The story of our cattle is one which stretches over a period of 80 years, and encompasses three generations of our family. The economic and social conditions prevailing during each generation have influenced the kind of cattle bred, and also how the cattle have been changed by the selection criteria set by each generation. It is indeed extremely difficult to determine any particular chosen path down which the herd has been developed, but like most stockmen, we have each in turn followed our noses, remained independent and done what we believed to be right. There has not been any magic formula – simply, a love of cattle, hard work and common sense.

I can best describe the development of our cattle by using the example of a river. If you can picture a clean flowing river being fed every now and then by muddy tributaries, you will notice that as the muddy water joins the clear water, there is a distinct line of separation. As the river flows on its course, however, the clear and muddy waters mingle and the distinction fades until the muddy water is completely absorbed by the clear river. So it has been with our herd. New blood has been added along the way; at first the new blood creates a sharp impression, but is gradually allowed to trickle into the herd and become absorbed. Rather an unscientific way of describing the process, but that is how it has happened!

The Period 1920 – 1945

My grandfather, Wilfred Symons, was born on our farm “Glenbella” where his father and grandfather had farmed since 1870. The farm was planted to plum, pears and apples and our forefathers were fruit farmers with some sheep and cattle. These practices lasted up till the turn of the century when the arrival of the fruit fly put paid to the orchards. After returning from the First World War, my grandfather began farming at Glenbella, leasing 30 Afrikander cows from his brother. These he mated to a South Devon bull called Maxima. The resultant females were required for milk production in a dairy ranching type of system with crops being grown for winter feed. As his enterprise grew, my grandfather acquired two further farms in the Weenen/Estcourt thornveld area and two highland sourveld grazing farms at Mooi River.

And so the trekking of the herd between summers grazing in the thornveld was initiated. Grandfather was a mixed farmer, running sheep and pigs with dairy ranching and beef the main lines. The conditions prevailing at the time were characterized by chronic lack of water during winter on the farms which were notoriously dry. He therefore required an animal which could survive the winter with no licks; it had to be able to walk long distances for gross and water, sometimes only drinking every second day. The terrain was rough and stoney and the cows were required to raise a calf and provide enough for the daily milk cart which travelled to Willow Grange station. Even in those early days, bull calves were selected from the milking herd to be used as replacement bulls. I am not sure what criteria of selection were used, but I assume that they were selected by eye in conjunction with the fact that their mothers probably gave good milk. Thus we find possibly the earliest form of performance recording; cows being culled on performance of their calves.

My grandfather used bulls obtained from his neighbors’, in particular, Rupert Kemp who bred similar cattle. Other sources of new blood came from Afrikanders (a bull called Ludlow was purchased from the South African Government), Sussex (from Dr. Orford in the Eastern Tranvaal), Masenkomo (from Sutton at Qudeni), North Devon (from Malcom at Underberg) and South Devons (from Col. Green at Nottingham Road). In summay, then, my grandfather bred large-framed cows which were expected to walk long distances in search of food, yet produced enough milk to supply the needs of a dairy-ranching type of farming. Heifers were mated at three years of age and oxen were grown out to maturity. Cows calved every alternate year. Such standards may seem way out when compared to the present day, yet grandfather was a successful farmer and acquired five farms during his career. Obviously, the cattle he bred were suited to his farming conditions.

The Period 1945 – 1970

My grandfather, Godfrey Symons, was also born at Glenbella where he has farmed for all of his life. He returned from the Second World War to join his father. Economic conditions had changed and the age of specialization and tractors had dawned. Dairy ranching was falling in popularity and not being to enchanted with milking, my father soon changed to beef with sheep as a sideline. At first, agriculture was also practiced, growing mainly maize, teff and root crops, but this too, soon fell by the wayside. Dad, at that time, came up with one of his more popular pronouncements concerning maize production in our area. After years of poor crops, he decided that he was growing maize merely to feed labour which was used to grow more maize to feed even more labour – so he artfully quit planting anything at all! At about the same time, he read a short passage in a magazine which went something like this: “Simplicity in farming is farming neither for maximum profit nor maximum production per acre, but rather for maximum personal pleasure and minimum personal headaches…” This he pasted on his desk and has lived this saying to the letter. Besides working hard at farming, his love of nature has taken him far and wide, and has enjoyed a full life of climbing mountains and photographing all that was beautiful to his eye.

A born stockman, he can see things in animals which most of us cannot and this talent he has used to the great benefit of our beef herd. Although conditions had not changed materially, the presence of tractors and the advent of licks made a great impression on the management of the herd. Dad saw in the tractor a way of solving the winter water crisis and so set about a dam building programme which persists with unequalled vengeance today. I am proud to say that we now have two or three watering points in each of the twenty-one camps on our winter grazing farms, supplied by dams and a total of 15kms of pipe lines, all brought about by my father’s efforts. This in stark contrast to only two permanent water holes on 6000 acres of farm in the past. The advent of protein supplementation during winter and phosphate in summer was also a great step forward and enabled heifers to be mated at a younger age, namely two years, and cows calved a bit more regularly than every second year. Even so, the keeping of dry cows was still common practice. My father used Sussex bulls from Raymond Steele at Newcastle, Afrikanders from Pringle and von Beeck in the Eastern Cape, Santa Getrudis from Hillhouse at Indwe, along with many other crossbred bulls to introduce new blood into the herd. One of these was an outstanding bull called “Schimaan” whose breeder was unknown, the bull being purchased at the Mooi River sale. This bull left a great impression on the herd and bred extremely long and fertile cows. The prevailing market requirements at the time necessitated animals to be marketed at a relatively younger and younger and younger age, and the importance of heavy weaners was being stressed.

A scale was purchased and my father began weighing animals to gain some idea of the mass changes taking place within the herd. Thus began the rudiments of our practice of performance recording of the herd. Around 1960, my father began to sell bulls. First it was mainly to neighbours and friends and also mainly old bulls which were no longer required. Gradually, the emphasis changed, and young bulls in excess of his requirements and usually 18 months of age, were sold off the farm. Bulls were not fed before selling. And so the foundation was laid for our present system of breeding bulls for our own herd and marketing the excess to interested buyers. In summary then, my father steered the herd towards a purely beef scene, maintained the movement of cattle from summer grazing to winter veld, improving the physical conditions under which the herd lived by building dams and fences, and began the sale of bulls.

The Period 1970 – 1995

I joined my father in 1971 after having completed the required military training and post matriculant studies. My childhood was spent shooting guineafowl, taking occasional camping trips to the thornveld and the Drakensberg, with scant interest being shown in farming activities. However, under the careful eye of my father, I soon became intensely interested in the cattle and together we have developed the herd to its present position. I think I can say that the economic conditions under which we farm today are a lot more stringent than during the previous generations. The need for an efficient cow herd which endeavours to give a good return on the high capital invested in land and livestock is necessary in the face of high interest and inflation rates. My main contribution to the development of the herd has probably been that of record keeping. We began numbering all the cows in 1972 using large, easy to read numbers branded on the cows rump.

At first, we recorded only calving dates, cow and calf masses at weaning and the average masses of yearling and 18 month groups. Later, as we realized the necessity to record all animals individually, we began eartagging calves. As in the past, we felt the need for a continuous dribble of new blood in the herd and used crossbred Sussex/Afrikander bulls from robin Greene at Howick , crossbred Santa Getrudis from Lawrence Ralfe, as well as pure bred South Devons from Michael Green at Nottingham Road. The cattle which we have developed are smaller than those of the previous two generations, but are a lot more fertile, produce heavier weaners, and mature earlier. The pressures of earlier marketing in conjunction with the possible use of grain or pastures to fatten cattle for market led us in this direction.

We still continue, however, to trek from winter to summer veld; we still farm on the same stony and dry farms and we still suffer from the vagaries of the winter as did our forebears. The cattle, therefore, have been bred to suit our particular and possibly peculiar circumstances, and our selection on the herd has been very severe. We expect at least ninety percent conception from cows weighing 450 – 500kgs, and they must produce heifer weaners averaging 230kgs and bull weaners 250kgs.

The calving season has been narrowed down from seven months to around two and a half months. Cows calve down in the dry thornveld and then trek with their calves to green grass in the highland sourveld. The cows become thin after calving and receive no supplementary feed other than protein licks in winter. One of the main reasons for the uplifting of the conception rate has been the use of licks during winter and the winter condition of cows has vastly improved. For several years we added urea in varying amounts to the old Voermol Molasses meal and experimented until we found a lick which suited our conditions. Tongaat Milling then mixed this as a custom lick for us and they later developed this lick into the now well know Premix 450 used widely today. At present we use chicken litter based licks. The development of bull selling began during my father’s time as a sideline and was developed further as a means of improving the selection of our own bulls.

It also helped to pay for the extra cost involved in the selection process. It has now become a major part of our enterprise and has necessitated the keeping of a large cow herd which today totals over one thousand. In the past, bull selling took place mainly on the farm, with interested buyers taking bulls at predetermined prices which were very reasonable. The choice bulls were sent to Lowlands Bull Sale where they were sold by public auction. As the number grew, we were persuaded to sell all bulls on a production sale which today is held in conjunction with the renowned Lowlands Cock and Bull Sale. In summary, my father and I have expanded the herd, introduced new blood, as in the past; have built up a firm recording system implementing strict culling along lines affecting the more important economic traits; have consolidated the herd – probably improving on the overall uniformity and have enjoyed a relationship which is seldom found in a father and son venture. The Period 1995 – 2008 After the new South Africa came into being there was a relatively large amount of grazing land available for hire and so the herd was grazed on farms hired in the Middlerus area and others at Hlatikulu, Broadmoor. However, not long after this the problem of stock theft escalated and led to the abandonment of the Middlerus area.

The buying up of land by timber companies in the Highveld areas also caused hired land to become scarce. Consequently, we began to reduce the size of the herd and to consolidate the home farm areas with the addition of two farms purchased. Land claims by previously disadvantaged people then saw a portion of the home farm area given up to satisfy this demand. Increasing lawlessness in the Thornveld farm area caused us to consider placing this land into a lifestyle development and so we became part of the concept of the Gongolo Wildlife Reserve. Unfortunately, this idea was sabotaged by a land restitution claim which has ended in expropriation orders being served on us in December 2007. The century old practice of trekking the herd to its traditional winter grazing area was therefore effectively stopped by an outside political interference. During 1997, a batch of forty five open heifers purchased from Connie Van Niekerk of Memel, was added to the herd to slowly bring new blood. They melted in with the herd and three cows lasted up until 2008, a very effective method of bringing in new blood. In 2000 a red Brangus bull was purchased from Martin Camper of Keeversfortein and was used for two seasons on random cow herds. Unfortunately, this led to a re-introduction of some bulls with sheaths which were not acceptable, as had happened with the Santa Getrudus in previous years.

Even though the size of the cow herd was steadily reduced, due to constraints of finding sufficient grazing land, the quality of bulls produced seemed to improve steadily. Better feeding regimes for the younger bulls enabled us to consistently market a large number of two year old bulls. The second grade bulls (not up to the standard set for the annual bull sale) were sold privately off the farm to clients on a first come, first serve basis, and this proved popular for those who needed large numbers of breeding bulls. During this time we decided not to keep any adult bulls and since about 2000 only two year old bulls have been used in the cow herd which meant that all the three year old bulls were offered for sale each year. The annual bull sale took care of an average of eighty bulls (30 x 3yr old, 50 x 2yr old) and the rest were sold as two year olds off the farm. We consistently sold in the region of one hundred and twenty bulls per year with a peak of one hundred and fifty three in 2002. As The Old Bulls were put out to grass, The Senior Herd Sire went on to greener pastures on 18th August 2003, a few days after attending The Bull Sale of that year. In May 2008, The Junior Herd Sire quietly rode off into the sunset, as a new batch of virile Young Bulls jumped the Stockton Stonewall!!

BARRY SYMONS - 2008