Farmer Elton Gurirab who is based at |Â#gomes (|Naras), a communal area in the Erongo region near Okombahe, last week made history after fetching the highest price ever for a communal farmer at a small stock stud auction.
Gurirab, who was featured in an earlier edition of AgriToday, through his Elton Boer goat stud scooped top honours at a stud auction in Otjiwarongo when his Boer goat ram hit a record sale of N$41 000.
The ram, named Secretariat, was sold to Kevin Herunga of Okozongune Boerbokstud.
Elon Boer Goat stud also registered the second highest price at the same auction through another ram, Seattle Slew which fetched N$34 000.
His ewes also did well and fetched good prices at the auction; Dynafomer, a six teeth ewe was sold for N$10 000, Lady secret (four teeth) went for N$11 000 and were also the highest priced ewes on the day. Gurirab’s two other ewes; Missy baba (four teeth) and Havre De Grace (two teeth) each sold for N$10 000.
An excited Gurirab told AgriToday that the results at the auction are a reflection of the hard work and preparation he had put into his animals over the years.
“I knew my animals had something special. I have always believed in them. This time the generation of goats I put together for stud was phenomenal. I had strong confidence, especially with Secretariat as he is in his prime time and he can compete at any level in Namibia,” he said.
He said he leaves nothing to chance and put in a lot of hours on his animals. Gurirab noted that he has dreamed of the day a communal farmer would give those on arable land a run for their money.
“Early morning at 05h00 on the day of the auction, I knew I will break the record and raise the flag and encourage all emerging farmers to follow suit. Secretariat did me proud on the day,” he said.
He said in terms of management, all his animals go out in the veld between 8 am and 1 pm and again after lunch from 16h00 to 18h00. He treats the animals to a stringent lick programme during lunch.
“To achieve all this, infrastructure is the key for management purposes. Most importantly, I always say let the animals do the talking,” he said.
Gurirab started his farming close to two decades ago by buying livestock off the hand as he got them.
At the time, it was numbers he was after. As such, he bought mixed breeds of both goats and sheep, with the Damara and Van Rooi.
Like a diamond, Gurirab subjected the small stock to a rigorous refining process, which involved slowly, introducing better quality animals into his herds.
Soon, his offspring started showing promise, and the country started to take notice. The seed to elite stud farming has been planted and there was no turning back for Gurirab.
But it was 2018 that made a huge difference to his farming when he was listed as a stud breeder.
- tjatindi@gmail.com