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IN THE SPOTLIGHT •••
Collies Naledi and Tsadi greet you at Welgegund .
Chris Schoonwinkel amongst his maize on his farm Welgegund between Wesselsbron and Hoopstad . has been in the area for a long time and he matriculated in Wesselsbron in 1984 . After two years military service , during which he was stationed at Bloemfontein and Middelburg ( Transvaal , now known as Mpumalanga ). After having obtained his B Agric degree in 1991 , he started farming with his father , Louis , and became a proud second generation producer .
FATHER LOUIS HIS ROLE MODEL Chris becomes emotional when he talks about his father . He learned a lot from his father over a period of more than 25 years . They farmed together from 1991 to 2016 , before his father died of a hart attack in September last year .
His father also taught him many truths , which include “ you have to stay on the straight and narrow road . You also have to make sure that people know what you are keeping yourself busy with .”
He also learned a few sayings from his father - “ You have to have seed in the ground ” and “ If the seed is in the store it will not grow ”. It means that one should take some chances . “ If nature is ready , you have to play along and grab the opportunity .
ANOMALIES Chris says that a number of anomalies apply on a farm . “ Sometimes you see the most beautiful maize plant , with the smallest one next to it , due to wind damage .” He says that they should have planted earlier this year . Normally they plant from about 15 to 20 November and the maize comes into seed early in February . Producers who planted earlier have a lot less wind damage and their crops look beautiful . Those who planted later have a lot of damage . Nothing went right . “ The reason why they planted later is that rain often stays away in Janaury - for this reason they waited , but this year it did not work .”
RAIN A lot of rain was received at the beginning of the season . Chris received 300mm of rain while the average rainfall over the past three years has been in the region of 300 mm per year . The average rainfall for the area is 470 mm .
A further problem experienced this year was that there was no stubble on the fields - there was nothing but sand and this resulted in extensive wind damage . “ Some of the fields we planted in November had to be replanted , and we then planted between 8 December and 2 January .”
SENWES My father was a Senwes member for the biggest part of his life . Chris follows in his father ’ s footsteps and does almost all his business here . From financing at Senwes Credit , the workshops at Senwes Equipment and purchases from the Hinterland branch .
JOHN DEERE On this farm they use John Deeres only and all the work is done by six John Deeres . A further two are lined up for smaller jobs . In addition they also have three planters as well as harvesters . A self-propelled sprayer sprayer also makes weed control much easier .
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Weed control .
SENWES Scenario • FEB / MAR 2017 21