Charles Tjatindi
Hikuama Kaputu, a part-time farmer in the Otjombinde area of the Omaheke region, shares a special relationship with the Simmentaler cattle breed. The symbiotic bond transcends years of hard toil and labour from both Kaputu and his treasured cattle breed. As he puts it, “it is a relationship that has produced great results for his farming venture”.
Kaputu’s love for the breed was no coincidence. His father, the late Ovaherero historian and renowned farmer Alexander Kaputu farmed with the breed for many years. It was only going to be a matter of time before the younger Kaputu also developed a liking for the breed.
From his humble abode at Otjovakwejuva, also known as Middle Plaas in the vast and remote Otjombinde constituency, Hikuama managed to grow his Simmentaler breed from only five heifers he had been given by his father at the time.
“As a young man, my father sent me to man the cattle post here at Middle Plaas. At the time, we were all staying at Farm Ombakaha in the Okorukambe constituency but my father felt I needed to grow as a man by being responsible for a cattle post on my own,” said Hikuama.
Luck was, however, not on his side as most of his cattle failed to produce the desired products. One was bitten by a snake and later died, another got lost or stolen, while a third one never produced offspring.
“It was really hard starting up. I was also almost discouraged as things seemed to be going the wrong way and it was hard to imagine that something good will eventually come out of it. But I had to believe that it would work, and I am glad I did,” he said.
Soon, Hikuama started rebuilding his stock. It was literally one cow at a time; a heifer here and another there until he had good numbers behind him to comfortably relaunch his farming operation.
Several years later, Hikuama is glad he did not give up; his farming appears to have blossomed into the dream he shared at inception. And, his preferred breed of choice – the Simmentaler – continues to reign supreme.
“I hear people saying this breed is weak and a challenge to farm with; I don’t agree. Every cattle breed is challenging if you have no clear-cut plan on what you intend to do with it,” he said.
Hikuama is not spared the challenges of farming in a communal area. Predators, stock theft and limited grazing has made farming in the ancient Otjombinde communal area difficult. Not only that, but at times farmers in the area face animal movement restriction due to cattle from Botswana that makes it through the border fence.
The area in Botswana along the Namibian border fence near Otjombinde is listed as a Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) area. As such, animals making it through the fence from Botswana are deemed to be infected with FMD and a quarantine is imposed almost immediately during such occurrence.
Another challenge Hikuama and others in the area face is the limited supply of water.
“We would at times drive our cattle between 15 and 20km for water. At times, livestock would be left up to three days in the kraal without a single drop to drink due to limited water supply. It is really difficult to farm without a basic need such as water for livestock,” he said.
Hikuama, a tour guide by profession, however believes that the fruit of his labour in farming is hard to ignore.
“I love farming. The challenges are there, but I will never stop farming,” he said.