AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURE
Dorper cross lambs grow exceptionally well and adapt well to the area,” Ivin says.
He admits he cannot yet afford all the stud rams he would like, but he is deliberately working on colour, length and meat capacity to breed stud sheep eventually. At one stage the focus was purely on colour; later they shifted to size by introducing larger rams.
In his pens, lambs of different ages are grouped together. He has several pens for the Boer goats and is currently building more.
He says they previously bought in pregnant ewes and kept them in the pens to lamb, but noticed that the lambs grew slowly.“ We had to keep them in the pens and feed more. Now, when we buy, we prefer livestock from the west, from Upington, the Northern Cape and Kuruman. Those sheep perform better here because they are hardier and accustomed to tougher conditions. We then bring them here and crossbreed to achieve the right structure.
“ We keep them in the pens for a month before they go out to pasture. They receive growth pellets that I buy from Agrimark in Vryburg, I’ m there every Friday or Saturday. The feed is usually measured, but now we work with nature. The lambs receive
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