Veldmaster Cattle.

[@ncedisafeni351]

I have been making some of the tests for few years now and the Tuli x bonsmara have given us the best replacement heifers. Mating them at 360 to 380kgs, and have a matured weight of 500 - 520. Mating them back to a Tuli bull. There is a farmer in Seymour area of the eastern cape, a neighbour of my late father. He is a retired lecturer at UFH in agriculture faculty. He farms with Nguni cows crossing them to brahman bulls. He markets the heifers with all male calves. His name is Theo Maqhashalala, should be in his 80s now and still farming.

[@sportyknow1931]

Interesting, (note I am not currently farming). However, in my worthless opinon, I feel that your combination is excellent because your herd has that Indigenous component that makes it hardy, and plus your weaners are red, therefore your cattle should be easily marketable to the feedlots. Wish you the best in your endeavors.

[@ncedisafeni351]

@@sportyknow1931 Thank you. Tried that bonsmara cross with our nguni cows and it didn't give much improvement to the progeny. The only down side I experienced with the Tuli x bonsmara is that most of our replacement heifers we kept were horned. Something we weren't used to with the Tuli as it's calves are 90% and higher poled. In 2018 My mother, brother and myself were in a Tuli auction to buy a bull and there was thsi gentleman we were talking to, he said he'll never buy a Tuli bull. He puts his Tuli cows to braford bulls and keep buying in Tuli cows from time to time

[@shanecotty3275]

I like your approach!

[@shanecotty3275]

I'm surprised that you saw little improvement. Johann Zietsman mentions a farm that struggled with weaner mortalities. He suggested they cross their bonsmaras with ngunis and it solved the problem. It also depends on HOW you measure improvement. There are many different ways . I would accept that weaning mass would be the yardstick used by most. If so - you won't see much (if any) improvement. Yet if you start measuring kg sold/ha, production costs/kg produced and you increase your stocking rate - then the nguni cross should prove itself.

[@ncedisafeni351]

@@shanecotty3275 our matured nguni are 360kgs and Tuli are 480.thats the weight we go for, for this arid area. High stock density is a dream for us, mainly fiction as our source of water is borehole and they deliver low volumes of water per hour and are far apart. With that ultra high density you will need water to be available in each paddock were as some of our 200ha camps don't even have water and impossible to deliver with class 6, 32mm pipe. Developing earth dams has helped but it's a costly exercise, especially since red meat production yields less rands/kgs currently. R31 from R39,50 for weaner calves.

[@bestpestcontroll6107]

Hi you need to add Angoni from zambia. Ask Johan, they are an African zebu. We run a herd in Zambia with very little in the way of inputs.

[@shanecotty3275]

I know of the Angoni - but not a lot. Mate of mine farms with them in Nelspruit and I'll find out from him. Thanks for the comment!

[@craigwolhuter3146]

Like the look of these animals, I am also keen to breed a veldmaster type animal for a grass fed, grass finished animal.

[@shanecotty3275]

Hi Craig, Thanks for the comment! The beauty of it is that you're not limited to specific breeds. The Veldmaster is a principle rather than a breed. So you can mix and match according to your own preference - providing you maintain a 50% indigenous component.

[@ncedisafeni351]

He has an article with Farmers weekly

[@shanecotty3275]

He also wrote a book: Man, Cattle, Veld. It's my cattle bible so to speak. He opened my eyes to indigenous cattle!

[@ncedisafeni351]

@@shanecotty3275 you referring to Mr Johan Zietsman. It is Mr Theo Maqhashalala that has an article with Farmers weekly and I believe his contact number is at the bottom of that article.

[@leonardsetshegetso2244]

Veldmaster://.. also focus on fertility and early sexual maturity: ability to breed at 2years, calve again in year 3 (2+3), and every year thereafter.

[@shanecotty3275]

Exactly! One of the main reasons to consider going the veldmaster route if you come from a conventional background.

[@tebogobareng3200]

Any reason why you not ear tagging

[@shanecotty3275]

I only got them a few weeks ago. I want them to first settle in before I tag them. Will probably do it in the next two weeks.

[@smygskytt1712]

I am of the extremely controversial opinion that the old belt buckle cattle of the 1940s are the perfect type and size of animal for today - when combined with a terminal bull from a larger breed. The American cowboys running corriente cattle has the whole thing figured out to an art form. Because in America, the cattle breed that only survived as a prop for the cowboy sport of lasso showing is the only thing they haven't screwed up in the the name of "feedlot performance". And what corriente breeders do is run the majority of their herd in combination with terminal bulls, and only the oldest cows are bred to corriente bulls for replacements. That's what I'd do. Just create big mongrelised herd of African landraces. Run the majority of the cows with terminal bulls and then either sell off those F1 calves or grass finish them yourself. In fact, as the modern Bonsmara is being screwed up for feedlot performance, it'd be absolutely hilarious to use that as a strictly terminal sire for feedlot calves. Bonsma himself would be rolling in his grave if he saw that.

[@shanecotty3275]

I totally agree that cattle have gotten too big and that breeds have been ruined for the feedlot. I saw a picture recently of a bull (in USA) that had placed first at a show. You wouldn't have known it was a bull if you weren't told. Totally feminine! Corientes are still a great breed but short a LITTLE muscling - in my opinion. But they certainly are hardy animals. Thanks for the great comment! 🍻

[@smygskytt1712]

@@shanecotty3275 Well, when combined with a strictly terminal sire, a narrower, slightly more milk type-y body shape would probably even be an advantage. Because pretty much all of the old cattle landrace types were not divided into either beef or dairy types, instead they were usually combination beef + dairy animals (draught + dairy really). This is the way cattle are still used to this day among Africa's millions of smallholder farmers, and as they are continuously culled for poor milking and bad health quite organically, in that the worst milking cows are the ones that get sold off in a drought year - at the same time the bulls are selected for the strongest, most muscled looking one within the breed so that the oxen they produce can pull ploughs and other loads. I personally quite like mob breeding, am fascinated by old landraces, and advocate for abandoning breeds and instead focus on treating cattle like new landraces. Indeed, my rejection of Johann Zietsman can be summed up as "instead of breeding cattle like the Mashona, let's breed cattle like the Shona". If I was farming in Zimbabwe, I wouldn't bother with creating a new beef composite using the Mashona, I would simply buy replacement heifers from Shona smallholders and run them with some form of hardy terminal bull.

[@shanecotty3275]

@@smygskytt1712 Agreed! Cows built like dairy cows are extremely feminine and should have good hormonal balance. Add in resiliance/adaptability then you have the perfect cow - as long as she is not too large framed! Putting terminal sires onto mashonas is certainly a goid way to go - if you are able to source enough replacement heifers every year! Unfortunately mashonas are not readily available at the moment so we are left with the option of breeding our own replacements. At the same time - I actually look forward to breeding my own composite.

[@shanecotty3275]

@@smygskytt1712 You make some very good arguments. Thanks - points to ponder.

[@ncedisafeni351]

@@smygskytt1712 high milking cows require better nutrition, if your veld can't provide that then you have to feed them to keep them in condition. It's also correlated with low fertility and low survival in drought.