Mahlatse Bonoko grew up around cattle but never imagined farming would eventually become his livelihood. Today, the 33-year-old farmer from Ga-Mashashane, Limpopo, is building a mixed farming operation spanning cattle, sheep, goats and maize.
By Maile Matsimela, digital editor at African Farming
Cattle were part of Mahlatse Bonoko’s life long before he became a farmer himself. Growing up in Ga-Mashashane near Polokwane, Limpopo, he spent school holidays helping his father, Lesibana Silas Bonoko, with the family cattle on communal grazing land.
His father also took him to cattle auctions at the former Pretoria Showgrounds, where Mahlatse was exposed to breeders buying and selling quality animals. “I didn’t understand everything then, but I loved being around cattle,” he recalls. “Those auctions inspired me.”
But farming was not initially his chosen career. Mahlatse studied diesel mechanics at a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college. When employment proved difficult to find, he tried several business ventures, but none gained traction.
Then, in 2021, his mother, Annah Bonoko, suggested he return to something he already understood. “She said, ‘You’re not finding a job, and the businesses you’re trying are not working. Why don’t you buy cattle, feed them and take them to auction?’”
That conversation started his farming journey.
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Starting with cattle
Mahlatse began with feedlotting: buying weaners, feeding them for about 90 days and selling them through livestock auctions.
The experience introduced him to the economics of livestock production. Although he was not losing money, he realised after buying calves and paying for feed and transport, little profit remained.
That prompted a change in direction. Rather than continuing to buy animals for resale, Mahlatse began concentrating on building his own herd. Today, he has more than 40 cattle and is working towards developing a commercial livestock operation.
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Diversifying the farm
Cattle are only one part of the operation Mahlatse is building.
He also keeps sheep and Boer goats, enterprises that have tested him through disease losses and forced him to improve his understanding of animal health and breeding. His sheep flock started with Pedi sheep before he introduced a Van Rooy ram, while his Boer goat herd has been rebuilt after early losses.
Crop production followed as Mahlatse began looking for ways to support his livestock enterprises. He plants yellow maize on communal cropping land, keeping much of the harvest rather than selling it. The grain forms part of his effort to produce livestock feed and reduce his dependence on purchased feed. His longer-term plans include adding sunflower and soya beans.
The result is an operation in which Mahlatse is gradually trying to connect his different commodities rather than treating them as separate businesses.
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Farming became his university
The expansion has not come without setbacks. Disease has killed livestock, drought has destroyed crops and some of his early business decisions did not produce the returns he expected. Those experiences changed his approach to farming.
“As youngsters, we go to school to learn. Farming has been my university. I’ve paid my school fees through mistakes, losses and experience. Today, I understand far more than I did when I started,” he says.
For Mahlatse, the farm he is building today looks very different from the small feedlotting venture he started in 2021.
Cattle opened the door. Sheep, goats and maize followed. Now his ambition is to bring those enterprises together into a larger commercial farming business.
Coming up in Part 2: African Farming looks at Mahlatse’s cattle operation and how he is using breeding and better genetics to build the herd he wants.
Also read:
From herding cattle at nine to 300ha of sunflower: Obakeng Ntshabele’s farming journey
From classroom to feedlot: NWU students learn commercial cattle production skills
Backgrounding – how to prepare calves for feedlots
