A LIFE WITH HARDY INDIGENOUS LIVESTOCK

Emmanuel Mudau traces his love for indigenous breeds to the weekends he spent with his dad, Daniel Mudau, who took care of livestock at the Schoemansdal Museum in Makhado, previously Louis Trichardt, in Limpopo. Before its demise post 1994, the Schoemansdal Museum showcased Voortrekker household items, farm implements and irrigation systems. It was also known for its efforts to preserve indigenous animal breeds such as Nguni goats, Afrikaner and Nguni cattle, Pedi sheep and Kolbroek pigs.

“I spent the weekends helping and playing with young sheep and goats. Even my current kraal designs are from my faint childhood memory of the museum’s animal section,” explains Emmanuel.

After matric Emmanuel worked as a security guard for about three months but left to help a family friend who worked at a furniture shop. “He employed me privately to help him because he was not literate and couldn’t read and write. I did the reading and writing for him, and he paid me about R400 a month,” recalls Emmanuel. When the shop managers noticed this and how it helped to improve the man’s performance,

Emmanuel was offered a permanent job at the store. Later, he was transferred to another branch in Turfloop where he worked from 2006 to 2010.

In 2010 he resigned and cashed his pension money of about R9 000 to buy his first four goats. “I got three ewes and a ram, which I kept in my backyard at home in Tshiozwi. The goats were doing well and kidding at a rapid rate,” he says. The same year, he sold 15 sheep for one of his father’s colleagues with an agreement that he would make a commission on every animal sold.

“I sold the sheep within a few days, except for four pregnant ewes. After paying me my commission, he gave me the four pregnant ewes,” says Emmanuel.

At the time he wasn’t keen on sheep, so after they had lambed, he swapped the sheep for eight goats to grow his goat flock. Emmanuel’s dad was very supportive of his farming venture and helped him out financially. “He gave me half his salary and every time I got this money, I would buy a goat,” he remembers.

Soon his flock was too big for the backyard and in 2011 Emmanuel approached the Ravele village chief who gave him permission to use a bigger space outside the village. That year, Emmanuel was approached by someone who had Boer goats and no longer wanted them.

“He saw what I was doing and offered to sell me all his goats. I had no money to buy them, but he insisted and arranged payment over a period,” he says. Unfortunately, all the Boer goats died.

“My other indigenous goats were thriving and this is when I realised that I had to stick with indigenous breeds,” says Emmanuel.

Apart from the preservation of the indigenous Mbuzi goat as part of agricultural history, the goats also have excellent commercial value. They are highly adaptable, drought resistant with excellent maternal ability, requiring minimal inputs, says Emmanuel. “They raise their kids on the veld and can walk long distances and survive even on poor quality veld.”

He says the breed was formally registered in South Africa a few years ago by himself, Lourens Erasmus and Joel Mamabolo. The Indigenous Veld Goat Society was registered in 2020 and now has a little more than 50 members.

“We also have Savanna goats that do very well here although they are primarily from the Northern Cape,” he says. Emmanuel keeps indigenous chickens, which are very popular in the market.