Zimbabwean Farmer – Collen Tafireyi Buys A Cow For R1.8 million at Ramaphosa’s annual Ankole & Boran cattle auction
Zimbabwean Farmer – Collen Tafireyi Buys A Cow For R1.8 million at Ramaphosa’s annual Ankole & Boran cattle auction – President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Ntaba Nyoni cattle auction held over the weekend at his Phala Phala farm near Bela-Bela in Limpopo raked in sales amounting to nearly R15m.
Ramaphosa’s Ntaba Nyoni Ankole cattle stud held its seventh annual auction, where both Ankole and Boran cattle were put up for sale.
While the auction featured lots from various breeders, the most lucrative sales were generated by animals from the president’s Ankole herd.
The highest grossing lot was a 3-in-1 female – a pregnant cow with a calf at foot – which sold for R1.8m to Sinyo Boran & Ankole, a Zimbabwean cattle breeder named Collen Tafireyi.
Another impressive sale was a female animal carrying an embryo that will introduce fresh Ankole genetics into the South African market, which fetched R1m. This lot was acquired by Rohan Meintjies from Sterkfontein Farms, a sizable and diversified farming business based in Gauteng.
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In general, cows commanded much higher prices than Ankole bulls at the auction, with the highest price paid for a bull priced at R280,000.
According to JP Smith, the Chief Operating Officer of Veilingswinkel, the company that hosted the Ntaba Nyoni auction, it is common for female animals to sell at higher prices compared to bulls.
“The quality of females on offer at the auction was superior; the bulls on auction were young and still developing. Top bulls will come in the future,” said Smith.
The project to import Ankole cattle from Uganda, where they originate, was initiated by Ramaphosa in 2004.
Smith noted that the demand for Ankole cattle in South Africa was still high, with breeders consistently investing in premium genetics. Moreover, the market was expanding, with a steady stream of new breeders entering the scene. This was exemplified by the recent auction hosted by Ramaphosa, where, alongside established buyers, numerous new breeders also participated.
In the 2021 production auction hosted by Ramaphosa, Patrice Motsepe, one of South Africa’s wealthiest individuals and the founder and executive chair of the mining company African Rainbow Minerals, bought a stud female for R2.1m. In the same year, at the Twin City Games breeders auction, an Ankole bull fetched a price of R3m.
-Afrogazette-
