Lufuno Netshikhundini – African Farming

CATTLE
Lufuno Netshikhundini, Makhado, Limpopo

We run our own red-meat business and slaughter cattle from our herd to supply meat through our butchery and to other outlets such as hotels in Thohoyandou.

At present we are fattening animals to be slaughtered weekly but with the rest of the herd we are in the middle of the summer breeding season. The bulls went into the breeding herd in December and we’ll take them out at the end of February.

The summer calving season that started in September is over and we should be able to start weaning these calves from April onwards.

Since we are now halfway through the rainy season, we are dosing calves and cows for external and internal parasites. We use Taktic or Bayticol for everything from lice to ticks, and Prodose Blue or Eradiworm + Tape for internal parasites.

This also prevents any parasite eggs, which may be present in the animal, from hatching. We give Bovimin, Pro-Vit A or Multimin to calves to supplement their vitamin and trace-mineral uptake.

The rest of the herd gets phosphate and production licks to help maintain optimal production. We also dip at least twice a month, because the tick load is high.