Agriculture

Sheep Farming

Blackhead, the black-headed sheep is a fat-tailed breed of sheep from Africa . The sheep originally came from Somalia (the Somali inhabited areas of the Horn of Africa ) and are a direct descendant of the Somali sheep. [1] The breed is not kept for their wool and can tolerate heat better than wool breeds and is mainly farmed for their meat . The Blackhead Persian has a white body and, as their name would suggest, an entirely black head. [2]The Blackhead Persian is a polled breed with both sexes lacking horns. It has a black head, with long drooping ears, and a black neck and a white body, with a distinct stripe demarcating the two colours. The croup and the base of the tail have an accumulation of fat. The breed is specifically bred for the large amount of fat stored in the tail region, which provides resistance in dry conditions and is especially used in sausages and dry sausages. Mature rams weigh on average 68 kilograms and ewes 52 kilograms. At birth, rams and ewes weigh approximately 2.6 kilograms. Ewes lactate for about 84 days, produce 50 kilograms of milk with 5.9% fat. [3] Despite its name, the black-caps have their origins in Somalia and were imported to South Africa in about 1870. A South African studbook was established in 1906. By 1930 there were 4,000 registered animals. The sheep was crossed with local breeds and was also improved by crossing it with, among others, Dorset, which is now called Dorper.

Wool

Above is photos of advertisements tat was placed in the "Eeufees" Newspaper of Heidelberg in 1950

There was a reversal in the old system of livestock farming when the Merino with its wool replaced the fat tart Afrikaner beef with its vicia.

SOUTH AFRICA MERINO WOOL IS GLOBALLY ACCLAIMED FOR EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY APPAREL WOOL AND IS METICULOUSLY CLASSED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET. South Africa was the first country outside Europe who owned Merinos. This history stretched back as far as 1789, when the Dutch Government donated two Spanish Merino Rams and four Spanish Merino Ewes to Col. Jacob Gordon, the military commander at the Cape at that time, on an experimental basis.

Merino sheep produced excellent wool and the demand for wool in Britain's textile industry led to a wool boom at the Cape. The economy of the Central and Eastern Cape was transformed as a result of the commercial wool industry and wool replaced wine as the Cape's most important export.

As the Heidelberg area was the scene of the early Van Reenens , F. W. Iteita and others' experiments with wool sheep, it is understandable that this would be one of the districts where the wool sheep came into its own. With the strong support of the progressive Barry and Neefs , the wool farming soon flourished and bore rich fruit.

Already in 1856, Cornelis Human van Krombeeksrivier won the beautiful silver cup that Barry and Neefs gave for the best wool shearing of the year. In October 1863 Heidelberg followed the example of Swellendam and Riversdale when they held the first of their Wool Markets which became an annual institution.

The sale went off completely as desired and of the 50,000 pounds of wool offered, 40,000 pounds were sold at an average price of 151 pence ( per pound). The buyers were Barry and Neefs, Gehrs, Mosenthal, Taylor, Hopkins and Human. There were 22 sellers and S. Cloete and C. J. Human got the highest price of 16 pence. J. F. Uys, C.J. and L. P. Human, each achieved 151 pence.

From Port Beaufort alone, 100,000 pounds were shipped, while another 400,000 pounds were also sent for shipment to Cape Town.

Mechanization

The first self propelled windrower and harvesters came to the Swellendam district in 1857. Dr. Henry White brought one to Miggelskraal. In the 1930's the growing grain production in the region promoted mechanisation of the agricultural industry.

1950 Harvest figures as published in the 1950 Eeufees Newspaper

SSK

The almost phenomenal growth of grain cultivation led in 1931 to the founding of the Swellendam Boere Köperatieve Vereniging, which on 9 October 1943 was transformed into the Swellendam-Heidelberg Cooperative Agricultural Company Limited. On March 30, 1930, the Consumer Co-operatives were born from the Co-operative Association. The former built up a business on their own initiative and today have a very modern shop building in the heart of Heidelberg where businesses were established during practically the entire century of the town's existence. On the corner where one of the town's earliest hotels stood, the Agricultural Company, which handles practically the entire grain harvest of the district, is at present engaged in erecting a beautiful business building at a cost of about £20,000. The Agricultural Company's turnover of £193,427 in 1944 grew to £1,320,730 in 1955 and the reserves from £581 to £20,398. The Consumers Co-operative in October 1939 showed 2,405 shares and a turnover of 11,561, which in June 1954 stood at 56,982 and 4327,419. Because the storage and transport of grain in these regions has always been a big problem, the Agricultural Cooperative had big plans that are bearing fruits.

Wheat and Canola Farming

The first farmer to start with no-till in the Western Cape was Jack Human, who farmed in the Heidelberg district. After a flood in 1983 where a lot of soil was lost, he realised he needed to change the way he was farming. That was 30 years ago and it promoted a whole new way of farming.

A no-till system in agriculture embraces the principles of sustainability in farming. It means that soil will be used as a biological system to produce healthy crops. Healthy crops contain high density nutrients which are essential for human and livestock systems. Healthy crops reduce spaying of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.
Chicken manure is also spread over the soil during the planting season as a means of natural fertiliser, and when the wheat is harvested, the straw that is generated as a by-product is spread out over the land and left to gently rot back into the soil.The final agricultural product of this approach conforms to the needs of modern users.

In the Southern Cape, farmers include legume pastures in their rotation of wheat, canola, oats and barley. These pastures contribute to higher organic matter which is the energy source for the micro-fauna in the soil. Complimentary to the pastures, good tillage practices like no-tilling complies with fusion for healthy nutrition of people.

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