Market Demand Motivates Intensive Boer Goat Farmer

Free State Boer goat farmer Mariaan Grobler says intensive production is a viable option as there are never enough goats available to meet demand. Sabrina Dean visited her on her Free State farm to learn how she has fine-tuned her commercial operation to maximise production.

Mariaan Grobler loves her goats. She also loves the opportunities presented by a commercial goat farming operation. “You can make money from these animals,” she says.

Grobler and her husband, Cobus, live on the farm Verona just outside Dewetsdorp in the Free State, where she currently runs a herd of about 120 commercial Boer goat ewes on 10ha.

Grobler has been farming goats for years, but has only recently begun to commercialise and expand her operation, aligning it to her ultimate goal of eventually going into stud production.

Her main aim currently is to sell the goats for their meat value. She produces them not only for the consumer’s plate, but for the lucrative cultural and traditional market, where goats for ritual sacrifice are always in demand.

Grobler also focuses on improving the genetic quality of her production herd, selecting according to the guidelines set out by the South African Boer Goat Breeders’ Society.

In 2015 she decided to start introducing premium genetics into her herd and collaborated with Kobus Lötter of Doornpoort Genetics.

“He came to class my flock and that was also when I bought my first Doornpoort ram,” she says.

Grobler had been slowly and steadily increasing her flock for years, but the quality of the animals was not as high as it could be. She began by culling all ewes that failed to meet the breed standard, reducing her flock from more than 160 ewes to fewer than a hundred.

“A poor quality ewe eats just as much as a good one,” she says.

Having whittled down the flock to the best ewes, Grobler is now striving to maintain an ideal kidding percentage of 180%. “I select for twins or triplets,” she explains.

CAREFUL SELECTION