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For the love of Brahman
By Mike Burgess
Farmer's Weekly
02 April 2013
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The Osterloh Grey Brahman Stud is making a name
for itself beyond the borders of the Eastern
Cape. Mike Burgess visited Eugene Osterloh on
the family farm, Mimosa Park, near Komga to find
out how he manages his stud.
Hardiness, heat tolerance, resistance to
parasite-borne diseases and legendary hybrid
vigour are some of the traits that have
maintained the high impact of the Brahman cattle
breed on the South African beef industry. Eugene
Osterloh recognised these traits in the Brahman
while still at school at Winterberg Agricultural
College in Fort Beaufort. He convinced his
father Didi to buy the family’s first 80 Grey
Brahmans from the Kirkwood district in 1984.
Five years later he started farming and in 1994
he registered the Osterloh Brahman herd. Two
years on, the Osterlohs expanded their Brahman
herd by acquiring 40 females from Neville
Preston in the nearby Macleantown district.
Today the herd has 400 registered females.
Annually, 80 bulls and more than 100 females are
sold. This is a sign of the demand for Osterloh
Brahman genetics from the Eastern Cape Border
region, an area known for heartwater, redwater
and gallsickness. |
Osterloh Brahman heifers are sought after by
cattlemen countrywide.
Photo: Mike Burgess |
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"The best fertiliser is in the footsteps of the
farmer," says Eugene Osterloh, who makes sure he
gets around his farm to identify problems. |
Focus on quality genetics
Eugene has stayed with the well-known Sugarland
genetic lines of the American Grey Brahman,
buying in genetics from the US and across South
Africa, including from the well-known Bos Blanco
stud near Kroonstad run by the Staal family. The
breeding herd is split, with 50% of breeding
females inseminated. The two breeding seasons
stretch from the beginning of December to 10
February, and from the beginning of May to the
end of June.
The remaining females are run in single sire
herds at a rate of one bull to between 30 and 35
females. The herd has a replacement rate of
about 50 animals a year and a calving percentage
of between 75% and 80%. Eugene explains that a
large breeding herd is vital to a broad genetic
base from which to select and improve cattle.
Specific dam lines play a central role, and he
says all Osterloh’s self-bred stud sires can be
traced back to a handful of cows. “Barring one
American-bred bull, my current sires can be
traced to four cows,” he says. “Cow genetic
lines are crucial in stud breeding.” |
These dam lines have produced some of Osterloh’s most
influential bulls, such as OBS 27 01. “I sold this
10-year-old sire in 2011,” says Eugene. “I had
registered more than 400 calves sired by him, and he
changed my herd with his excellent constitution and
consistency.” Eugene stresses that exceptional animals
are not defined by extremes, but by a balance of traits
reflecting the breed’s average estimated breeding values
(EBVs). “I want figures close to the breed average,” he
says.
“I don’t want extremes which will be expressed in the
animal. I need a balance and I need to keep that
balance.” Selecting for temperament has had a distinct
effect on his herd and he feels strongly that breeders
should be sufficiently disciplined to cull highly-strung
animals. “When an animal is a bit nervous at weaning it
must go, no matter how good the breeding. One animal
that is even slightly wild has the potential to
influence the entire herd.” Although fertility is
functionally influenced by good nutrition and
management, highly fertile cows tend to have fertile
offspring says Eugene.
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Production and veld
Calves are weaned between 6 months and 7 months
at an average weight of 220kg. Besides a
phosphate lick in summer and a protein lick in
winter, breeding females get a production
supplement after calving. Veld is supplemented
with grazing off 70ha dryland kikuyu, star and
Rhodes grass. “Good nutrition gives a good
calving percentage, so if I spend money I spend
it on this,” explains Eugene. “I don’t want my
cows to lose condition after calving. They need
to go to the bull in good condition.”
Eugene says effective veld management plays an
important role in ensuring that the cows (with
an average weight of 520kg) stay in peak
condition during production. He manages his veld
according to two broad principles. The first of
these is to stock according to the bad years and
take the good years as a bonus. The second is to
rotate in short cycles to stimulate production
when the grass is growing rapidly and to rotate
in slower cycles as growth slows down.
A valuable technique is to visually inspect veld.
“The best fertiliser is in the footsteps of the
farmer,” he explains. “If I don’t get around and
see what’s going on, I won’t identify a problem
in time.” Controlling sweet thorn and lantana
encroachment and an annual burning programme are
important management tasks on the 5 000ha of
owned and leased land on which Eugene runs his
Brahman stud and commercial cattle venture. |
Osterloh
Brahman stud sire OBS 159 08. This bull is proof
of Eugene’s mission to breed early maturing
bulls with good depth and constitution for
effective beef production.
Photo by Eugene Osterloh |
Cattle are injected with a parasiticide in early summer
for general endo- and ecto-parasite control. Eugene
allows the animals to carry a number of ticks so that
their natural immunity to tick-borne diseases is not
compromised. “Cattle must have some form of tick load
all year round,” he adds.
Marketing
The Brahman’s hybrid vigour has given rise to a number
of composite breeds such as Beefmaster, Simbra, Brangus,
Braford and Santa Gertrudis and has contributed to
countless commercial cross-breeding programmes. Eugene’s
breeding goal includes producing early maturing bulls
with good depth and constitution for effective beef
production. He sells about 50 registered Osterloh
Brahman bulls at an annual production sale on his farm
Mimosa Park every September. Last year his average bull
price was R34 000.
He sells about 30 bulls directly from the farm every
year, mostly to emerging farmers. In his February
production sale, Eugene sells 50 to 100 mostly
commercial females, some of them mated to Simmentaler
bulls, “Emerging farmers recognise that the Brahman
crosses well with traditional cattle to yield a better
carcass, while being hardy with good disease and tick
resistance,” he comments. |
