Drakensberger: made in SA for our farmers!

The Drakensberger evolved in Southern Africa centuries ago, and is thus superbly adapted to the region’s harsh and highly varied climate and veld. This explains why the breed thrives under extensive production, Jean van der Merwe, president of the Drakensberger Breeders’ Society of South Africa, told Glenneis Kriel.

- Glenneis Kriel

How did you get involved with the Drakensberger breed?

In 2009, Willie Landman and I bought our first two Drakensberger stud cows at the Buffalo Valley auction of John Roos. We were so overwhelmed by the hospitality of the breeders and the beauty of the Drakensbergers that we decided to start our own stud, calling it Black Hills.

People in the Drakensberger Breeders’ Society of South Africa have been highly supportive in helping us develop our stud. We’re involved in the activities of the society and enjoy the sense of belonging among like-minded farmers.

Please take us through the origin of the breed.

The Drakensberger is the oldest of South Africa’s three indigenous cattle breeds. [Portuguese explorer] Vasco da Gama provided the first written proof of their existence after he rounded the Cape in 1497. He diarised that he had traded some merchandise for “tender and juicy” meat of Cape black cattle.

During the early 1700s, Simon and Adriaan van der Stel [successive Dutch governors of the Cape] farmed these black cattle extensively and imported a few black Groningen bulls to the Cape to improve the genetic pool. The cattle gained the name ‘Vaderlanders’ and were dispersed into the rest of the interior during the Great Trek, beginning in 1838.

Their purpose as draught animals declined with the arrival of mechanisation, resulting in a greater emphasis on their beef production potential.