Fertility, Mothering Abilities, Adaptability, Hardiness

Here at Thornview Boergoat Stud, Potchefstroom, South Africa, we have been breeding functional Boergoats that increase the profitability of your commercial flock since 1994.

Fertility and outstanding mothering abilities are very important in our stud objectives. As a commercial breeder, you need to wean healthy, heavy kids rapidly and at a low cost to generate income.

Thornview Boergoats deliver this requirement; consistently and profitably for your commercial operation.

Fact: If your ewe is not kidding, she has contributed zero income to your farming operation; she has in fact cost you money.

Our goats are raised on natural veld grazing with mineral lick supplements. Thornview Ranch is a mixture of natural open grassveld that is very rocky, riverine thickets and vleis (wetlands). The climate ranges from hot (average daytime temperatures of 30 - 36°C) in summer when our rainfall occurs to cold (-8 - 20°C) with frost in winter. This environment provides our Boergoats with the ideal conditions that develop functional and fertile veld-adapted animals that perform consistently in your flock. We do not subscribe to the practice of supplementary feeding in pens to produce animals that may superficially appear to be well-grown and rounded.

Breeding Objectives

Your initial impression of Thornview Boergoats is their size, uniformity and excellent good health obtained only from well-managed natural veld grazing. Bloodlines from Izaak Vorster, Francois Maritz, Albert van Zyl and Jan Hoffman have been used in the past to establish the stud. More recently, our own rams have been used.

In 2008 we made extensive use of laproscopic Artificial Insemination (AI) with semen from the 2007 World Champion Magnum and 8 times Grand Champion Noster to further develop the quality and standard of the stud. Ramsem, world renowned specialists in this arena, assisted in this procedure. The first of these excellent young rams were sold to satisfied breeders during 2009.

Thornview will also be registering with the National Animal Improvement Scheme in 2010 to performance test our flocks so that buyers are further assured of buying outstanding breeding material to achieve their own objectives.

 

Our breeding objectives here at Thornview are:

• To breed Boergoats with high fertility and good mothering abilities that deliver weaning averages in the region of 180%.
• To breed Boergoats that are hardy and display above average disease resistance with minimal animal health inputs.
• To breed Boergoats that do not need supplementary feeding (as opposed to strategically supplied mineral supplements).
• To use our livestock, including our Boergoats, to improve the condition of our natural veld through a holistic farming approach and controlled intensive grazing practices, thereby making our farming enterprise sustainable.
• To supply Boergoats that are functional, adaptable and are an economic asset for the flocks of our buyers.

Fertility is the most important factor in the profitability of a livestock operation. Thornview breeds Boergoats that are exceptionally fertile and that deliver solid returns on your farming investment.	Mothering abilities are vital if you are to achieve high weaning percentages. Our ewes produce excellent lambing percentages and carry this profitable trait over to their offspring.
The quality of breeding is clear in this group of 4 young ewes weighing an average of 33kg at 210 days. These 4 ewes took 4 of the 7 places in the 20 - 35kg Class at the Lichtenburg Show in 2009. They also won 3rd place in the Group of 3 Ewes Class. One of these ewes (1240-08-09) also won the Reserve Champion Junior Ewe class.

 

Profitable Boergoat Farming training

Thornview Ranch offers 1-day Profitable Boergoat Farming courses each month. The courses — offered under the auspices of the South African Boergoat Breeders' Society — are aimed at equipping the Boergoat farmer with essential skills and abilities to improve the efficiency and profitability of his farming enterprise.

The course - which allows you to apply your newly acquired knowledge in your own operation right away - covers various aspects in a practical and a theoretical module:

• Overview of a Boergoat farming enterprise
• Economically important traits of the Boergoat
• Infrastructure development for a Boergoat farm
• Goat health & preventative medicine
• Feeding & nutrition
• The breeding of Boergoats
• Planning the breeding cycle
• Improving your profitability
• Marketing your Boergoats

Each delegate receives a comprehensive professionally printed and bound manual and a Certificate of Completion. The practical module allows delegates the opportunity to view goat-proof fences, lambing and handling facilities, observe practical demonstrations on inoculating, dipping, castrating and deworming animals, view housing facilities and other practical elements related to a Boergoat farming operation. Courses are presented in either English or Afrikaans or a combination of both to suit attendees preferences.

 

www.boergoats.co.za website

Johan Steyn, owner of Thornview Ranch, is also the developer of the very popular www.boergoats.co.za website. The site has set the standard for Boergoat information in the international industry and is an initiative aimed at re-establishing South Africa as the rightful centre of the Boergoat universe. The website serves as a central clearing house for all information, research, news and market information about the Boergoat. It receives a great number of hits per month and is regularly used as a source of reference by the agricultural media.

It provides the Boergoat farmer with the latest prices, the latest management information and guidelines, a free classified advertising platform with photos, a list of breeders and all the Boergoat show and auction dates in South Africa and Namibia.