MorataBW

FARMING SUCCESS
Banamile’s Bullish Passion in Simmental
Breeding Now Bringing in Money
BY KAGISO KGOTLAETSILE
A
STORY OF HUMBLE
beginnings, a journey
through to the learning
curve of modern farming,
sees local farmer Aobakwe Banamile
starting his Simmental breeding with
Banamile with one of his young bulls.
only six cattle in 2002 to now owning
a herd of 150 cattle in his kraal.
The Simmental, gets its name from
the region where the cattle were first
bred, in the Simme Valley, located in
the Berner Oberland in Switzerland.
Its outer anatomy, the Europe originated
Simmental colour varies from gold
to red with white, and maybe evenly
distributed or clearly defined in patches
on a white background.
The head is white, and often a white
band appears over the shoulders. The
Simmental breed is suited for almost
all kind of climates and can survive
well in countries where the winters are
tough and in those with pretty high
temperatures. The breed adapts easily
to the most varied conditions from rural
small-holder to large extensive ranching
operations.
The breed is proved to also possess
good qualities, local Simmental farmer
Banamile was mostly intrigued by the
following characteristics; excellent
mothering ability, early maturity, good
growth rates and uniformity in type and
colour. Simmentals are bred all over the
world for their high beef yields. It allows
variations in emphasis from mothering
ability to beefing qualities. The heavy
muscling, length and overall size and
weight of the animal are combined to
produce a well-fleshed carcass of solid
red meat with a minimum of waste fat.
Banamile’s passion for rearing
cattle can be traced back to his roots
as a young Motswana who sought to
follow a cultural lineage of farming
as a social expectation. His fanaticism
in agriculture grew even bigger with
exuberance fuelled by an academic
March 2021 MorataBW
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