Drakensbergers: shiny black mothers of Africa

The Drakensberger cattle breed is as much a part of South Africa as the great mountain range that shares its name. When the Dutch-speaking settlers decided to migrate northwards in 1836 to escape the Cape’s British colonial administration, it was mostly Drakensbergers that were used to pull their wagons.

In those days, the breed was used primarily as draft animals, and due to this, the breeding focus was on their front quarters in order to increase pulling strength. Gradually, however, the focus shifted to the hindquarters in order to increase beef production. So says Petrus Taljaard, owner of Talman Drakensbergers, near the Mpumalanga town of Ermelo.

“To be honest, the Drakensberger doesn’t have a single exceptional feature. Rather, it’s an exceptional all-rounder,” he says. “You can milk it, put it in a feedlot, let it graze on natural veld or put