Women praised for their work with bulls
A WOMEN’S cooperative in the Bedford district has produced 43 calves from two government-donated bulls.
Mlibo Qoboshiyane, MEC for the Eastern Cape rural development and agrarian reform MEC, praised the 10 women and a man who make up the Laphumikhwezi Cooperative for effectively using their two Beefmaster bulls to mate with 52 heifers, producing 43 calves to be sold to the market as weaners.
Qoboshiyane yesterday said he was in the district to inspect the status of 36 bulls and heifers he handed over to Laphumi Khwezi, Mhlanga, Worteldrift and Nguni cooperatives in Bedford as part of the department’s livestock improvement programme designed to empower black farmers.
He was confident that the Bedford farmers would get good prices for the calves produced by the government’s bulls, which were handed over in 2015 and 2016.
“When I looked at the progeny (calves), they are of good quality. I am confident that they will get good prices.
“I know that people are ready to buy them because there is a growing interest in farming.
“The farmers will sell their calves to abattoirs, and they can even start their own abattoirs with these calves.”
Laphumikhwezi cooperative member Nonzwakazi Mpongoshe said: “In 2015 we asked the MEC to help us with a bull to improve our livestock. Our Boran bull didn’t give us good money from the markets.”
The Beefmaster livestock had delivered better yields, said Mpongoshe.
She said government support had improved their agri-business and helped the co-op in diversifying from crops to livestock.
The department had also helped out with livestock feed, water and drought relief material.
Farming was providing for families, she said.
“This project has changed our lives a lot,” said Mpongoshe, adding they encouraged other women to take up agriculture as a business.
Mhlanga cooperative owner Thobekile Mhlanga, who farms goats, sheep, pigs, chicken, cattle, ducks and mohair goats, said the four Beefmaster bulls they got from the department had given the business a boost.
The high-performance bulls had sired 120 calves.
Mhlanga expected earnings at the market to be good enough to support his family, and there would be cash left over to reinvest in the business.
Mhlanga said people who failed to make use of farmland acquired through land reform were “lazy”.
The 20 pregnant heifers provided by the department had produced 19 calves for the Worteldrift cooperative, said Mlibo’s spokesman, Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha.
He said the department spent R546 000 to buy Bonsmara, Beefmaster and Nguni bulls and heifers for the Bedford farmers.
In the new financial year the department will hand over 63 ewes, nine Bonsmara bulls, and one Brahman bull to local black farmers.
Each bull is expected to sire 30 heifers, said Sicwetsha.
An average calf with superior genetics from Bonsmara and Beefmaster bulls sells for R6 000 while a bull sells for R25 000. Bonsmara bulls fetch R26 000, and a Bonsmara calf R8 500. — DDR