As a teenage mango trader, Sibusiso “Sbu” Zwane learnt lessons in agriculture young and put them to good use later as he rose through the ranks in the pig sector. Now a commercial pig farmer who runs his own business, Sbu shares his experiences with African Farming’s Peter Mashala.

By the time he turned 14, Sibusiso “Sbu” Zwane was already running a small business, selling mangoes from his grandfather’s fruit farm in Shiluvana village outside Tzaneen.

“I was born and raised on the farm, which produced mangoes, citrus and cattle. My uncle runs it now but I still visit there from time to time,” says Sbu, adding that he is grateful for the upbringing that shaped his successful career.

As a youngster, livestock was not his interest. “I was more interested in fruit, probably because that’s where I made my pocket money.”

From October to November, he supplied small local processors with green mangoes. “I’d find customers who came in their bakkies to collect green mangoes – that would be for my income. My grandfather’s big client was Nkowankowa-based Monate Atchar, the largest buyer of green mangoes in our area,” Sbu recalls.

SOLID FOUNDATION

Sbu’s interest in livestock was stimulated as a student at Khataza High School, where agriculture as a subject was part of the curriculum. “My interest and my active participation in class grew as I began to learn about stuff I was already familiar with,” he says.

After matric, he enrolled to study animal production at Technikon Pretoria, now the Tshwane University of Technology. Here he excelled with distinctions in all his subjects at the end of his first year, an achievement that brought him to the attention of one of his lecturers – the late Professor Pieter Rossouw.

“I became close with Prof Rossouw, who started taking me to farms on weekends. We visited farms where he consulted and I’d help him with the work,” Sbu recalls.

Prof Rossouw’s primary focus was pigs and piggeries, and this helped to develop Sbu’s love of pigs, which became his major subject. He learnt about artificial insemination (AI) during on-farm training and then did an advanced course in AI.

In his third year Sbu needed in-service training and Prof Rossouw introduced him to legendary Bonsmara breeder David Baber of Nu-Alcade Bonsmaras, who had a 120-sow unit on his farm, Summer Place. David was looking for a piggery manager and gave Sbu the job.

“So I did my internship as a manager at Summer Place and stayed on for another two years,” he chuckles. But it was not all plain sailing. The transition from being a student doing part-time weekend work to managing a farm full time was a challenge.

“I had to manage people and change the management style completely. It was tough for the older guys, who had been there for years, to take orders from this young lad,” explains Sbu. But with David’s support the team adjusted quickly.

The second major change was to move from natural mating to an AI system. “We didn’t even have fridges for semen storage; I used cooler boxes and ice. I’d take the cooler boxes to my room and wake up in the middle of the night to check that the temperatures inside the boxes were still okay.

This went on for a few months until we upgraded the system,” he laughs. The significant improvement in conception rates using AI made David a happy man.

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CAREER MOVES

Now recognised as a competent young black pig farmer, Sbu’s name started popping up in discussions between some of the country’s major pig farmers. One such farmer, impressed by his performance, was John Wright of Ibis Piggeries in Polokwane.

In 2003 he approached Sbu, offering him a supervisor position in his boar house. “At the time, Ibis Piggeries was running a 2 500-sow unit and this offer was a great opportunity for a youngster like me,” recalls Sbu.

After talking it over with David and getting his blessing, Sbu joined Ibis Piggeries. A few months later he was promoted to assistant manager. “When I was at Ibis, in terms of conception rates, we were the best performing piggery in the country at 98%.

No one else came close,” says Sbu. He had been with Ibis for four years when Charles Street Veterinary Services (CSVet) in Pretoria offered him a job as an animal technician. “John wasn’t chuffed with the news at first but after a long talk between him and CSVet, he gave his approval,” says Sbu.

At CSVet he worked on various farms across the country, doing pregnancy diagnosis, blood and feed sampling, and medication supply. “We did back-fat management with several piggeries and helped them with AI. We also collected data and analysed farm performance,” Sbu explains.

At Ibis, back-fat measurement was used as a tool to help improve conception rates, he says. “It’s a balancing act; you have to manage the feed to make sure sows don’t gain too much fat or lose too much weight.

The fat layer should not exceed 15mm. The more fat in the pig, the less productive the sow is and the fewer piglets she will have.” This, along with good insemination timing, helps improve production, he says.

Sbu left CSVet in 2007 to join a leading piggery nearby. “The travelling was getting to me and I wanted to settle down,” he says. He started as the weaner and grower house manager of a 1 500-sow unit at his new place of work.

WIthin five years he was promoted to assistant production manager and then to acting production manager, until he left the company under unhappy circumstances.

“The job of production manager came up and when it was advertised, I applied and went through the screening process and the interviews in the normal way.

I came out as the second choice, an outcome I had no problem accepting. I had no resentment, as I knew that in an interview anything can happen. But then the guy who got the job changed his mind and didn’t join the company after all.

Despite this I was not offered the job, even though I had been the runner-up,” explains Sbu. During this period, the company was named best-performing piggery two years in a row, with 28 weaners per sow per year and
the highest number of piglets born alive.

When Sbu decided to confront the owner, they had a fallout that almost ruined his career. “I heard afterwards from a reliable source that the owner wanted a white manager,” he says.

Angry at how Sbu had been treated, the owner’s son resigned, and in 2014 Sbu also resigned. For months he unsuccessfully looked for a job, but kept coming up against brick walls.

“It’s a small world,” he says. “After the confrontation, no one wanted to work with me, because the word was out that I was difficult and that I had a bad attitude.”

GOING SOLO

After months of unsuccessful job hunting, Sbu decided to go on his own and opened his company, SQL Animal Diagnosis. The company started small, helping emerging farmers. Then he was contracted by the Gauteng Department of Agriculture to train and mentor emerging farmers in Gauteng.

He also supplied medication to small privately owned piggeries and government-owned projects such as those run by the correctional services, for extra income.

His big break came when his application for the farm where he is currently based was approved in 2019. “I knew this farm because I consulted here when I was with CSVet,” he says.

“I arrived in March 2019 and found the farm in awfully bad shape. Because the owner was selling, he had neglected the maintenance.” The farm was set up for a 250-sow unit, but there were only 150 old sows when Sbu took over.

“The keys were handed to me and the next day I woke up with 150 pigs and nothing else. I had to cash in all my savings just to keep the pigs alive,” he recalls. Had it not been for those savings, or had the farm been given to someone with no experience, the operation wouldn’t have lasted another two months.

“This is how our government sets up smallholder farmers for failure. This is the type of thing that happens, and then all black farmers are labelled incompetent,” says Sbu.

He had to buy replacement sows, fix and replace broken equipment and infrastructure, and upgrade the farm’s security. “We are right next to an informal settlement outside Atteridgeville and security is an issue,” he explains.

The first step was to replace older, less productive sows.

According to Sbu, pigs have about 10 productive years and produce an average of eight to 12 piglets per litter. Commercial producers generally cull sows when they start dropping to fewer than eight piglets per year.

“I have two cycles per year per sow and I inseminate between six and eight sows every week. Our pigs farrow year-round,” he says. He uses three PIC line boars on the farm: PIC 337, PIC 380 and PIC 410. “One boar is good for a week because I can mix about 30 doses of semen per boar,” he explains.

This gives the boars at least two weeks of rest. Sbu uses only AI because it is cheaper and more effective. “If I were using boars for natural service, I’d need 20 to 25 boars for 150 sows. The whole process would take longer and I cannot afford that. A boar can serve one sow a day and work for a maximum of two days,” explains Sbu.

“Even so, by the second day, the sperm quality would drop.”

According to Sbu, the 30 doses he mixes from one boar can fertilise eight sows a week. A sow needs about two doses to be fertilised properly.

“I get about 350ml of semen per draw from one boar and after processing this, I will mix about 1 litre, which can make up to 30 doses. I mix the semen with a prepared diluent solution and it stays viable for at least 10 days, stored in a refrigerator at 17°C,” he explains.

Sperm count and quality are checked microscopically. In a drop of semen from a healthy productive boar, there should be lots of active, well-shaped sperm cells.

“When the sperm cell count is low, or the cells are deformed or they are not very active and don’t swim properly, I know something is not right with the boar,” says Sbu. “If it’s not an old boar, I’d probably medicate the animal and leave it for two to three weeks. Semen can deteriorate when a boar is sick or stressed. But if I tap it again and get the same results, I’d look at replacing the boar.”

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FEED STRATEGY

Sbu says there is no special diet for the boars. They are fed dry sow and boar feed made from maize, soya oil cake, bran and pre-mixes containing essential amino acids. Amino acids are vital for maintenance, growth, reproduction and lactation in pigs. The sows are not on any special diet either.

“Many farmers feed ad lib when they are breeding, but in my experience – and according to research – it makes no difference. I don’t flush feed because it doesn’t really work,” Sbu says. There are farmers who feed 1kg of ration twice a day, but he feeds his animals only once a day. “I feed 2kg every morning and that’s it, except for lactating sows with suckling piglets – they are fed three times a day.”

Sows switch from lactating feed to dry sow feed just before breeding. “At this time, they are stressed because they have been taken away from their piglets and are in a new environment. Stress stimulates heat,” explains Sbu. “What matters most is the timing of the insemination.”

The best time to inseminate, according him, is when the sow is at her cycle peak with the greatest number of ovulated eggs. “The more eggs ovulated, the greater the chances of getting more piglets. But if we artificially inseminate too early or too late, we could miss that opportunity,” he says.

The ovulation peak period can last between 18 and 24 hours, depending on the sow. “I heat-detect early in the mornings by walking through the pens alone, without a boar. If the sow stands next to me immediately, I know she’s ready,” explains Sbu.

Responsive sows are marked, and round number two is done with the boar. “If the sow stands next to the boar, I know she is on heat, but not at her peak. I mark those animals and leave them for later in the afternoon,” he says.

Sows that stand without the boar are inseminated immediately. “I check for heats every day after the morning feed.” After insemination, a record is made indicating the day and time of the service and the predicted farrowing date. Pigs cycle every 21 days.

“So I also record the predicted dates of the first (21 days from AI) and second (42 days from AI) cycles. On Day 21 after insemination, I will walk the boar in the pen; if the sow shows signs of heat, then I know she is not pregnant.

If there are no signs of heat then she is pregnant,” explains Sbu. He repeats this procedure on Day 42. By this stage pregnancy can usually be confirmed by eyeballing the animal.

“You’ll start seeing swollen teats and in some pigs you can feel the piglets. A week before they farrow, I move them to the farrowing house and switch them from dry sow feed to lactating feed,” says Sbu.

Piglets get a Dexiron 200 or Uniferon 200 iron injection on Day 7. “I dock tails and tattoo them with the identification mark on Day 10,” says Sbu. Piglets have easy access to creep feed to prepare them for weaning. “I wean the piglets between 28 and 34 days and vaccinate with M+Pac to help prevent mycoplasma hyperpneumonia [pneumonia].”

MARKETING AND THE FUTURE

Sbu markets a minimum of 60 porkers a month to various clients. “I prefer to sell porkers rather than baconers, as I get paid more per kilogram because the meat is leaner and more tender,” he explains.

“My porkers are always graded P, which is the highest quality. If you get graded O or R, it means the carcass has more fat content. So once you start growing them heavier, you will be graded lower.”

Sbu’s background and inherent capacity have stood him in good stead this far, helping him go from strength to strength while rising to face difficult challenges. Now that he is in the prime of his life, Sbu has the ability, the experience and the resilience he requires to make his mark on South Africa’s pork sector.

Dr Job Mthombeni has come a long way since his days as a farm labourer. Thanks partly to a successful construction business, he has been able to make his farming dreams come true. Hard work, planning and the ability to learn from his mistakes have also played a huge role in Job’s path to commercial farming. He talks to Peter Mashala about lessons learnt, and the way forward.

On his farm Kromkrans in the Gert Sibande District, between Hendrina and Carolina in the south of Mpumalanga, Dr Job Mthombeni farms apples, grain and beef. Once a farmworker, he bought Kromkrans in 2000.

In 2011 he bought another farm of 1 000ha in Standerton – bringing his total hectarage to 1 217ha. He runs a mixed farming operation of 20ha of apples, 500ha maize and soya beans, 62ha blue­gum trees, a breeding herd of 500 cows, a small flock of laying hens and some sheep.

A STEADY CLIMB

Born on the farm Vlaklaagte near Bethal, Job grew up on the SIS Estate, where his parents were farmworkers. “I helped out on the farm during school holidays before taking on seasonal work and then working full­time on another farm, Bosmanspoort, owned by Fanie Nel, also in Bethal,” he recalls. He spent 16 years working for Fanie, much of it as a driver of tractors, and later trucks.

“I delivered sand to township builders. For extra income I would market myself as a builder, as I had taught myself to build while still doing general work on the farm,” he explains.

On weekends Job built small two and three-­roomed township houses, and when the demand for building grew he left his job to concentrate on construction. “I still loved farming, but construction was paying better and I was working for myself,” he says.

His construction business took off and soon he was getting bigger contracts. All that Job achieved, he did with no formal training or education. “I was just passionate about building. I worked myself up the ranks and got a few awards in the process,” he says. Among these were an international building award in Madrid, Spain, and an International Platinum Star award.

A respected person in the building industry, he was appointed as director to the boards of Eastern Transvaal Housing and Eastern Transvaal Township in 1996. Later he joined The Estate Agency Affairs Board and the board of Nu-Way Housing.

“I was also a director of Mabele Chain Stores and I was a founding board member of the Motheo Group with Thandi Ndlovu,” he says. Today Job is also the deputy chairman of the Deciduous Fruit Development Chamber.

In 2000 Job applied for and got Kromkrans farm through Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development. “I had never lost my passion for farming, but I wanted to own my own farm and to produce on it,” says Job.

When he took over Kromkrans, the farm was dilapidated and there was no machinery. “I started by fixing a few things and I bought a second-hand John Deere tractor so that I could plough the fields,” he recalls. He bought cattle and sheep and planted 50ha to maize, which he increased to 100ha within a few years.

Currently, he runs a crossbred herd of 100 breeding cows on Kromkrans and plants 300ha to maize and soya beans; he leases an additional 200ha of arable land.In 2009, with the help of a government grant, Job planted 5ha of apples. In 2011, he bought 1 000ha of farmland in Standerton, 110km from Kromkrans. Here he plants maize and soya beans on 400ha and uses the remaining land to graze his 400-cow Bonsmara breeding herd.

There is also a 62ha blue-gum plantation on this property, and Job has just received environmental impact assessment approval to put up a piggery.

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DIVERSITY WITH APPLES

Over the years Job has suffered crop losses, mainly caused by hail but also by other weather-related events, that have cost him a lot of money.

“With grain crops, if it isn’t hail, it’s too much rain that knocks production. Soya beans are especially sensitive,” he explains. This season, rain held up planting and the fields that had been planted were waterlogged for weeks.

“The crop is now infested with weeds as we’ve not been able to spray herbicides, and it’s going to affect our yields. You can have one good year with grains and then you can have three bad years in a row.”

While he was researching a crop with less risk, Job discovered that the Gert Sibande District is ideal for apple production. But, he says, because apples are a long-term investment the margins for error are smaller than they are in the case of cash crops like soya beans and maize.

“We are in a hail belt here, so we planted our apple trees under hail nets with the help of Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme funding,” Job says. His first commercial apple harvest was sold to Spar shops in the area.

“The second year… I’m not sure who put the word out because there were so many bakkies and lorries coming from Limpopo, and locally, in and out of the farm, taking apples,” recalls Job. The customer base grew, and clients came from as far away as Swaziland and Thohoyandou in Limpopo.

“The informal market is great here because, besides the Free State, none of the inland provinces have apples. Even elsewhere in Mpumalanga there are no apples, only here. It’s the closest place for people in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Swaziland to get apples.”

By 2015 Job had 11.5ha of orchards, which he had planted to Early Red, Royal Gala, Granny Smith, Royal Beaut and Cripps Pink varieties. But there were some challenges. The orchards are near a river; the soil is moist most of the time and the netting was showing signs of collapse.

“I should have spoken to a soil scientist before I planted my apple orchards,” Job admits. “I would have known where was best for apple production and I could have sorted out soil imbalances and drainage problems before I planted. Fixing problems in mature orchards is more difficult and more expensive than doing it before you put the trees in.”

He had planned to expand to 60ha of apples but did not have the necessary irrigation rights. “After a lengthy process, I finally have 100ha of scheduled irrigation,” says Job. “Now I can increase my apple
production to 100ha.”

In 2020 work began on orchard expansion, this time after getting the advice of a soil scientist. “Last year we planted 20 000 new trees on 10ha and we have started relocating the old trees to this portion as well,” explains Job.

He adds that he was hit by a veld fire four years ago and fire-damaged trees in the old orchard had to be taken out. His current apple production is 20ha.

LOOKING AFTER TREES

The new orchards are planted to Sundowner, Granny Smith, Big Bucks, Rosy Glow and Royal Beaut varieties. Job has introduced a training technique that involves bending the trees for optimal production. The main stem is bent horizontally when the tree is a year old. This technique encourages more shoots, which means more productive trees.

“We are aiming for at least seven branches per tree,” says Job. “Because this was their first year in production, we only allowed four apples per tree and we have already started picking.”

Job says the trees must be thinned when they start bearing fruit. “By thinning out some of the smaller apples from the cluster, the remaining fruit grow bigger because the tree puts all its energy into those apples. If this is not done, especially the first time the tree bears fruit, the apples tend to drop off the branch, resulting in fewer fruit or no fruit,” he explains.

Although this is the first fruit of the new trees, Job says the harvest looks beautiful and has been selling well on the informal market. At the end of the season they will see what the total yield has been. “We don’t expect much, but next season we are looking at 40t/ha, considering the condition of the trees. If we stick to a good spraying, fertilising and irrigating programme, we should get a good harvest,” he explains.

“We could reach yields of between 80t/ha and 100t/ha when the trees are mature at 4 years of age.” Right now, Job has his sights set on the local market but once he has expanded the orchards and the trees have matured, he plans to look at the export market.

“The deputy president, DD Mabuza, has secured a market for Mpumalanga apple growers with Oman in the Middle East. This is what I’ll be targeting,” he says.

MAIZE AND SOYA

Job rotates soya beans and maize on 700ha. “The importance of crop rotation cannot be over-emphasised; monocropping destroys your soils,” Job insists. Legumes such as soya beans work well in rotation with maize as
they fix nitrogen in the soil, which maize needs for good yields. He says his input suppliers advise him on cultivars, chemicals and equipment.

He tests the soil every year to give him a guide as to which fertilisers and nutrients he needs that season. “I share the soil test results with my chemical and seed suppliers, who advise me on which chemicals to use and the application rates, as well as suitable cultivars for the season,” explains Job.

The planting season starts in October, but if the rains are early, he might begin in late September. “We prepare our soil just after the first rains, sometimes around 15 September, by ripping and disking.”

Although most farmers prefer to rip once in two or three years, Job rips every year. “Only disking may result in planting in shallow soils. I like to say I don’t farm dust because it’s like putting your seed in the dust, which means your plants can’t access the nutrients. He adds that, because the real soil and its nutrients are much deeper, he rips down to between 500mm and 600mm.

This, according to him, helps with water drainage and when there is a dry season, the roots can easily penetrate the soil to follow the moisture. Disking without ripping also raises the risk of compacted soil, which the roots cannot penetrate.

Job says the annual rainfall on both farms is between 400mm and 500mm. “But with this climate change, one is never too sure. The new conditions have brought challenges, like new pests we are not familiar with,” he says.

They scout frequently, even after spraying. The scouts collect live insects to be sent to the lab for identification. “From the lab, we’ll get information on which chemicals to use.” Climate change, according to Job, seems to cause more hailstorms and at times too much rain.

“This year we have had above-average rainfall, which had a negative effect on most of our soya-bean crop.”

The average maize yields in Hendrina and Standerton are 7t/ha, whereas soya-bean yields range between 2.5t/ha and 3t/ha. Patience and perseverance are qualities that have paid off for Job – a man who surely is a worthy role model for aspiring black farmers everywhere.

Don’t underestimate manure!

Farming doesn’t always have to be complicated. There are some basic things you can do to increase the profitability of your business greatly – things like liming to correct soil acidity, ripping to solve soil compaction, or using more manure for your crops.

Any manure – poultry, cattle, horse, sheep or goat – is excellent for building soil fertility. Not only does it supply nutrients, it also benefits plant growth in a number of other ways, and so helps to improve your yields.

Nutrients in manure

A particular advantage of manure is the range of macro- and micronutrients it provides to crops. These nutrients are in found in relatively low concentrations in manure, so you need to apply a lot – usually about 2.5t/ha to 20t/ha, with poultry manure generally being applied at lower rates than kraal manure.

As fertiliser prices rise sharply year on year, the nutrients in manure are becoming increasingly valuable. The amount of nutrients – nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) – made available to crops by poultry or kraal manure, when applied at 8t/ha, together with their current monetary value (based on fertiliser prices).

Remember, rand values are calculated conservatively, since nutrients other than N, P and K are not taken into account, and neither are the other beneficial effects manures have on your soil. Manures should ideally be worked into the soil by tillage before a crop is planted.

To get the best out of the nitrogen in manure, it should be “turned in” immediately after it has been spread. Manure left on the surface may lose significant amounts of N to the atmosphere within just a few days.

Poultry manure is generally much higher in P and lower in K than kraal manure. Using poultry manure on crops for long periods may result in the soil containing too much P and too little K. It is advisable to test your soils so that you know what you have too little of, or too much.

Making most of rain

Ploughing or disking manure into your soil helps to make the most of rainfall. Yes, it’s true. Scientists have found that manure prevents the soil from forming a crust on the surface, allowing rain to penetrate the soil and stop it from running away.

An experiment on a Cedara soil with very poor water infiltration showed that adding 8t of poultry manure per hectare increased the rate at which water penetrated the soil from about 10mm per hour to 30mm per hour. But that’s not all: manure also helps soil to “hold” more water for crops to use.

This is particularly important if you are farming on sandy soils that hold very little water. Any improvements can have a major benefit for your crops.

Loosening the soil

Compacted soil can be a big problem. And because it’s happening below ground, you don’t see it. Researchers have found that manure plays an important role in building the structure that reduces the tendency of a soil to compact. Keep in mind that ploughing or disking manure into soil reduces its density and allows roots to grow deeper.

Manure and soil acidity

Fertilisers, especially nitrogen fertilisers, make soil more acid, while manure makes soil less acid. Poultry manure is especially good at this. Most poultry manures have a pH of about 8 and are rich in calcium (Ca), so by repeatedly using poultry manure you can lower soil acidity and soil pH – not only in the topsoil, but also in the subsoil. On two sugar-cane fields next to each other, poultry manure was repeatedly applied to one, while the other received nothing.

The result: soil in the field where manure was applied had a pH level of a unit higher throughout the soil profile, compared with the field where no manure was applied.

Improving soil life

Soil life such as earthworms, fungi and bacteria helps to keep soil healthy and productive. To survive, these organisms need food in the form of organic matter, and manure supplies just that.

Not surprisingly, it has been found that by adding manure you stimulate the life in soil, with the number of earthworms, in particular, increasing after manure has been added to soil.

Summary

Manure is medicine for soil, and the best way of getting tired and worn-out soil healthy again is to apply manure. Soil to which manure has been applied needs less fertiliser and produces better and more crops. So if you’re a clever farmer, you won’t look at manure and see a waste product – in fact it is an incredibly valuable asset!

We think this is a great option for many reasons – It could be a super cute starter home for a new family. It’s not terribly pricey (for Lagos!), and it’s really cute with a tonne of potential. It’s a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house with an open concept main floor.

The bedrooms are bright with large windows and all feature a cool blue and grey palette, (hello oasis vibes!)

The kitchen, is a little on the small side, but it’s still nice and bright thanks to the modern lighting system . There’s also plenty of counter space and enough room for a small breakfast bar if you’re that way inclined.

Location

Awoyaya, Ibeju, Nigeria

Great If

You’re obsessed with large windows and clean lines.

Move On If

You need a lot of outdoor space

It Will Set You Back

N 70, 000, 000

Find out more about this property here

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