School learners doing agriculture as a subject in the Otjozondjupa region, recently benefited from a free animal course on judging animals.
This is part of their grooming into becoming fully fledged agriculturalists in future.
The training held on Saturday, was the brainchild of prominent agripreneur Florence Handura, who advocated for the inclusion of rural schools into the programme, which previously largely targeted urban-based private schools.
Handura piloted the programme in the Otjozondjupa region through her Oruharui Expo, which is held annually at Okatjoruu in the same region towards the end of the year. The Oruharui Expo has been instrumental in bringing farmers from the area together to showcase their unique products and services.
Bank Windhoek and Feedmaster provided financial and technical support to the initiative, which saw 25 learners taking to the kraal and literally getting dirty with the judging of livestock.
Livestock judging is the process of judging a series of livestock and pronouncing a first-, second- and third-place animal based on each animal’s traits compared to that of the others. Most cattle judging occur in show rings at agricultural and livestock shows.
Learners from Coblenz Combined School, Waterberg Junior Secondary School, Okamatapati Combined School, Okakarara Secondary School and NamVoc Vocational Centre attended the training, with both girls and boys represented.
The training was offered by prominent players in the livestock judging industry such as Feedmaster’s Lourens Swart, Christo van Zyl and Frank Kanguatjivi.
They were joined by livestock breeders Charles /Urib and Handura.
Handura’s journey into agribusiness is phenomenal. Her Ondungu Sauce took many farmers by surprise and has since become a favourite sauce at many meat-eating occasions in rural areas. Seeing an opportunity to market her new product and other ventures that she had in the pipeline, Handura birthed the idea of the mini expo.
The one-day training was conducted on /Urib’s farm in the Hochveld area of the Otjozondjupa region and focused primarily on the Simbra breed which /Urib mainly farms with.
The youngsters were introduced to the world of cattle judging through theoretical training that involves getting to know the basics of cattle breeds, including different parts of cattle. It was, however, the practical training that brought joy to them when they took on the mammoth task of picking out faults in some of the Simbra cattle made available.
“We are excited that young people from our communities are able to attend such a course. We trust that with the newly acquired skills, the boys and girls would have added something to their knowledge on livestock and that it has ignited the flame of farming even more in them,” Handura said.
Five top performers from the training will be selected to join others from across the country at the Windhoek Show for a national judging competition.