TOP BUSINESS FROM TOUGH INDIGENOUS SHEEP AND GOATS

It is difficult to farm livestock profitably in Limpopo. The province, in South Africa’s northernmost regions, is known for its very hot summers and recurring droughts and is an area where various species of disease-vectoring ticks thrive.

“To survive these areas, one needs highly adaptable, heat tolerant, disease resistant, fertile animals,” says Emmanuel.

In a search for the right animal, Emmanuel farmed breeds such as the Dorper, the Pedi and the Damara, none of which gave him the desired outcome.

After some years, Emmanuel, originally from the Tshiozwi village outside Makhado, found what he was looking for in the Bosvelder sheep, the indigenous Veld Goat, and Savanna goats, all of which he now stud farms on communal land in Ravele, Tshiozwi’s neighbouring village.

In 2011 after a few years of farming indigenous goats, Emmanuel started running Pedi and Damara sheep. “I swapped two indigenous goats for two Pedi sheep with a community member who wanted to farm goats,” he recalls. In 2012 he bought a few Damara sheep and began to breed them. But he battled with the Damaras for years