28 Jun 2021

Stockman’s Choice and Voorslaag Auction auctioneer, Mr Nico Vos says the local small stock industry is experiencing a boom in good quality stock.

Speaking at an auction held at Redbull Crush in Letlhakane on Saturday June 26, Mr Vos said there was a positive vibe in the local small stock industry, attributable to President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s small stock initiative.

He noted that the acution, now in its sixth year had grown in leaps and bounds and had attracted buyers from as far as Norway. The auction was the brainchild of Boteti small stock breeders, who used to travel to South Africa to buy genetics, and who now needed to create a market for themselves.

Auctions, he said, were very important as they gave farmers’s cattle, livestock and fould  and their products being cattle,  exposure to a broader base of buyers.

Mr Vos explained that there were three types of auctions namely stud, commercial and weaner or slaughter animal auction, adding however, weaner or slaughter animal auction had not yet started in Botswana due to lack of competition from major feedlots.

The lack of competition was due to the fact farmers preffered to take their animals directly to butcheries and  feedlots

However, he said, Stockman’s Choice was planning to start slaughter and weaner auctions. He said if the Government could allow farmers to export their weaners to South Africa, soon there would be need for local and South African feed lotters to compete for weaner and slaughter animals.

He noted that a Boer goat doe, belonging to Mr Faheem Kala of Bushra Stud fetched an impressive P60 000, while a Kalahari Red Buck from the same farm fetched P33 000. Further, a  number of small stock being comprising Boer Goat and Kalahari Red were sold in excess of P20 000, with one Boer goat buck fetching P29 000.

Mr Vos said a doe with three kids, bred by Mr Keitumetse Modori, was sold for P54 000.

He said the aim was to have farmers from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and Angola buy in Botswana.  They now needed the   Government to facilitate quarantine facilities for the export market, and that such facilities were needed in Tlokweng, Francistown and Ghanzi.

One of the organisers, Mr Peter Van Den Heever said local breeders were at a level where they could supply the export market. Ends