Breeding a resistant and resilient Sussex stud herd

John Viedge of the Lehana’s Pass Sussex Stud has been breeding cattle that survive in some of the harshest redwater disease areas in South Africa. Wayne Southwood spoke to him about how he manages animal health, breeding and selection in his resilient Sus

Collectively, they sell 45 bulls, most of them going to commercial breeders and a few to stud breeders.

They are kept on veld up to three months beforehand, after which they are fed to get them into sale condition. Before the sale, they are all tested for vibriosis and trichomoniasis.

The best of the young, twoyear-old bulls are used in the stud and on the commercial heifers.

“I believe it’s better to sell a proven, three-year-old bull to clients rather than a two-yearold youngster that might not be up to standard,” says Viedge.

When he considers selection and replacement heifers and the traits he wants to improve, he focuses on the udder in particular.

Coats are an advantage in extreme winter. Viedge has many clients in Barkly East, and the coats are important in this cold, mountainous area. At the same time, the cattle must be able to shed the coat fast when summer arrives.

He is also considering acquiring polled genetics.

Animal health

Viedge doses all animals for liver fluke and inoculates for black quarter, contagious abortion and lumpy skin disease once a year.

He has had a number of cases where lumpy skin disease affected the animals’ lungs.

“There are just a few lumps visible on the skin, but when animals die, the post-mortem examination shows the lungs are riddled with tumours,” he says.

Calves are dosed twice for internal parasites and injected with Multimin (a supplemental source of zinc, manganese, selenium and copper) at two months and then again at weaning.

In the early 1980s, the Transkei cattle herd was decimated by African redwater disease.

In later years, this area suffered an outbreak of Asiatic redwater, and Viedge lost 18 cows in one day to the disease.

“The cattle died so fast that if I didn’t treat the sick ones immediately, they’d be dead by morning. Once an animal started shivering, you could forget about saving it,” he recalls.

The situation became so serious that stockmen carried sachets of Berenil with them. They mixed it on site and injected all animals that looked even slightly sick, together with a dose of Terramycin.

Viedge used live blood vaccines from Onderstepoort with great success, but nevertheless battled for years with the disease while the cows built up immunity to it.

“The solution is to have some ticks on the cattle at all times,” he says.

Calves that are four months old receive a preventative dose of 2ml of Berenil, usually at the beginning of December. Viedge says that if he does not do this, many calves will become infected with Asiatic redwater by six months of age.

Viedge has long used a plunge dip to control external parasites, dipping early in December until the beginning of May. When the region experiences mild winters, he and his team dip the animals in June as well.

He admits that he is concerned the ticks are becoming resistant to the dips. For this reason, he has decided to start experimenting with pour-on and injectable remedies.

• Phone John Viedge on 045 932 1931 or 073 798 2016, or email him at johnviedge@gmail.com.

For breeding, viedge selects a smaller- framed cow weighing between 500kg and 550kg