Regenerative Farming | Farm Agagia

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Farm Facts

DESCRIPTION

Central Thornveld.

ENTERPRISE

Cow-calf-ox production with periodic speculation
buying.

PROPERTY SIZE

9822 hectares

FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF AREA

Marginally aggressive bush encroachment; medium rainfall.

AVERAGE ANNUAL RAINFALL AND VARIABILITY

Average (since 1989): 320 mm; lowest (in 2019): 160 mm; highest: 734 mm.

ELEVATION

1500 metres above sea level.

OWNED OR RENTED

Owned; full-time management.

MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE AND APPROACH

The farm was extremely encroached and eff ective control of the thick bush was a matter of survival. Doing nothing meant going out of business.

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MAIN INNOVATION

Aerial spraying of arboricide in 1986; annual chemical aftercare with moderate stocking; low density four- camp approach; ensuring the adequate recovery of both bush and grass plants.

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Some parts of the farm have been left un-thinned (left). The areas that have been bush- thinned have a ten-fold increase in forage production and better biodiversity (right).

Forage for animals: The average amount of available grass and browse in kilograms per hectare is 1350 and 217, respectively, giving a total of 1900 kg/ha of available forage to the livestock.

Tree density: The average woody tree density is 1202 TE/ha.

Biodiversity: The grass and bush component is made up of 19 and 13 perennial species, respectively. The Biodiversity Index of the farm is a good value (0.7), which indicates little dominance of the grasses and shrubs growing on the farm.

Key Results

Increased sustainable stocking rate by 60% from 667 to over
1060 cattle.
The starting stocking rate was 25 kg live weight/ha. It took six years to achieve a stocking rate of 40 kg/ha and 15 years to achieve 45 kg/ha.
Unlike in previous droughts, the farm persisted during the 2019 drought with the entire core herd intact and stocked at 29 kg/ ha. At this time, many other farmers had to sell everything.
The diversity of plants has increased and the animals utilise the palatable bush, forbs and legumes, which results in good animal performance and fi nancial returns.
The farm is a now an enjoyable, low stress operation with stable and harmonious staff relations.
Minimal supplementation (molasses, urea and phosphate) is provided (only when needed), which saves enormously on costs.
Annual budgets are calculated for ongoing selective bush- thinning operations by hand, especially in the kalk areas.

Farm Agagia

Hendrik Botha’s vision in 1986 was to address bush encroachment
while focusing on good rangeland and livestock management,
and increasing the stocking rate to over 40 kg/ha and production
per annum to 18 kg/ha. Realising this long-term vision took careful
planning, diligence and ongoing hard work.

Key Tips

Should you have, or buy, a heavily bush-encroached farm, then draw up a detailed plan that includes cash fl ow and expenditure.
Begin with de-bushing, but also make sure that the farm is stocked to take advantage of the regrowth in the next season.
Always keep one year’s worth of forage available for your core herd.
The drier your farm, the more fl exibility is required. For a cow-calf system, the cows should be 80% of your herd. For a cow-ox system, the cows should be 66% of the herd.
If done correctly, speculation buying and selling is the most fl exible approach.
Apply the Livestock Profi tability 8-4-2-1 Approach to ensure your success.
Buy in a bull from your area that has a history of producing cows with a high milk production rate.
Be conservative with stocking. Try to stock at 50% of the estimated stocking rate based on forage availability each year. Adjust animals fast when the season demands: reduce the number of animals and keep them through the dry periods in good condition.
Make sure your animals maintain condi- tion when they need to: plan to invest in supplements when needed. Remember, when you can see that an animal has lost condition, it has already lost 70 kg. This is expensive to regain.
If the year is not good, make the decision to destock early on.
Plan ahead and, most of all, do not panic! Have a plan and adjust it as needed. Aim for results where your income is 2.2 times as much as your expenses.
Restrict your expenses to allocate fi nances towards wealth-generating expenses. For example, buy a Mahindra instead of a Land Cruiser and spend the balance on generating more wealth through purchasing weaners in years of excess forage to fatten and sell.

Approaches

RESILIENCE OF THE FARM

Ecological and fi nancial resilience during and after the 2019 drought. No destocking of the core cattle herd occurred and a 34 kg/ha stocking rate was maintained through the drought and recovered to 41 kg/ha in 2022.

MONEY-MAKING POTENTIAL OF THE FARM

The average calving percentage over the last 10 years has been above 90%, with a weaning percentage of 5% lower. The average live weight produced on the farm since 1990 was 16.5 kg/ha. Both of these factors indicate a healthy, viable business.

CHOICE OF ANIMAL/S

With the farm’s improved resource base, stocking animals with a heavier frame is possible. Hendrik aims to wean calves that are 50% of the cows’ weight. If you achieve this, you have well-adapted animals on your farm.