IN T HE SPO T
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An old Ford from one of the former
generation Johans brings some
nostalgia to the farm.
JOHAN SENIOR HIS ROLE MODEL
His father Johan is definitely his
role model: “I learned everything
from him”. Dad Johan taught
him that one person is never
better than another, and that you
should not expect anything from
anyone if you are not prepared to
do it yourself. He farmed with his
father for 10 years, until 2015,
and still uses his father in an advi
sory capacity. He says: “It is really
good to have such a good sound
ing-board.”
DEPENDABLE STAFF
Boeta realises that you cannot do
everythi ng alone. He depends on
each of his 45 employees, partic
ularly on his farm manager, Pieta
Pretorius, Mario Roussado and
Herman du Plessis, who maintains
the tractors and Mario Roussado
junior, who works with the cattle.
The fathers of some of the
employees worked for his father
and grandfather. A number of
their children, who he grew up
with and played with on the farm,
work for him today, with anoth
er generation on the way. The
ancestors of six of his employees
worked here - Abram Mboyo,
George Botshelo, Basta Molefe,
Mannetjie Mmosakga, Abraham
Dithebe and Abraham Lehihi,
who are now carrying on the tra
dition.
The Van Wyk family with Boeta, his wife and their two children Johan (1) and Dihani (5).
He feels that his workers have
a say as well: “They are actually
the guys who have to talk. There
are just more than 20 000 pro
ducers, but with our staff we total
in excess of 200 000, who have
to have a say. The benefits of
anything adding value in the area,
such as factories or plants, will fil
ter through to the workers as well.
We all have a bigger vision and we
want to work together to build a
better future.”
SENWES
He gets his production credit
from Senwes Credit. He also
has a number of tractors and,
talking about green, he has been
a John Deere customer for years.
His fleet includes a John Deere
4630 sprayer, a 6430 tractor,
two 6930s, a 8430 and a S660
harvester with hydraflex, as well
as two 8300 tractors, which are
1996 models with more than
20 000 hours each on the clock.
He is of the opinion that
branch manager Waldo Venter
is really trying hard to put
Schweizer-Reneke on the map
and he is very satisfied with
Waldo’s services - they have never
waited more than 24 hours for
spares. “It creates confidence in
the product and it really makes a
difference,” says Boeta.
> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12
SENWES Scenario • OCT/NOV 2017
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