The award-winning Koperkop Hugenoot stud has proved the breed’s financial worth within the exacting farming prerequisites south of the Soutpansberg. House owners Henk and Gerda van Rensburg advised Annelie Coleman how the breed fares in a space the place animal illnesses equivalent to redwater, heartwater and anaplasmosis are rampant.
Picture: Provided
The Hugenoot pork livestock breed used to be evolved via South Africans for South Africa’s taxing in depth farming prerequisites. It’s an economically useful and environment friendly breed that guarantees sustainable and successful pork manufacturing, in step with Henk van Rensburg, who runs an award-winning stud together with his spouse Gerda within the Soutpansberg space of Limpopo.
Their farming worry additionally contains industrial pork livestock and a feedlot. Maize and potatoes are produced beneath irrigation for silage, and a pomegranate orchard used to be lately added. The Van Rensburgs additionally produce inexperienced peppers in hothouses.
Afrikaner and Charolais
“The Hugenoot combines the hardiness of the Afrikaner and the first-rate manufacturing potency of the Charolais. In 1995, SA Stud E-book recognised the Hugenoot and, in 1998, the South Africa Hugenoot Farm animals Breeders’ Affiliation used to be established. We began our Koperkop stud in 2009 on 3 570ha, which incorporates the farms Altenburg, Leyden, New Hanover and Kalkoven,” Henk explains.
The breed is characterized via exceptional enlargement and muscling, with exceptionally top dressing percentages. The common dressing proportion for heifer weaners is 58% and for bull weaners 62%. For cows and bulls, the dressing proportion is on moderate 58% and 73% respectively.
The Hugenoot used to be evolved particularly for weaner manufacturing. A mix of 30% Afrikaner genetics and 70% Charolais genetics used to be used to start with, adopted afterward via a mixture of 40% Afrikaner and 60% Charolais.
Gerda says: “The Hugenoot is among the genetic treasure troves of the Southern African pork manufacturing sector. Its growth used to be meticulously recorded because the building of the breed started, which made it conceivable for breeders to choose the most efficient of the most efficient.
By the way, Hugenoot breeders have additionally lately began with genomic trying out as a variety criterion so as to put the best animals in the marketplace.”
The Koperkop Hugenoots are stored principally on sweetveld with a robust woody element. The grass element at the Van Rensburg farms is composed principally of white buffalo grass (Panicum most), blue Buffalo grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) and bushveld sign grass (Urochloa mosambicensis). Lands used for crop manufacturing previously are planted to dryland sorghum as an extra supply of feed for the animals. The common rainfall within the space is 450mm, with temperatures mountain climbing as regards to 40°C in summer season.
“As a result of there are rather few Hugenoot stud breeders in South Africa, we’re dedicated, just like the others, to high quality,” says Henk. “Once we took over the circle of relatives farm in 1994, we to start with persisted farming the animals that had been at the farm, however we had been on the lookout for a breed that used to be optimally tailored to our farming prerequisites and demanding situations, and the Hugenoot met all our expectancies.”
The couple to start with purchased one bull for industrial breeding functions, adopted via registering a couple of cows as stud animals. In 2009, they took over a complete present stud worry, and from then onwards the stud went from power to power. 3 Koperkop cows gained platinum awards (in 2019 and 2022) within the Landbouweekblad/SA Studbook Nationwide Elite Festival’s pork cow elegance. Koperkop bulls additionally regularly certified for the Vleissentraal/SA Stud E-book enlargement check from 2020 to 2023. The Van Rensburgs have additionally taken the laurels because the Hugenoot Breeder of the 12 months six instances since 2011.
Fertility and adaptation
The Van Rensburgs’ function is to reproduce medium-framed, well-adapted cows. And, in step with Henk, they’re so dedicated to the standard and function of the bulls that they’d by no means marketplace a bull they wouldn’t use in their very own herds. Bulls want to be are compatible and full of life, with a robust libido.
The best Koperkop heifer is easily muscled, fertile, has top milk manufacturing, and has first-rate strolling talent. A cow this is not able to boost a calf yearly is dropped from the herd. The stud recently is composed of 375 cows, 92 heifers and 17 breeding bulls.
The herd is subjected to an intensive vary of efficiency trying out, together with weight at beginning, weaning, 365 days and 18 months. The bulls additionally go through Section D trying out so as to estimate muscle enlargement and to are expecting carcass composition and pork yield. The ideas won on this manner is then used to ascertain breeding values.
Keeping off Myostatin
All the herd has been DNA-tested for the myostatin gene. Gerda explains: “The myostatin gene influences the manufacturing of a protein that controls the advance of muscle in livestock, inflicting what’s repeatedly known as ‘double muscling’. One of the genetic variants may also be related to greater calf birthweights, leading to larger calving issue. A few of these variants also are related to lowered milk yield, not on time puberty and lowered fertility in women.”
The stud is closed, and the Van Rensburgs use a ratio of 1 bull for 25 cows. Their rather top collection of bulls signifies that inbreeding is have shyed away from and the herd’s genetic integrity isn’t compromised.
Two or 3 new bulls are presented each and every yr in accordance with selective breeding rules so as to additional avert inbreeding. The common Koperkop birthweight is 38kg, with a mean weaning weight of 240kg and an inter-calving duration of 393 days. The common first-calf age for cows is 31 months.
The Van Rensburgs’ land is split into 97 camps of about 38ha each and every. The planted pastures also are fenced off and used for grazing. All the way through summer season months, the herd is stored principally on those. The animals stored at the veld right through summer season are circled weekly to permit plentiful regrowth for iciness. Veld camps no longer grazed in summer season are used for iciness grazing.
The legit stocking price within the Dendron/Mara area is 10ha/MLU, however the Van Rensburgs’ planted pastures permit for a quite upper stocking price. Outdoor the breeding season, the bulls are stored in smaller camps with a feed complement to forestall injury to the plants within the smaller camps.
The Van Rensburgs take care of a summer season breeding season. In line with them, this simplifies control on the subject of the herd’s vaccination programme and weaning, amongst different causes.
Breeding and vaccination
The animals are vaccinated towards blackleg, anthrax, botulism, lumpy pores and skin illness, rabies, brucellosis. The calves are vaccinated towards heartwater. As heartwater and redwater are tick-borne illnesses, all the herd is dipped frequently.
“We’re nonetheless increase the herd and feature till not advertised any of our feminine animals, however will get started promoting women within the very close to long run,” say Henk. “These days, we promote about 30 bulls out of hand and on public sale in keeping with yr. Our target audience is composed of the stud in addition to industrial sectors.
“On account of its hybrid vigour, the Hugenoot is the perfect selection for crossbreeding. Best-quality breeding animals make for top-quality weaners, which is able to all the time stand the industrial breeder in just right stead. Whilst it takes just about the similar effort and enter prices to reproduce stud and industrial animals, the go back on funding for stud animals is markedly upper.”
High quality is paramount
In line with Gerda, the largest mistake they made to start with used to be to not put in force the strictest conceivable variety standards. This intended that it took them for much longer than essential to succeed in the purpose of breeding optimal-performing animals that may upload worth to any pork manufacturing worry.
“Our easiest resolution, aside from stringent variety, used to be to put money into silage bunkers. Silage has enabled us to hold the herd thru sessions of drought. We didn’t need to promote any of our animals and the silage added markedly to the profitability of our feedlot as effectively,” she says.
E-mail Henk and Gerda van Rensburg at [email protected], or consult with koperkop.co.za.