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The Bloukruin mega-farm group belongs to Mr Gilly Scheepers and family and is an icon of success in the Eastern Free State. Based in the broader Fouriesburg, Paul Roux, Bethlehem, and Ficksburg region, their farming activities include crops, fruit, cattle, sheep, and egg production.
The Bloukruin group of farms is an impressive undertaking based on keeping management as simple as possible to save time and money for maximum efficiency. Sussex cattle play an important role in utilizing the farms resources. There are a lot of mountain slopes, broken hills and valleys
that are not suitable for crop farming and that are divided into camps.
The farms all have sour veld grazing, which is relatively good in summer, but very much less so in winter. The crop residues that are available in winter are “cleaned up” by the cattle after harvesting takes place, and this works really well as an alternative to the veld in winter.
Scheepers’ father, Jannie, had a variety of breeds of cattle up to 1968 but thereafter decided to farm only with Sussex. Gilly began to farm on his own account twenty years later, in 1988. He, too, initially tried different breeds but later decided his father was right, and then converted to purebred Sussex.
PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES
Gilly says the big advantage with Sussex is their temperament in that he does not want to struggle with nervous animals. He says the breed is very calm and easy to handle. The Sussex is also very fertile, and five of his cow herds achieved 100% conception recently. The calves’ birth mass leads to easy calving with an average of 34 to 38 kg. The average weaning weight often exceeds 260kg at seven months.
The Sussex is a versatile breed that adapts well in the mountainous areas. In addition his commercial cows look and perform like stud animals, with good depth and udders, and are fertile and profitable. First calf cows weigh around 500kg and the older cows around 550kg.
However, it took many years to get to where the herd currently is in terms of uniformity and performance. When he started farming initially many different types were bought but he only used stud Sussex bulls to upgrade to a purebred herd. As numbers increased he was able to screen out weaker animals which he considered to occupy the “tail end” of the herd.
HERD MANAGEMENT
The breeding herds vary from 70 to 100 cows with a ratio of one bull to 25 cows. Just before the bulling season in June, the bulls graze on rye or triticale lands to boost them to the best possible condition before they need to work. Replacement bulls are bought only from well-known stud breeders. Gilly says bull prices are reasonable and are good value for money compared to many other breeds.
The best heifers are selected and are put to the bulls three months before the cows, from 1 July to end September (for three months). This is so that the heifers calve from April to June the following year. In the following bulling season, these now first calf cows will be mated with the cows from 1 October to end December so that they calve from July to end of September.
All the cow herds receive a farm mixed lick fed throughout the year with adjustments according to the season. During calving time each cow herd is placed in a specific camp. After calving, the cows and calves are moved to an adjacent nursery camp, where the calves’ specific herd mark is ear-clipped into the left ear, and the bull calves are castrated. Horn buds are burnt off later at the age of one to two months.
A vaccination program against black quarter, clostridium, and anthrax (3-in-1) is followed. Calves are dewormed and receive a follow-up black quarter inoculation. Multimin (Reg. No. G3371, Act 36 of 1947) is used in the whole herd. The cattle are only dipped when ticks are visible and not according to a fixed program because ticks are not a major problem in the region. The herds graze on crop residue from May to September and are moved when soil preparation begins.
Because the herds are located far away from each other, weaner oxen from the different farms are collected and brought to Paul Roux in the middle of April each year. Here they graze in one large group until they are loaded off to various feedlots. To see 500 very uniform Sussex weaner oxen together is an impressive sight!
The Bloukruin cattle farming unit follows a simple but effective management plan, which is profitable as a result.
FEEDLOT – SUSSEX BEST BREED FOR WEANERS
The well-cared-for cattle adapt to intensive feeding regimes without trouble. All of the oxen have an outstanding temperament and are dehorned. A typical year’s results follow:
Feedlots in general prefer a weight at purchase of below 250kg, but they are satisfied with Bloukruin’s weaner cattle that weigh in excess of 260kg because of their excellent growth and regularly finish within 110 days, weighing in at 500kg with an A2 grading and high-quality meat.
** Acknowledgement: Sincere thanks to Mr Gilly Scheepers for the above information. Originally published by Landbou Weekblad for the Sussex Supplement on behalf of the Sussex Society of SA and adapted for this guide.