for the past 48 years.
Second, Charl emphasises the cardinal role that herd improvement plays. You are not only farming with a breed, but definitely with genetics and these genetics can be good or not so good. On his farm, breeding objectives are put in writing and the strategy to achieve them is followed with great care, so that the herd is also well adapted to the climate to ensure sustainable, optimal production. For example, replacement ewes have been selected for fertility, lambing ease and a 270- to 300-day lambing interval for 18 years now.
The third aspect that makes a farm successful is the constant maintenance and improvement of infrastructure to ensure good pasture management. If boundary fences and camp fences are not in good condition, it is not possible to let the field rest. Furthermore, the location of intakes and camp sizes are important to ensure even field consumption. Charl says the weaning percentage in camps where there is sufficient shade is at least 5% higher than in the camps that do not have it and 5% on gross can easily have a 15 to 20% impact on net income.
Fourthly, predation management is an aspect that can never be left behind. Nooitgedacht boasts electric fences, which are physically monitored every second day. Roads around each three- or four-camp system are regularly dragged with old truck tires to make tracks easier to see and correctly identify.
Fourth generation
Charl is the fourth generation “Charl Saunderson” who farms on Nooitgedacht. His great-grandfather bought the land in the early thirties. An “orchard” of prosopis trees was planted at that stage, but since it is an invasive plant, Charl’s father already started to remove it in 1976.
After all the invasive plants were removed by 1982, the control process began and after 42 years, as many as 100 young Prosopis trees are still being eradicated annually.
Furthermore, Charl’s father started a ploughing process in 1982 to create a seed bed for the plants he would like to have on the farm. This involves forming furrows that will slow down the flow of water to improve water penetration and retention in the soil. Charl himself began to feed the seed bed, firstly with manure, which is collected in the barns and under sheep shadows and secondly with bone meal, which is collected in an old cement pond. Thirdly, the ashes from all barbecue and cooking fires are collected and thrown into the plough furrows to obtain a cooler and more fertile seed bed. It also protects the soil moisture; to give the seeds they sow in the plough furrows the best possible chance of germination.
Every year in August, large quantities of seeds of high-value plants are harvested on the farm, which are sown in the prepared plough furrows. During the drought, Charl also mixed thirty tons of Camellia thorn tree pods into the sheep’s licks to get enough seed into the ground to establish shade trees for the future.
ENQUIRIES: Email: corine@rpo.co.za, 012 349 1102. Web: rpo.co.za
