How do I choose what to farm with? - Part 1

Novice farmers are faced with one critical question: what type of farming activities do I venture into? Should it be livestock, crop, or poultry farming? What about somewhat unconventional farming modes such as beekeeping, pig breeding, or even rabbit production? This question may appear straightforward as a highway across the desert, but it is not all that simple at all.

In my books, the golden rule is that you first consider what best appeals to you. What type of farming makes your heart race? Which farming mode sends your mind on a wild imagination spree? Allow your inner self to speak to you first before deciding. This is helpful especially when times get tough and thoughts of quitting and giving it all up become frequent. Your love for the farming mode will keep you alive.

Next, you may want to consider what type of farming is practised most in your intended area of farming. This you do for two reasons: to have a clear picture of what works best in the area, what type of livestock farming tends to thrive there, or what type of crops work best. Secondly, knowing what products or farming modes are not practised in the area might provide a window of opportunity for you.

In this series, starting with this week’s edition of this column, we will be looking at various farming modes and exploring their benefits and shortcomings for you to have a clear picture of how they apply to your situation.

Overall, the different farming modes have their own distinct advantages and an equal number of disadvantages too. It’s unfortunately a case of going with the lesser of two - or more evils. This week, we kick off with livestock farming. Here is an overview of this type of farming, profiling the three main forms of livestock farming.

Cattle farming

Cattle farming is one of the most lucrative modes of farming. Whether you breed commercial animals to be sold at auctions or to other farmers, or you specialise in raising stud animals, you are guaranteed to make good profit margins. On a good day, average cattle prices are satisfactory and can get you good returns for your investments. This, however, comes at a price; cattle need sufficient grazing. This may be one of the biggest headaches you will contend with.

Sheep farming

Many people, especially in the south of Namibia, have made a fortune with sheep farming. Some have even bought farms or farming plots through extensive sheep farming. Sheep on average give birth twice in 18 months, and most sheep breeds almost guarantee you double offspring. This is equally a good mode of farming, especially for starters who intend to farm for numbers as your turnover rate is guaranteed to be high with sheep.

Unlike cattle, sheep do not need large tracts of land for grazing but could, however, become challenging in extremely arid conditions. This, of course, differs from one breed to the next. Also, sheep are susceptible to diseases and infections and require regular vaccination.

Goat farming

Goat farming could be seen as a compromise between cattle and sheep farming. For years, the goat has fetched high prices at auctions compared to the sheep. It rules supreme, and owning goats was almost as lucrative as having cattle. Of late, however, the auction prices of goats and sheep run shoulderto-shoulder and there is almost no clear-cut winner.

The biggest advantage of goat farming, over which it has an edge over the other two types of livestock farming, is that goats are browsers and not grazers. This means that they are more fond of lifting their head up high in tree branches for leaves as opposed to grazing on the ground. This usually comes in handy in times of drought when the grass becomes depleted.

In the next edition, we will zoom in on crop farming, dissecting the various crops and explaining why some work and others don’t.