Farming in Botswana

Hi from Botswana. I am managing a cattle farm located in south west Botswana. The soil is deep Kalahari sand. Carrying capacity is 10 ha per live stock unit (450 kg cow). The average rainfall is 350mm and falls in the summer anywhere from October to April. Temperatures vary from minus 7 in the winter to 44 centigrade in the summer. Cattle grass outside year round supplemented with home mixed licks.
The herd is made up of Brahman, Simmentaler, Sussex, Charolais and crosses. Most of the calves are finished in our feedlot and are then sold to the Botswana Meat Commision and are ultimately exported to the EU.
Cattle in the kraal. The cleared area is 2km long and is used for cutting hay for use in the feedlot.

Brahman cross cow with Charolais sired calf.

Some of the two year old heifers just before bulling.

Male kudu

cows and calves in the veld.

Welcome. Those photos could be here in Central Texas, when it rains.

Nice pics! :welcome:

Nice to see pictures of other parts of the world!, Welcome aboard!

Very nice pics! Do you ever have any depredation problems from lions, leopards etc?

I'm surprised that you don't use the native breeds, what is your reason to not use them? Also I'm curious how you deal with the depredation too!

Are you along the Molopo River? I spent some time in Botswana and never saw grass like that. Do you haul to Lobatse or South Africa?

Parts of Botswana are great country. I've only connected in Maun. I have been on some really good ranches in Namibia and South Africa and have been told there are some in Botswana that are as good/better. Nice pictures.

tsonda4570":2ekg05q4 said:

Welcome. Those photos could be here in Central Texas, when it rains.

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Ha ha...what planet are you on? I once thought I was in Afrika then I woke up in Rock Springs....

Prairiegrass":1f29pra7 said:

Are you along the Molopo River? I spent some time in Botswana and never saw grass like that. Do you haul to Lobatse or South Africa?

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Maybe they didn't have photoshop back then.....

I was on the border there a couple of times from the Zimbabwe side. Love those Kudu. Nice condition on that bull.

I was on the Clive Style Cattle Ranch in the Lowveld in 1987. It was amazing watching the native Shangani herdsmen work the Style cattle herd. They lived right in the pasture with the cows and it showed. They handle them like children.

I would guess you still use local tribesmen. A group of Shangani herdsman are as good as a squeeze chute.

Lovely cattle!

No lions but we do have Leopard, cheetah, brown hyena and jackal. The leopard's eat the most calves but having a breeding season helps as they only take small calves. The hyena and jackal will mostly take a calf during calving. I have some calves with missing ears and tails that have been chewed off. We recently had 18 African wild dogs move through the farm and they ate 6 calves in two days. The grass is due to the very good rains we have had since January.
The breeds were on the farm when I arrived 4 years ago. I have been introducing Bonsmara and Tuli via AI. All the bulls used are home bred so are well adapted to conditions on the farm.

Beautiful cows. I want first chance on the black cow laying down with the orange stripes before anyone else does.
Every time I see the twisted horns on the Kudu, I think about a grape vine coiling around a sassafras tree.
Very nice!

Chuckie":1ybvfgbd said:

Beautiful cows. I want first chance on the black cow laying down with the orange stripes before anyone else does.
Every time I see the twisted horns on the Kudu, I think about a grape vine coiling around a sassafras tree.
Very nice!

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I like that!!!

Kingfisher":3hz09iay said:

tsonda4570":3hz09iay said:

Welcome. Those photos could be here in Central Texas, when it rains.

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Ha ha...what planet are you on? I once thought I was in Afrika then I woke up in Rock Springs....

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The only time I feel like im in Africa is at Krystal's at 10 pm....

Good looking cattle!! But if the county called and said I had to build a fence with that many posts and staves in it, I'd just have to go ahead and shoot myself right now.

We are currently erecting a 6km, 2.4m high, 18 stand game fence as we are taking a 1100 ha paddock and are going to stock it with zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, gemsbok, kudu, red hartebeest, impala and springbok. The key to erecting the fence is lots of labour. All 25 of my labour are working on the fence.

New Fence

greybeard":32rwwcc7 said:

Good looking cattle!! But if the county called and said I had to build a fence with that many posts and staves in it, I'd just have to go ahead and shoot myself right now.

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GB, but you don't have 50 native Africans working for you to do it.

Still wouldn't do it even if I did have that many of anybody. Just the material cost would be prohibitive.

(I have seen fences of that sort out in extreme SW Texas and Northern Mexico tho.)

botsfarmer":1o10fr2j said:

We are currently erecting a 6km, 2.4m high, 18 stand game fence as we are taking a 1100 ha paddock and are going to stock it with zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, gemsbok, kudu, red hartebeest, impala and springbok. The key to erecting the fence is lots of labour. All 25 of my labour are working on the fence.

New Fence

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What will you do with all those animals once you have them penned up?