Senwes Scenario April / May 2019 | Page 52

NEWS Dipsie is the showpiece of this stud breeder Photos of Dipsie were provided by several photographers. Thanks to Wayne Southwood, Simmertaler SA, Hinterland @ Alfa and Aubrey Kruger for the photos. The world of stud breeding and the breeding of champions have various facets. Every farmer and breeder know this very well and each one decides on which aspects to focus. For Chris and his son Pieter Oelofse, the owners of Dipsie, the Cow Champion at the 2018 Hinterland Interbreed Championships @ Alfa, she is the showpiece of this stud.  Deur Aubrey Kruger Senwes Scenario Editor T he Lichtenburgers say that Dipsie's story is the result of 40 years of hard work. Chris' father, Piet, started the story of the Taaibosspruit farmers in 1980, when they first focused on a breed between Simmentalers and Afrikaners at Coligny, whereafter they started concentrating on Simmentalers only. And the winner is … When Pieter received the trophy at the 2018 Hinterland Interbreed Championships @ Alfa for the Cow Champion in Parys, it was unreal at first. "Then a feeling of such pride and 50 SENWES SCENARIO | AUTUMN 2019 gratitude came over me." According to them Dipsie (PJO1265) is the winner of all the breeds which competed, because in a way she competed against all the herds and all the breeds at farm level in South Africa. Every year's winner is the result of the previous years' winners. In a sense she is a champion of champions. A number of objectives joined into one You may thing they are boasting, but they are of the opinion that the winning prize of such a cow is not only for her, but rather "how she will breed in future - the focus is therefore on future generations.” When it comes to breeding, a number of objectives have to be taken into account. One objective is to improve the longevity of the breed which Dipsie is part of. Both Dipsie's grandmothers are still alive, namely Erna (PJO03208) and Difra (PJO0468), who are 16 and 15 years old respectively, as indicated by their numbers. They also sell the cattle for commercial purposes, "... the longer an animal lives, the better for their clients. It is a very good selling point", Pieter said. Pieter deals with the marketing of the business and his mother Marietjie deals with the administrative side. Paddy is one of Dipsie's little bullocks who could take over as winner. As they say, the mother of every bull is a cow, but in his case Dipsie is a champion cow. Dipsie is the offspring of a bull called Pretoria! In this way they manage to find 52