In spite of having varied into mining, development, civil contracting, and heavy apparatus rent, the ALS Crew stays at center a circle of relatives farming trade characterized by way of consideration to element, professionalism and integrity. Magda du Toit lately visited one of the crucial agricultural and different trade ventures by which the award-winning ALS Crew is concerned, and filed this document.
Photograph: Magda du Toit
The ALS Crew is lately a big agribusiness staff with pursuits in the whole lot from heavy apparatus rent to mining, but this remarkably varied trade has its roots deep within the agriculture sector.
In 1989, brothers Cas and Thys Joubert, and the past due James Honiball, from the Newcastle house in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), began construction dams as a way to stay their tractors occupied within the off season. They registered the trade in 1990, and lately the ALS Crew farms in 4 provinces on a blended 60 000ha of land, offering paintings to at least one 100 families all advised.
In 2022, Agricultural Writers South Africa named the ALS Crew ‘Nationwide Farmer of the 12 months’.
“Our trade good fortune is constructed on integrity, rules, values and remarkable management,” says ALS Crew director Johan Janse van Rensburg.
He provides that ALS has a ‘flat’ control construction, with people who percentage the similar imaginative and prescient and trade ethics and are similarly positive about trade possibilities in South Africa.
Self-discipline, consideration to element, being open to the usage of generation and ‘measuring to regulate’ are a part of the corporate’s DNA. On the similar time, its core values (honesty, reliability, professionalism, appreciate, self-discipline, loyalty and protection) have helped ALS climate the numerous vicissitudes confronted by way of South Africa’s farmers.
“There are all the time setbacks and demanding situations, however one has to search for alternatives inside of those instances,” says Janse van Rensburg. “We delight ourselves at the high quality of our services and products, movements and operations, and I imagine if that’s visual to the buyer, they’ll knock to your door.”
Plants and cattle
The ALS Agri Department accommodates cattle and grain farming in KZN and the Unfastened State, cattle, grain and pecan nut farming in North West, and recreation and cattle farming within the Northern Cape.
In general, the ALS Crew has 1 000ha below centre pivot irrigation and cultivates an additional 2 500ha below dryland stipulations. It has 10 000 cattle and recreation gadgets, and produces maize, soya bean and wheat in Newcastle, and Memel-Zamani within the Unfastened State.
Lucerne is planted as a fodder crop, and there’s a 30ha pecan nut orchard close to the Potchefstroom house. As well as, the crowd operates a grain mill at Ingogo in KZN.
A 3rd of the irrigation water is drawn from the Buffels and Ingogo rivers, and the remaining comes from dams. The wheat and fodder are planted in wintry weather below irrigation. The white and yellow maize and soya bean are circled in summer time in response to a 50:50 concept.
The white maize is offered to the mill, whilst the majority of the yellow maize is offered at the industrial grain marketplace or harvested as silage for farm animals feed. Relying at the maize value, the white maize below irrigation is harvested early and brought to the crowd’s personal grain dryers positioned at two separate places. The grain is dried off to the optimum moisture degree and stored in on-farm silos to be offered at the most efficient value.
The typical long-term maize yield is set 13t/ha and that of soya bean is 4,75t/ha.
ALS conducts its personal maize trials. “Even if small, our trials allow us to peer how new hybrids will do on our farm below our stipulations,” says Colin Steyn, who’s liable for the grain-farming operations in KZN.
Precision farming
All the farming operation is in response to precision farming rules. Emphasis is put on the use of each and every hectare optimally within the staff’s grain and cattle operations. All data accumulated from soil and different samples is used for making plans, and ALS follows its crop adviser’s suggestions diligently.
Crop making plans for the following season begins instantly after harvesting. ALS conducts grid-sampling on all the lands, and the soil samples are despatched for research. Soil corrections are performed accordingly and in step with the crop to be planted.
“Since we began with precision farming practices, we’ve been ready to understand a saving of 35% on fertiliser enter prices,” says Steyn. “Our lands are heterogeneous and soil
fertility and yields fluctuate throughout each and every land. Other spaces with other soils and drainage capability react otherwise to fertilisation programs.
“It’s additionally a very powerful to measure each and every season. The usage of a uniform fertiliser charge can lead to an way over vitamins in some spaces and a deficit in others. In consequence, one doesn’t farm successfully. In our machine, we resolve the precise fertiliser necessities, in addition to the planting charges for all spaces of the land. We organize our lands metre by way of metre,” Steyn explains.
He emphasises that wholesome soils shape the root of the corporate’s sustainable agricultural practices. The soils are levelled to support uniformity of crop enlargement and yield. Levelling additionally conserves soil and water by way of developing uniform slope gradients to support water distribution and drainage around the land.
The ALS workforce has put in drainage pipes in all lands to regulate the water desk degree.
Maize, soya beans and pecan nuts
All over August and September, the workforce prepares seedbeds for soya bean on lands planted to maize the former season. The ones the place soya beans had been planted within the earlier yr are planted with maize early within the season.
Irrigation maize is planted after the primary rain, across the finish of September or the start of October, and is adopted by way of dryland maize. Soya bean is planted roughly two weeks later.
The cattle graze at the maize stover after harvesting in wintry weather.
“Pecan nut farming is a long-term funding, and good fortune relies on us, as manufacturers, making the proper alternatives,” says Regardo Bornman, who’s liable for the crowd’s 30ha pecan nut farming operation.
“Cultivar selection and land preparation are a very powerful to be sure that the orchard yields optimally from the beginning to verify a go back on our funding. “Pecan bushes are suited for drier stipulations, even if the bushes require rainy roots. Additionally they choose brief, chilly winters and lengthy, sizzling summers.
“Potchefstroom’s local weather is just like many spaces within the Northern Cape, so we imagine we will make a good fortune of the trade right here in North West,” notes Bornman.
Livestock farming
The ALS Crew’s 6 000 head of farm animals are stored on quite a lot of farms in KZN, the Unfastened State, North West and Northern Cape. There are Wagyu, Bovelder and Beefmaster studs, in addition to a industrial Beefmaster herd. The camps are deliberate with strip grazing in thoughts and to be sure that all the grazing, now not simplest probably the most palatable grasses, is utilised.
The ALS workforce plant fodder in wintry weather to complement the grazing and the farm animals have simple get right of entry to to the dams. Herd knowledge is controlled via an digital ear tag and radio frequency id machine.
“We will be able to simply switch the information to our control program.
“The ear tags and readers make it simple to ensure the information of a big herd in a short while and it’s additionally very correct,” says Steyn.
Bovelders
The Bovelder farm animals herd is the duty of Barry Viljoen, and breeding has targeted specifically on bettering the herd. The Bovelder, a pink pork farm animals breed, used to be in particular advanced for adaptability to native stipulations and meat manufacturing. As a medium-sized breed, it’s appropriate for each mountainous and flat spaces.
ALS specializes in the manufacturing of weaners for feedlots, breeding bulls, and heifers which might be offered on the staff’s annual manufacturing public sale. The calves are weaned at between 240kg and 260kg, and then they’re offered to feedlots. Thys Joubert and his daughter, Tanya Steyn, purchase the bulls from peak breeders and attempt to stay abreast of the most efficient breeding and herding control practices by way of attending quite a lot of cattle classes and coaching seminars.
They have got a calving proportion of 93%. Cows that pass over a calving season are taken out of the herd instantly and offered. Bulls are put with the cows for 3 months.
Best semen from examined bulls is bought for the unreal insemination (AI) programme.
Traditionally, pork farm animals manufacturers have trusted visible look, personal efficiency knowledge, and function knowledge of kin and progeny to practise genetic variety, however ALS additionally conducts DNA checking out to resolve breeding efficacy.
ALS believes that marker-assisted variety can build up variety accuracy and reduce era period (reasonable period between the start of a person and the start of its offspring), resulting in quicker genetic development within the herd.
ALS makes use of ultrasound to resolve cow being pregnant as it’s extremely correct and decreases operator fatigue and accidents.
Beefmasters
The Beefmaster herd, controlled by way of Gerrit Joubert, is stored close to Newcastle. KZN is understood for illnesses akin to redwater, and because of this Joubert and his workforce choose Beefmasters as they cope neatly below those stipulations.
ALS bought the start-up herd of its Beefmaster stud from 4×4 Beefmasters. These days, the workforce uses in vitro-produced embryos and AI in addition to top-quality Beefmaster bulls to support the genetic subject material of the stud. The similar stringent breeding practices implemented to the Bovelder herd are used right here.
Recreation farming
More than a few recreation species are farmed at Rondekop close to Parys for recreation viewing and looking, Lekwena non-public recreation reserve within the Potchefstroom house, and Nguni Resort as regards to Upington within the Northern Cape.
“We temporarily realised that if we would have liked to be sustainable in our game-farming trade, we must center of attention on all 4 pillars of the sport business,” remembers Janse van Rensburg.
“We breed trophy animals that we provide at auctions to different recreation farmers and breeders, and likewise utilise the looking marketplace ourselves. By way of providing looking programs and lodging we additionally derive an source of revenue from eco-tourism. As well as, we upload price and promote processed recreation meat.”
Lekwena additionally serves as a flora and fauna property with quite a lot of housing choices for individuals who revel in dwelling as regards to nature. Giraffe, buffalo and quite a lot of plains antelope species are discovered at the property.
Contracting services and products
ALS Agri specializes in agricultural contracting services and products such because the set up of drainage techniques, soil-levelling, street development, earth dams, chopping silage, and renting out earth-moving and agricultural apparatus. Thys Joubert Jr and Arno Joubert are liable for those divisions.
The gang has a few years’ enjoy within the development of earth dams, beginning with a chain of trout dams within the Machadodorp district in 1988.
Workers
“On the ALS Crew, we attempt to empower other folks to succeed in their complete attainable. We do that via quite a lot of on-the-job coaching and internship programmes throughout all of the trade gadgets. We additionally perform a B-BBEE audit yearly throughout all trade gadgets to trace development and determine spaces for development, whilst the crowd contributes actively to social duty tasks in deprived communities,” says Cas Joubert.
“We’re certain about agriculture in South Africa and are all the time searching for new alternatives to increase vertically and horizontally, in the event that they make trade sense.”
Joubert says ALS continuously measures itself in opposition to different farmers and contractors and research easiest practices to peer the place it might support.
“We speak about new plans and concepts, and act on consensus,” says Janse van Rensburg. “If one among us doesn’t agree, we don’t move forward.”
E mail Cas Joubert at [email protected], or Johan Janse van Rensburg at [email protected].