News

production

Small stock production: Sheep and goats – how to make ...

  11th October 2018

Breeding to improve animal production entails the upgrading or improvement of a breed in respect of specific characteristics. An expert explains how to do this. Animals that have poor characteristics shouldn’t be used for breeding, but those that have good characteristics should be retained as parents for the next generation of…

cows; weaning; cattle; calves

Cattle production: Advice on buying young calves

  9th October 2018

Question: Is it advisable to buy 3- to 4-week-old calves and grow them? What are the risks and what kind of feeding formula should I use? The main risk of buying young calves lies in the fact that they don’t have a fully developed immune system and their health depends…

investment; floods; rain; flood; costs

Farm management: Controlling input costs

  3rd October 2018

Almost everything we buy today is affected by rising prices. Many of them we can do nothing about, but the question we must ask ourselves is, “What can I do on my farm to control increasing costs?” Input (production) costs are a fact of life for every farmer, so the…

fencing

Livestock production: The importance of fencing

  1st October 2018

Proper fencing is a must-have on any farm. Follow these guidelines to ensure a durable fence. Fencing a farm can be a major expense, but if you consider the economic and replacement value of livestock, crops, game or farm equipment, it’s clear that you just can’t compromise on quality. Installing…

harvester

Mechanisation: Buy the right harvester for your farm

  28th September 2018

Farming machinery is a significant financial investment. These guidelines will help you buy the best harvester for your operation. If you are in the business of harvesting grain, you will know that a harvester is an expensive piece of equipment. When you consider that a farmer’s livelihood depends on the…

machine; tractor; costs

Mechanisation: Minimising your costs

  27th September 2018

It is both difficult and unwise to cut corners if you have to plant high-quality seed and make sure they receive proper irrigation. But mechanisation costs are often unnecessarily high and looking at these again could result in lower input costs and higher profits. The profit in a cash crop…

abortion, goats; parasites; ewes

Small stock production: How to feed your ewes and does

  26th September 2018

The most important objective of small stock farming is to produce lambs or kids. Most of them are sold and the rest are kept for breeding. To ensure successful breeding, they must be fed properly. Here are some guidelines. The number of lambs or kids that reach weaning or slaughtering…

rains; youth; exports; agribusiness; expropriation; climate; maize; floods; farm; management

Farm management: Half a plan is better than no plan

  25th September 2018

For a farm, or any kind of business, to succeed, it must be managed properly. Precise planning is critical because it is the foundation on which all other management tasks are based. To manage properly implies that the four management tasks – planning, organising, implementing and control – must be…