Producing well-balanced animals for maximum profit

Well-balanced stud animals are crucial to the profitability of a commercial beef cattle enterprise, say Jean van der Merwe and Willie Landman, owners of the Black Hills Drakensberger stud near Potchefstroom. They told Annelie Coleman that they breed animals like this by focusing on a number of traits and using a variety of selection techniques.

- Annelie Coleman

Willie Landman and his business partner, Jean van der Merwe, both mechanical engineers, run a Drakensberger stud on the farm Rooipoortjie between Potchefstroom and Parys. Their stud, Black Hills Drakensberger, was registered in 2009.

The focus of their stud, they emphasize, is to breed well-balanced animals. This calls for the implementation of a holistic selection program, which includes all possible aspects of successful animal husbandry.

Landman and Van der Merwe said that animal recording, for example, is not the be-all and end-all of producing a top-performing animal, although they do keep detailed records of each animal on the farm. Instead, the essence and value of animal recordings are in the interpretation of the data collected.

“Breeders can sometimes become so focused on, and engrossed in, the recording of animal statistics that their actual analysis and interpretation fall by the wayside. The objective of animal recording and estimated breeding values [EBVs] is to improve a cattle herd, and the data must be used to this end.” However, adds Landman, data is not the only tool. Since the pair launched the Black Hills stud in 2009, they have used several methods in their effort to breed highly fertile cattle.

According to him, the onus is on their cattle to ensure that the business remains profitable, and not on them as owners to spend money keeping the animals going at all cost. This is why it is crucial to know as much as possible about the herd.

They use a combination of animal performance recording, interpretation and observation to breed according to their breeding plan.

“Breeding cattle is about making money, and all inputs required to get a newborn calf to weaning need to be brought into the equation. This includes the maintenance of the calf and its mother up to weaning and marketing,” says Landman.

A MATHEMATICAL MODEL