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Cyril Ramaphosa's Ntaba Nyoni: How an Ankole Herd Was Built in South Africa

On his Mpumalanga farm, the South African president built an Ankole herd from Ugandan cows and Kenyan embryo quarantine.

Ntaba Nyoni and its cattle

Ntaba Nyoni is a farm at eManzana in Mpumalanga owned by Cyril Ramaphosa. Alongside a Boran and Bonsmara stud it farms game and runs a feedlot, but it is the Ankole herd that drew national attention. The details here come from a 2017 Farmer's Weekly feature, published when Ramaphosa was deputy president, and numbers may have changed since.

This profile covers the cattle operation only, drawing on the public trade-press record.

How the Ankole herd was built

Ramaphosa became interested in Ankole cattle after visiting Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni in 2004. South Africa's Department of Agriculture blocked a direct import, citing inadequate disease control in Uganda.

The solution was an embryo route. He bought 43 Ankole cows from Museveni and shipped them to Ol Pejeta in Kenya, where Embryo Plus runs an embryo quarantine station. Dr Morne de la Rey of Embryo Plus advised. The cows were artificially inseminated, embryos were flushed after seven days and sent to South Africa, and they were transferred into local cows, which were quarantined for two months. By 2017 the farm had about 100 Ankole breeding cows.

The farm, the veld and the feed

The area has sandy, sourveld soils and about 900 mm of rain a year. Eragrostis grasses dominate, with E. curvula planted for winter grazing for the feedlot and some red grass present. In normal years the cattle get a mineral lick in summer and a 50% protein lick in winter, with a 28% protein production lick in drought.

Health management is intensive because ticks are heavy year-round. Ankoles are dipped every three weeks, while the Borans and Bonsmaras are dipped fortnightly. The vaccination program covers anthrax, black quarter, botulism, brucellosis, lumpy skin disease and bovine viral diarrhoea. Heifers are first bred at about 30 months.

The Ankoles graze in high-density camps of 100 to 150 hectares, with moves guided by grass height rather than a fixed stocking density. The aim is to give palatable grasses an advantage, and red grass does well under this system, especially when camps are burnt every three to four years.

What Made It Work

The magazine's feature describes a patient, step-by-step breeding project. These points come from the article's reporting.

  • He worked around import rules. When the department blocked a direct import, embryos produced in Kenya's Ol Pejeta quarantine station provided a legal route.
  • He used specialist advice. Embryo Plus and Dr de la Rey guided the project.
  • He chose fertility first. Fertility is the main selection criterion, with heifers first bred at about 30 months, calving of about 80% and an intercalving period of 365 days or less.
  • He managed grazing carefully. High-density camps and burning every three to four years support the grass the cattle depend on.
  • He kept disease losses down. Ankoles are dipped every three weeks, and the farm reported no Ankole losses to tick-borne disease.
  • The limits: the herd was small, the first breed sale in Ermelo in 2017 drew mostly game breeders, and the article gives no figures for the Boran or Bonsmara studs.

Performance and the market

In its performance figures, the Farmer's Weekly article says birth weight averages about 20 kg, against about 40 kg in other breeds, and the target is 0.9 kg a day gain to a 205 kg weaning weight. Bulls weigh 500 to 700 kg and cows 400 to 500 kg. The oldest cow was born in 2006 and was still producing at the time of the article.

The breed's first sale was in Ermelo in 2017, and buyers were mostly game breeders. Ramaphosa also saw potential with beef producers and in crossbreeding for disease resistance. Laboratory tests on the meat reported low cholesterol and high omega-3 and polyunsaturated fat levels, according to Dr de la Rey. Until an Ankole breeders' association is formalized, the breed falls under the Afrikaner Cattle Breeders' Society of South Africa.

More on cattle breeding

For more on breeds and breeders, see the ranching section of farm.FM, and read a farm.FM story about Ankole cattle.

Timeline

  1. 2004Visits Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and becomes interested in Ankole cattle
  2. After 2004Buys 43 Ankole cows and sends them to Ol Pejeta, Kenya, for embryo production
  3. 2006Birth year of the oldest Ankole cow still producing in 2017
  4. 2017First Ankole breed sale in Ermelo; about 100 Ankole breeding cows
  5. 2017Farmer's Weekly publishes its feature while Ramaphosa is deputy president

Frequently asked questions

What cattle does Cyril Ramaphosa breed?

At Ntaba Nyoni in Mpumalanga he breeds Ankole cattle and runs a Boran and Bonsmara stud. The farm also keeps game and runs a feedlot, according to a 2017 Farmer's Weekly feature.

How did Ramaphosa get Ankole cattle into South Africa?

A direct import was blocked on disease control grounds, so he bought 43 Ankole cows from Uganda and had embryos made at Ol Pejeta in Kenya. The embryos went into local cows in South Africa.

What is Ntaba Nyoni?

Ntaba Nyoni is Cyril Ramaphosa's farm at eManzana in Mpumalanga, with sandy sourveld soils and about 900 mm of rain a year. It runs cattle studs, game and a feedlot.

What are Ankole cattle known for?

The Farmer's Weekly feature reports low birth weights of about 20 kg, long productive lives and a meat profile with low cholesterol, though the herd described was small and mostly sold to game breeders.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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