South African Agriculture Livestock Farming
Livestock is the largest agricultural sector in South Africa, with a population of some 13.eight-million cattle and 28.8-million sheep. Stock breeders consider the event of breeds that are well tailored to diverse climatic and environmental conditions.
Dairy farming:
Dairy is produced throughout South Africa, with most farms within the jap and northern Free State, North West, the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, the Japanese and Western Cape, Gauteng and the southern parts of Mpumalanga. The four major dairy breeds in South Africa are the Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey and Ayrshire.
The dairy industry is vital to South Africa's job market, with some four three hundred milk producers using regarding sixty 000 farmworkers and indirectly providing jobs to 40 000 people. Milk production for 2003/04 was estimated at 2-billion litres.
Beef farming:
South Africa produces 85% of its meat needs, with fifteen% is imported from Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Australia, New Zealand and the EU.
Cattle ranches are found mainly within the Jap Cape, parts of the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and therefore the Northern Cape. Popular beef breeds embody the indigenous Afrikaner and Nguni and locally developed Bonsmara and Drakensberger. European and Yank breeds like Charolais, Hereford, Angus, Simmentaler, Sussex, Brahman and Santa Gertrudis are maintained as pure breeds or utilized in cross-breeding.
Sheep and goat farming:
South African sheep farming is focused within the Northern and Japanese Cape, Western Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga, with Ermelo in Mpumalanga being one in every of the largest wool-producing districts. Fifty p.c of sheep are fine-woolled Merinos. Alternative breeds embrace the locally developed Afrino, a woolled mutton breed custom-made to arid conditions, the South African Mutton Merino, the Dohne and therefore the Merino Landrace. South Africa's mutton is created from the Dorper - a highly productive and regionally developed mutton breed for arid regions - and the woolled Merino.
Karakul sheep are farmed in the a lot of arid areas, with some twenty 173 pelts with a gross value of R3-million made in 2002/03. The indigenous meat-producing Boer goat accounts for regarding thirty% of all business goats. The Angora goat is used for mohair production.
Poultry and pig farming:
South Africa's poultry and pig farms are additional intensive than the intensive sheep and cattle production, and are found close to the metropolitan areas of Gauteng, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The predominant pig breeds are the South African Landrace, the Giant White, the Duroc and therefore the Pietrain.
South Africa's annual poultry meat production is 960 000 tons. Broiler production contributes about 82% to total poultry meat production, with the rest made from mature chicken slaughter (culls), tiny-scale and backyard poultry production, ducks, geese, turkeys and other specialised red meat products. Income from poultry and egg production amounted to R11.three-billion in 2002/03.
South Africa accounts for 67% of world sales of ostrich product - leather, meat and feathers. The gross price for ostrich feathers and merchandise during 2002/03 was R276.five-million.
Game farming:
South Africa has more game and a wider selection of game species than most countries. Game farming has grown over the years, and today could be a viable trade with nice economic potential. The country's main game areas are in Limpopo province, North West, Mpumalanga, the Free State, the Eastern Cape, the Karoo, the Kalahari within the Northern Cape and therefore the thorn scrub of KwaZulu-Natal.
A descriptive game-production model has been developed for optimising intensive animal production on game farms, with the potential to extend the global turn out of the game business by between 8% and 15%.
Aquaculture:
The aquaculture business in South Africa continues to create meaningful progress in cultivation technology, promoting strategy, promoting practice and scientific innovation. Mussels, trout, tilapia, catfish, oysters and waterblommetjies (Cape pondweed) are the key aquaculture species. Mussel farming occurs mainly at Saldanha Bay.
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