“ The plan is to grow the sheep enterprise further, but their role is that they are part of this whole cycle. The oats we plant in rotation with coriander are also available for the sheep after harvesting, and they put natural fertiliser back into the soil,” Justin explains.
Through selective breeding, they are improving the genetics of the flock, and this year added 200 of their own lambs.
“ Most farmers take lambs off their mothers at about 23 kg and then feed them for two months in feedlots to reach 48 kg. In that process, they put on a lot of fat.”
“ We now plant eragrostis pastures for our sheep in winter to complete the rotation.”
“ Because we have oats, the lambs run behind their mothers and graze until they weigh between 38 kg and 40 kg. We put them in a feedlot for only one month, so you get a fine layer of fat and a very different-tasting meat because they grow on pastures. That is the advantage of our sheep.”
Keep quiet and listen
A visit to busy Hillandale quickly shows that successful vegetable farming in the Natal Midlands depends on hard work, constant learning and the ability to recover after setbacks.