Windhoek
His name is Boesman. He is five years old and spends his days on the farm Orusuuo in the Omaheke Region, where he walks tall and attracts the attention of every female in the vicinity.
Quite rightly so, because he is Namibia’s latest All Africa Champion!
Boesman, the formidable Red Brahman bull of equally respected emerging breeder Ace Kavari, was crowned the best Brahman in Africa during the recently held prestigious Brahman Champion of the World Competition.
An ecstatic Kavari confirmed to New Era that Boesman walked off with the title of Africa Champion and also won a silver medal in the competition against the best in Africa, Asia, America and Europe.
As for coming in second against the best in the world, Kavari says: “Close, very close, but yet so far. In the end, the voting became a fierce online battle and we narrowly lost out to a bull from America.”
“It’s all my dreams come true. As a young boy I dreamed of becoming a farmer. As a farmer I dreamed of becoming a top breeder and as a top breeder I dreamed about being the best in the world. That special honour is now mine, thanks to Boesman,” Kavari says.
Only the best Brahman cattle from around the world entered into the competition and voting took place over a period of eight days via an online voting poll created by the World Brahman Cattle Association.
“It is such an honour and a privilege. Boesman and I feel we did Namibia very proud by being in the competition against the best in the world and emerging as the best in Africa and second in the world.
“We participated to show the rest of the world the immaculate quality of Brahman cattle we breed in the Land of the Brave. We dedicate this title to Namibia and will wear the Africa Champ rosette with huge pride,” says the man who started from humble beginnings.
For Kavari farming is a business, just like any other enterprise, and he says it can be very profitable if you treat and handle it as such. He believes in good management and good use of human resources.
The 44-year-old started farming intensively when he moved to Eiseb Block in the Otjombinde Constituency of Omaheke Region in 2002.
Kavari now farms with Red Brahmans at the place called Orusuuo 2 in Eiseb Block. He says the reason he farms with the Red Brahman is that it is an exceptionally good beef breed.
Kavari bought two Brahman cows and a bull in 2003 from well-known Brahman breeder, Floors Junius, and bought 10 additional cows the following year from another breeder, Piet Pretorius, from Gobabis.
To take his farming to the next level he registered as a stud breeder in 2005 with the Brahman Stud Association and started exhibiting his animals at the annual Windhoek Agricultural Show.
Kavari was born into a household where working with cattle was part of daily life at Okatuuo in the Epukiro Constituency.
From childhood, he knew that he needed to work very hard to become a successful farmer.
Before he ventured into full-time farming, Kavari worked for First National Bank (FNB) as a credit manager for 16 years and at Nedbank in the same capacity for six months.
He says farming is all about planning, hard work, patience and passion. “If you have those characteristics, you will make it in farming,” he gushes, while advising other farmers to bear in mind that Namibia is drought-prone, and they should plan ahead for any eventuality.
Kavari urges farmers to add quality systematically to the quantity of their cattle as the two complement each other.
“People should not buy farms for prestige, but should treat them as productive units,” he advised prospective farmers and in the same vein commended the government for its efforts to assist farmers during the current drought.
Another piece of advice from Kavari is that farmers should keep records of their enterprise. He further says that budgeting is crucial in farming.