North West farmer Tumelo Tlhoaele sticks to the script. With a diploma in mixed farming and a B-tech qualification in agricultural management, he uses education to navigate financial hurdles, tend to pastures, and care for his animals.
“I use what I have acquired from my studies daily,” he remarks. “It allows me to anticipate problems before they strike, and therefore, I can think of solutions by looking at the signs or symptoms that I see in my animals or any challenge I am facing at the time.”
Tlhoaele is the owner of Tlhoaele Farming and Trading, a livestock farming enterprise based in Mahikeng. There, on a sprawling 904 hectares of land, 110 hectares of the land are used for livestock breeding.
Breeding livestock his pride and passion
“I am primarily a livestock breeder,” Tlhoaele states. His farm is home to Bonsmara beef cattle, Meatmaster sheep, and Boerbok goats.
Currently, he has 45 breeding cattle, 22 heifers, and 24 calves with two bulls on his portfolio. The small stock enterprise comprises 61 sheep and 36 goats, he shares.
“I started the farming venture on communal land and graduated to the state plaas farm lease last year (2023),” he says with excitement.
As the owner of Tlhoaele Farming and Trading, he has to ensure everything on the farm runs smoothly. “I am in charge of the health, breeding, and rotational grazing programmes on the farm.
“[I] also have the responsibility to see to it that the financial aspect of the farm is in good standing, as well as ensuring that everything on the farm is well maintained and operational,” shares Tlhoaele.
The fact that he lives on the farm has made it easy to manage the demands of farming, he explains.
“I [have always] loved working with my hands from a young age. I was introduced to farming by my dad in my early high school years and never looked back.”
During his high school years, he pursued advanced education and joined programmes in biochemistry and microbiology at North-West University.
However, Tlhoaele discovered his lack of enjoyment in these subjects, prompting him to drop out.
He then pursued a diploma in mixed farming at Potchefstroom College of Agriculture. Subsequently, he enrolled in a B-tech programme in agricultural management at the University of Technology in Bloemfontein.
“Immediately after completion, I started focusing on building the herd and registered the company I now run,” Tlhoaele says.
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Navigating unpredictable waters
As a cattle farmer, Tlhoaele markets his livestock at the local auction pens. However, he is looking to increase his value and find a niche market for his livestock.
“The main source of my income is from the weaner bulls produced on the farm, with the small stock helping with the cash flow. As an emerging farmer, I still rely on my parents to help me from time to time with cash flow, as farming is a cash-intensive business.”
As a first-generation farmer, he says he understands that he needs to put in twice the work required and work on trial and error.
“I get to learn from and understand events that occur around me quite quickly, and that allows me to learn from those events to avoid them from reoccurring.
“The downside is that mistakes and farming operations are quite expensive, and one doesn’t always have the funds to take care of the necessary needs that farming activities demand at a certain point in time.”
The financial tightrope of farming
Speaking about the most challenging aspects of working on a farm, Tlhoaele shares that when he acquired the farm, it was in a dilapidated state.
“I had to invest a large sum of money into revitalising basic farm necessities such as fixing windmills so that the cattle could have water to drink, and erecting cattle kraals.
“As well as handling facilities so that I could manage and control the health of the livestock, building a house so that I could stay on the farm, and erecting fences where I deemed it necessary to have some sort of control on the farm,” he says.
He explains that these crucially money-intensive renovations were done so that he could be operational on the farm but were a major drawback on his production potential and deterred his potential farming income as he could have used those funds to increase and expand his production.
Another challenge is managing financial risk, as farming is a high-capital-intensive industry with high input costs and fluctuating commodity prices.
“The fencing on its own requires 4.5 million, which is a cost I can’t cover on my own. In addition, I also have to invest in tractors to venture into grain production on a commercial scale, as the tractor I have is not powerful enough to cover vast lands.”
Grand ambitions
Becoming a commercial livestock farmer is his ultimate goal. He says he would like to venture into stud breeding at some point in his farming journey.
Tlhoaele’s future aspirations are to also expand into crop production while building a larger livestock herd and hopefully getting registered stud animals.
“I am also planning to venture into soybean production as soon as I get my mechanisation in place. I will have to rotate the crop with sunflower and maize, but ultimately, I have a great interest in soybean production.
“I would also like to see myself empowering the community by employing local workers and helping them grow their families and the community,” he says.
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