The well-known wine estate Vergelegen welcomed a rare dwarf Nguni calf on Boxing Day.
By Lucille Botha
The white-and-brown bull calf is expected to reach between knee and waist height on a human when fully grown.
Eben Olderwagen, environmental manager at Vergelegen, says it is only the second time since 2009 that such a phenomenon has been observed in their herd of about 450 Nguni cattle. The previous dwarf calf, which eventually grew to about knee height, died of natural causes last year.
“I don’t have the scientific knowledge to explain the phenomenon,” Olderwagen said, “but what we have noticed is that both dwarf calves were born to heifers calving for the first time. I don’t know whether that is merely a coincidence.”
He says the new dwarf calf was not dramatically smaller than a normal calf at birth. “He may have been about half a ruler shorter than a normal calf, but the difference is really noticeable in the legs, which are shorter and stockier. The head is also more compact.”
There is not much reliable data about the phenomenon. “It really is extremely rare,” Olderwagen says. “I was able to find information on the height and the lifespan of dwarf Ngunis, which is unfortunately much shorter than that of a standard Nguni. A dwarf Nguni’s life expectancy is said to be only about four years, compared with about 20 years for a normal Nguni.”
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Settling Into the Herd
The calf’s mother is taking excellent care of him.
“She is very protective and closely watches anyone who comes near. We usually keep all our new calves with their mothers in a smaller camp for a few days to allow them to settle in. At the moment, the dwarf calf is running with his mother in the main herd and is just like any other member of the group.
“The previous dwarf Nguni used to run with the large bulls, which made for quite a funny sight.”
Breed Perspective
Nico Harris, vice-president of the Nguni Cattle Breeders’ Society of SA, says he has not previously heard of a dwarf Nguni, but believes it is the same condition as dwarfism in humans.
He says there are no height limits in the Nguni breed standards. “We focus more on weight, as we are geared towards producing kilograms per hectare. For that reason, we do not favour a Nguni weighing more than 450kg; the average breed weight is around 398kg.”
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Good Herd Growth
The dwarf calf, which has not yet been named, is not the only well-known Nguni at Vergelegen. Henry, a tame Nguni with predominantly white colouring that was bottle-raised, has formed a close bond with Sue Steenkamp, the estate’s hospitality and events manager. Henry is particularly fond of spending time in her garden.
Between July and September last year, Vergelegen welcomed 133 new Nguni calves. In addition to the Nguni additions, the estate also recorded the birth of seven bontebok lambs in October, two spotted eagle-owls in November and two eland calves in December.
The estate is expecting even more excitement with two Rau quagga mares that are heavily pregnant. Vergelegen currently has 10 Rau quaggas, the first seven of which were brought to the farm in 2022 from Pampoenvlei in the Atlantis/Darling area, according to the website.
This forms part of the Quagga Project, a conservation initiative to selectively breed from a founder population of southern plains zebras to retrieve the genes responsible for the characteristic hide pattern of the quagga, which was once abundant but were hunted to extinction in the late 19th century. Unlike zebras, quaggas typically had stripes only on the head, neck and front portion of the body. The upper parts were brown, and the legs and bellies were pale and unstriped.
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