the top silage contractors in the area and will have chopped 1 100 ha this season.“ He wikkels,” jokes Graham.
As the business grew, Graham had the opportunity in 2010 to lease Nutcombe, approximately 7 km from The Plains. After completing the due diligence, he bought the cows and equipment while still milking 450 cows on The Plains.
“ We did‘ sukkel’ and limped along on that farm. At the time, the farm was milking 550 cows on 650 ha of land. Between the two farms, I immediately went from 450 cows to 1 000 cows. I soon realised that bigger operations bring bigger problems.”
Graham explains that they ran the farm successfully for seven years, although they anticipated difficult weather conditions ahead.
Today, they have 190 ha under irrigation between the two farms and milk 1 200 cows twice a day on pasture supplemented with maize silage.
4. From black to black-and-white, Graham Caldecott’ s Friesian herd reflects years of careful breeding and a pasture-based dairy system built for the KZN Midlands.