12 Jun 2018

Government has been challenged to embrace modern technology to improve productivity and quality of livestock.

The appeal was made on Saturday by the organisers of the annual Mookane Farmers Day.

Appreciating that government had taken a giant step through Artificial Insemination (AI), one of the organisers, Mr Thapelo Setlalekgosi appealed to government to strive to be always at par with modern technology.

Mr Setlalekgosi described AI as a cheaper way of encouraging farmers to improve their livestock and even preserve certain breeds of cattle.

He however said with qualified personnel, government must consider converting one of its AI camps to cater for other technologies that enhance livestock production such as in vitro fertilisation and embryo flushing (transfer).

He said currently, it is expensive for individual farmers to introduce the technology at their farms and therefore implored government and independent veterinary specialists to assist farmers to improve their livestock to be at par with their competitors from other countries. He said the move would not only benefit farmers, but would add value to beef export and generate more revenue for government.

Now on its fifth year running, Mr Setlalekgosi described the event as a platform where farmers interact and share best practices towards improving the beef industry.

He told those who attended the event at Letswere Brahman Farm, that the event’s success, since its inception, was attributable to Mookane community, the business community and government through the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security.

Mr Phenyo Nthase, who was the host, shared the sentiments with Mr Setlalekgosi, adding that stud breeding was also possible in communal areas.

Mr Nthase said cattle farmers utilised AI services to introduce some rare genetics from other countries.

He however added that even though it was costly, the love and commitment in the cattle industry drives farmers to engage stud breeders in neighbouring countries for the embryo transfer programme.

One of Botswana’s staunch pastoralists, Mr Basimanyana Masire also appealed to government to help farmers improve the livestock industry.

Mr Masire said farming had sustained the nation for many years, and therefore it was best to embrace technological changes that would improve and sustain the industry.

Meanwhile, Heinrick Bruwer, a stud Brahman and Charolais farmer from South Africa, who started running livestock as a commercial business in 2005, said through embryo flashing, he was able to introduce a bloodline of a rare breed of Brahman that was almost extinct in Africa.

At first, Mr Bruwer said, he relied on AI in his quest to introduce rare breeds of the Brahman, but due to scarcity of the genetics that he was interested in, he opted for embryo transfer.

“I took the next step and brought in some embryo calves and I am very proud to have re-introduced a rare breed into Africa through embryo transfer,” he said.

He said he was not only passionate about cattle breeding, but it was his lifeline, reiterating that he highly valued the use of modern technology.

Mr Bruwer commended Botswana for introducing AI, adding that the technology had contributed immensely to the improvement of cattle in the country, emphasising that it was a cheaper and simpler way of bringing the best genetics into one’s farm.

‘Even though it was costly, the love and commitment in the cattle industry drives farmers to engage stud breeders in neighbouring countries for the embryo transfer programme’

He said embryo transfer involved flushing eggs from the best chosen cows without any use of hormones and fertilising them with semen in a laboratory.

He said the technology did not only help in conserving the best line of a breed, but also led to increased production, revealing that semen drawn from a bull could be used to fertilise more than 100 eggs with over 30 per cent chance of producing embryos.

Raised in a family of cattle barons in Ghanzi and later moving to Bray in South Africa, Mr Bruwer said the main objective of Mookane Farmers Day was focused on incorporating modern technology into the current farming structures in an effort to make it profitable. ENDS