The Sunday News
CATTLE ranching in the country, especially in Matabeleland South where it is largely practiced is under threat as erratic rainfall in the province has led to the death of many cattle.
Farmers in the province and beyond have been urged to destock their cattle so that they can be able to manage their herd.
For many, destocking is a bitter pill to swallow as they cannot stomach selling part of their herd to sustain or support the remaining herd.
To some, a large herd of cattle is a symbol of status hence reducing the number takes away the status and prestige one commands in society.
While the call for destocking has fallen on deaf ears, a farmer in Esigodini Mr Obert Chinamo has embraced the call and is seeing the benefits.
Mr Chinamo, while he was working at Cold Storage Company (CSC) bought the farm in 1994 to house his herd which he was buying for “prestige and status.” His farm, Biano, is located in Esigodini.
Mr Chinamo started farming as a hobby, as he wanted to own cattle rather than run a farming business.
From his salary, he bought his first 30 in 1994 from different people. His herd grew bigger and later came close to 100.
The father of three ventured into the transport business where he bought haulage trucks.
In the process, he was breeding his cattle through selling of indigenous cattle and bringing in new breeds like Brahmas.
In the late 1990s, with the zeal of becoming a commercial farmer, he sold his trucks and bought cattle which were more than 500.
“I realised that there was more money in farming but above all, my farming is being driven by passion. I slowly converted my herd concentrating more on quality than quantity because quality is far much better than quantity. I am one of the few pioneers of feedlotting where I ran a big feedlot in Matabeleland where I used to feed about 800 to 1 000 steers at any given time,” said Mr Chinamo.
From a peasant farmer, Mr Chinamo moved to commercial farming as he sold all his steers under feedlotting and arguably became the only black person to have ventured into specialised cattle breeding.
At the moment, he keeps more than 300 stud breeding herd split on three farms.
“We are running a pedigree line of Simmental herds and on the commercial line we have a Simbrah herd which combines the strengths of the two most populous breeds of cattle in the world — Simmental and Brahman herd,” he said, adding: “What we have done is that over the years and the experience we have with in the region, we are now stream lining our operations. We have imported these cattle from top South African breeders. I have been importing Simmental cattle from South Africa. I imported 65 cows between October last year and last month. They have all calved down, we are now looking at double that number and these are pedigree animals,” said Mr Chinamo.
A Simmental breed, he says, brings weight and it’s fertile and docile.
Simmentals and Simbrah herd are pedigree animals. These are recorded or registered animals which have their birth record.
Simmental breeds are type of cattle that can do both beef and dairy.
Sadly, most black people are reluctant to venture into pedigree farming, as people still believe that this type of farming is for white people.
In Zimbabwe, Mr Chinamo says he is the only registered black farmer who is breeding Simmental. He is registered with Zimbabwe Herd Bull (ZHB).
In this line of breeding, he says, his aim is to produce good quality bulls for the commercial farmer.
Studies show that Brahman influence adds disease and parasite resistance, adaptability and longevity, while the Simmental contributes its strengths which include rapid and efficient growth, carcass quality, fertility and milk production.
If one is looking for an animal that is easy to handle in a farm, it is a Simmental. Simmentals, when they see people they wait and people can move them but Brahmans run away, he said.
The soft spoken farmer said farmers must have economic sense hence their herd must be of good quality breeds that will fetch more money in the market.
He said those who are keeping thousands of poor breeds were wasting their time because their breeds are not going to fetch high prices in the market.
He stressed that farmers with thousands of poor breeds should reduce their number which will also be easy to manage.
“Commercial farmers have a duty to feed the nation. If we as farmers we fail to produce enough beef for the country then it means that people will be forced to import beef. Communal farmers should also improve their herd. As much as they keep their cattle for tilling the land and milk, there is a need for them to have good quality breeds that will fetch more money in the market. On the commercial side, a beast of mine when it is slaughtered weighs more than 400 kilogrammes, last week I sold three beasts and the biggest bull weighed 565 kgs,” he said.
“Those with over 1 000 herd, they must sell some and change their breed. By selling some of their herd, farmers will be able to buy medicine and also some supplement their cattle which might be failing to cope with the drought. Well established breeders in South Africa and beyond keep a manageable herd which is close to 500 but they are doing well.”
As an example, he said, biggest breeders in South Africa keep 500 herds where in some cases 250 are Simbrah and 250 are Simmental.
Per year, Mr Chinamo said, breeders sell close to 200 pregnant heifers at a cost of R26 000 to R30 000 each.
“I am to sell about 30 bulls per year. We are now left with four bulls which will also be sold at the end of the year. The lowest bull costs $2 000. We cannot sell an animal for breeding not less than $2 000. I imported six bulls from South Africa and they are doing very well as the breeds that they are giving me are good,” he said.
On average, a bull in South Africa costs R60 000 but the ones he bought were R100 000 each.
“If I buy that bull at that amount (R100 000) and in a season that bull can gives me 10 bulls from his breeding and I sell them at $2 000 it means I will have
$20 000 from that same bull and that is a good investment. In farming we say a bull is half your herd.
“More so, I don’t keep steers in my farm or herd, after weaning what we don’t sell as bulls we feed and then send them to slaughter and within a year and a half they will be weighing 400kg. Our heifer will take a bull at 18 months. We have to get good quality genetic and that comes with Simbrah and Simmental, as I said before they bring good weight, fertility and they cross very well with any animal.”
At his Biano farm, the grass is scarce and the greater part of the farm is rocky. The farm is as bad as most parts of the region.
However, the most striking feature is that his plot is well fenced, there are dip facilities and bridges linking paddocks are being built. With such an infrastructure there is no way the herd can be affected by foot and mouth disease which recently affected most cattle, he said.
Mr Chinamo said farmers should not always wait for the Government to do everything for them. He said a proper farmer plans for his herd.
Said Mr Chinamo: “Farmers cannot continue crying that the Government is not coming up with drought mitigation measures. A true farmer plans for his herd. One of the best things to do is to ensure that cows calve at the same time and most importantly during the rainy season. Fertility is important. My cows calve every year and those that fail to calve we send them to the slaughter.”
