David Howard and Leon Schoombee sort the heifers from the bulls at the small holding of Cape Eastern Livestock, a livestock marketing company located in Alexandria, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 5 September 2011.
The Eastern Cape’s location and size give it considerable advantages when it comes to agriculture. With it 168 580 square kilometres of land the Eastern Cape is by far the largest livestock province in South Africa. It has 21% of the country’s cattle, 28% of its sheep and 46% of its goats. It is therefore not surprising that the province is littered with farming communities. One such farming community is centered around the seemingly small town of Alexandria. It is because this area is a hub of activity in terms of cattle farming that we find numerous livestock companies in operation.
Cape Eastern Livestock is one such livestock company that operates from the Alexandria area. It is a family run company with the owner David Howard working alongside his father, John Howard, and his colleague Leon Schoombee. Livestock traders literally trade in livestock, which means they buy and sell livestock to potential clients. Although Cape Eastern Livestock does have an office that is based at Howard’s home in Bushman’s River most of their work is conducted on the move and therefore in their vehicles and on their cell phones.
Howard and Schoombee have the task of sourcing livestock on a daily basis. Farmers will contact them when they either have livestock to sell or are looking for more livestock for their farms. For example a client from Natal calls and asks for dairy heifers on the point of calving. They would first go around the district contacting the local farmers looking for heifers. If no one in the local area has available Howard would then widen his net to include the Western and Northern Cape. They would drive or fly down to evaluate the stock and judge whether the price is reasonable for the condition of the animals. They would take photographs of the stock and then contact the client. If the client is happy and wishes to go forward they would broker this deal on the client’s behalf.
In the Alexandria area most of the livestock trading is cattle as majority of South Africa’s cattle ranches are found in the Eastern Cape, parts of the Free State and Kwa-Zulu Natal, Limpopo and the Northern Cape. The four major dairy breeds in South Africa are the Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey and Ayrshire. While popular beef breeds include the indigenous Afrikaner and Nguni and locally developed Bonsmara and Drakensberger.
On a daily basis Schoombee will collect cattle from the daily farmers to go to the abattoir. They refer to this as the ‘milk run’ and the cows that they collect will be at the end of their production. This could be for many different reasons such as faulty udders, not in calf or injured in the diary. These cows are branded with a paint brand and loaded to go to the abattoirs. The nearest of which is Rosedale Abattoir near Grahamstown. The abattoir will slaughter the animal and then provide Cape Eastern Livestock with the weights, brands and tag numbers of the animals so that they can check whether they are receiving the right numbers for the right farmers. These numbers are then processed in the office so that invoices can be generated and payments can be made.
Another way in which Cape Eastern Livestock participates in the livestock industry is through cattle auctions, which they host once every two or three months depending on livestock availability. These auctions are mostly for slaughter stock so they are well attended by abattoir owners in the area.
Livestock trading is an industry that is constantly on the move and adapting to the economic and agricultural climate. At present Cape Eastern Livestock is involved in moving dairy stock up into Natal and the Free State. Most of their stock is sourced out of the Alexandria, Humansdorp, Tsitsikamma and Western Cape area which results in a small family run business in Alexandria having a wide national reach and involvement.
David spends a large majority of his day answering and making calls in order to source stock and advise clients. Cape Eastern Livestock buy and sell livestock for their clients as well as advise clients on marketing strategies for their livestock.
A Jersey calf peers out from the trailer which transported it and other calves to a farm nearby Alexandria. Cape Eastern Livestock was commissioned to source these calves and then transport them to the client.
Leon helps one of their workers offload a trailer of calves that was ordered by a local Alexandrian farmer. Checking that the right animals and the correct numbers are delivered or picked up is one of Leon’s main responsibilities.
Workers carry the calves to the pens where ownership will be transferred over to the client.
Offloading a cattle link, sorting and reloading is a time consuming job as herding these large animals takes a certain kind of know how. Leon directs the farm hands in sorting the heifers from the bulls in order to check the numbers and weigh the animals.
A Holstein heifer waits to go into the stun box where it will be bolted in the forehead with a captive bolt pistol. This method is used for stunning animals prior to slaughter and is essential in preventing the pain and suffering of the animal during the exsanguination (bleeding) process. The captive bolt pistol results in a forceful strike to the forehead that will induce unconsciousness.
After the bleeding process, where cattle is hung upside down by both hind legs on a processing line and the carotid artery and jugular are severed, the cattle’s hide and internal organs are removed and inspected for internal parasites and signs of disease. The carcase is then graded, stamped and put in the cooler room before being taken to local butcheries.
Cape Eastern Livestock hold cattle auctions at their small holding in Alexandria once every two months. Cape Eastern Livestock will source stock from farmers who are looking to sell or buy at their action.
Leon stands on the fencing to check that all the animals are in the correct holding pens as each pen will be auctioned off as a lot. Lots can consist of one or more animals and are considered sold as soon as the auctioneer declares the bid won.
A farmer stands up to express his angry at not being seen by the auctioneer at a cattle auction hosted by Cape Eastern Livestock. The auction is open to the public but most of the buyers were from local abattoir as majority of the livestock being auctioned was for slaughter.
The auctioneer calls out bids at a rapid pace while David and Leon look out for people trying to bid at a cattle auction for slaughter. Each lot is brought onto the scale, which is built into the pen, so that the crowd can see both the animal and its weight.
After the auction has come to a close everyone enjoys some braai meat and drinks outside. This also allows buyers the opportunity to organise trucks or trailers to come and collect their newly purchased cattle.
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