WOOL | DWARSVLEI
Above: Matthew and Andrew are the third and second generation of Van Lingens farming on Dwarsvlei.
sorts of things. So it works quite nicely here with our drier conditions.”
While driving around this area, we were struck by how green the world is.
“ Yes, we’ ve had a terrific season. We obviously need the rain to grow the grass and shrubs. But that is also the season during which you need to take really good care of your sheep because you know what is coming.” He is referring to the abovementioned challenges. The dry season may present fewer challenges for the farmer, but the animals face challenges of their own as they have to convert dry grass into protein. This is how it works.
“ The animal eats the dry grass, which is basically just carbon chains. It goes into the stomach and there are these fermentation tanks where bacteria break down that
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