Small steps to progress
Kleiheuwel, situated near L’Agulhas in the Western Cape’s Overberg region, has a rich farming heritage. It was once part of the historic Zoetendals Vallei farm that belonged to the Van Bredas of Bredasdorp, who owned South Africa’s first commercial Merino flock in 1817.
While Merinos are no longer produced on the original farm, Kleiheuwel has continued the Merino tradition, and the flock had steadily improved with each passing generation.
“My father, John Albertyn, and my husband André and I have all put great effort into breeding sheep with good wool qualities, resulting in the flock looking totally different from what it did two generations ago,” says Pam Christie-Smith, who belongs to the sixth generation on the farm.
GOOD GENETICS
The Albertyn family started keeping records of the flock in 1942, and travelled across South Africa in search of superior Merino rams to improve it. In
