BJ BOTHA Tags His Nguni Cattle with TAGEM
BJ BOTHA, former Springbok Rugby player (‘Prop”) and currently playing for Munster Rugby Club in Ireland is farming in South Africa and is using TAGEM Ear Tags on his herd of Nguni cattle. We were able to ask BJ about his plans and tagging experience
We understand that you are farming in South Africa, are you able to share some of the details of what you are currently doing?
"Yes, we are currently farming in South Africa. We are currently farming with Nguni cattle and are solely a stud farm at this stage. We are very excited about the opportunities of the Nguni and believe its the breed for the future."
In particular, we would like to know about the plans for the livestock aspect of the farm, e.g.; cattle only? beef/dairy? breed? why that breed? if/how you plan to expand over time?
"We have selected to breed with Nguni's because we love the breed and believe it really resembles Africa/South Africa which my partner and myself are really passionate about. Nguni’s are also a pleasure to work with and have a great temperament. The plan at the moment is to build up a substantial amount of quality Stud animals. We do grow some crops on our land but this is only for the animals supplementation for the winter months. Without giving too much away we are looking to be quite unique about our approach regarding breeding with Nguni’s, we are also excited to build up a herd that will be well respected in Stud cattle societies."
You recently tagged your cattle using the TAGEM ear tags. Can you tell us about the experience, e.g.: how many animals, what process you used, how long it took, any snags that you encountered.
"The process of tagging our animals with the TAGEM equipment was seamless and a pleasure to use. We tagged about 50 animals. We brought a handful of animals into a smaller pen, they were then led into the “crush” which is a narrow passage before they are held in the neck clamp. Once stable we tagged, injected and dipped the animals. This was then repeated until the whole herd was complete. Because we run two herds on the farm it was great to have the choice of colours that TAGEM offer. This not only enables us to decipher between the two herds but also to identify the animals from a distance."
