By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – The Samehaling Dorper and White Dorper auction, hosted by Agra tomorrow at the Samehaling auction pens south-east of Keetmanshoop, will be different in more than one way. This will be the largest Samehaling auction since owner, Pieter van Schalkwyk, took over the enterprise twenty years ago from his father, Thys van Schalkwyk.
Fifty Dorper rams, 50 White Dorper rams, 25 Dorper ewes and 25 White Dorper ewes will be auctioned. These particular numbers of animals offered are significant also because the auction revolves around the celebration of Samehaling Dorper’s fifty years of existence in Namibia.
The van Schalkwyks have been farming on Samehaling since 1896, with Pieter being the fourth generation. Pieter decided to add to the auction day by giving something back to the breed and people who played a role in his farming success. Besides the auction, which starts at 16:00 on 19 March, Samehaling will offer an information day which will commence at 9:00am. Pieter himself will entertain visitors with narratives about the years since his father woke up one day in 1964 and decided to switch his farming commodity to Dorpers and the development of the Dorper breed and breeding over fifty years. Two South African veterinary experts will address the meeting on small stock farming topics. Lenn de Jager, who is becoming a popular Namibian “farmer-motivational-speaker”, will ask the question: “Is your glass half full or half empty?” and a representative of Standard Bank will talk about managing farming debt. The auction will be concluded with a dinner, serving of steaks sponsored by Agra.