Vastrap Boran (VST) is a Boran cattle stud owned by Quentin and Marisa de Bruyn based near Ladybrand in the Eastern Free State. We’ve been Boran stud breeders since 2010 and significantly scaled up our operation in 2011 when we purchased the entire Mollshoop Boran (MHB) herd, which was originally established in 1999. Prior to breeding Boran, Quentin farmed cattle commercially for 10 years and this continues to be an important part of our business along with our crop farming (mainly maize, sunflower and wheat).
Our hearts lie with the Boran and our stud business takes up most of our time these days. See About Us for more details on how our stud was established and Why the Boran? for more information about Boran cattle.
We are passionate about promoting the Boran breed in South Africa. As an indigenous breed it has many beneficial characteristics, such as high resistance to ticks, biting insects and disease; the ability to maintain condition during drought (see Boran resilient through extreme drought); a strong herd instinct which provides protection from predation and theft; good temperament, strong mothering instincts, high fertility and longevity. Its ability to be fattened off the veld is a huge advantage in the production of organic grass-fed beef. Because it’s been a pure breed for 1 300 years (rather than a compound breed), we believe it has huge potential in cross breeding. Indeed, we’ve already experienced its strong hybrid vigour first hand in our own commercial herd where we cross Boran bulls with Angus cows (see The Commercial Future of the Boran: Cross-Breeding). See The Boran: God’s Gift to Cattlemen for more details on the origins and special attributes of Boran cattle.
We think it’s important to build lasting relationships with fellow breeders and our clients. For this reason we welcome farm visits and make an effort to travel around the country to visit other breeders when time allows. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have or to arrange a visit. We are always happy to share our experience and to learn from others!
The annual Vastrap Boran Auction takes place in the first half of August each year. In order to be transparent, our auction policy is to sell all of our own-bred pregnant 7-year old cows (no exceptions!) and only 20 of our best performance tested 3-year old bulls. A selection of heifers is also offered. The 2017 Vastrap Auction will take place on Friday, 18 August 2017. (For details of our last auction see 2016 Vastrap Boran Auction and Gumboots and raincoats at the 4th Vastrap Auction).
We also sell Boran heifers, cows and bulls out of hand off the farm throughout the year (see Boran bulls for sale). Details of semen and embryos for sale are also available on the website.
MORE INFORMATION
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Click here for sales of Boran Bulls, Boran Semen and Boran Embryos.
The famous Jackie MHB 05-08.
The Vastrap herd matriarch Hope MHB 04-11.
Rustin MHB 06-30 (Marula 25) – our main stud sire between 2010 and 2014.
Quentin with Hope MHB 04-11.
Nothing beats a bit of Boran bonding!
Introducing our daughter, Livia to the Boran!
Hi. My name is Park Munkombwe from Zambia. I ve spent two hours going through your website. Very interesting. I got inspired. In zambia borans are common and do well. I have a few myself. I’m developing a heard but am crossing bonsimara females with boran bull. So reading your story has really given renewed energy.
Hi Park. Sorry about the late reply. Hope your farming is going well. If ever you are in SA you are welcome to come and visit. Cheers Quentin
Hi Guys, i am from Zimbabwe and i just can not explain the feeling i have for your Boran project, hey you guys are stunning ! how realistic is flushing a cow and does it required technical people or anyone can do that at his farm. i wanna try one.
Hi Fortune, thanks very much for your positive feedback. We think the Boran are stunning too! Embryo flushing is very technical and needs experienced people to prepare the cows correctly for the flushing artificially inseminate the cows,harvest the embryos, assess their quality and then re-implant them. We use a great team of veterinary scientist from Embryo Plus in Brits. Regards, Quentin.
Hi guys my name is Bob an Aussie & I have started a project with buying some borans from Giles at Olpejeta with my Massai friend from the Mara. Today we bought another 5 heifers so we now have 15 head, anyway my wife and I are slowly making our way down to .SA . Will be there in October so hopefully we can catch up with yous & other boran breeders.. love your Borans.
Hi Bob, great to hear from you! We’d love to host you here in South Africa. We’re close to the border of Lesotho in the Eastern Free State. We spent our honeymoon at Ol Pejeta and other parts of Kenya so it holds many happy memories for us. Travel safely and hope to meet you and Cheryl later this year! Best, Quentin & Marisa
Dear Quintin,
Have you sold Zappa, Jackpot and Jolly at your last auction? If not, I am interested in purchasing one of them. Please contact me on my email address. Many thanks.
Thanks for your enquiry Craig. We’ve sent you and email. Please let us know if you don’t receive it.
hi guys? i would like to know the due purpose of boran
Hi
The two main purposes are to use the Boran bull to cross breed with existing SA breeds because of the Boran’s hybrid vigour.
The other is to produce low cost beef. The Boran are excellent forage converters and are also browsers. They are resistant to biting insects because of their thick movable skin and therefore save costs in terms of reduced mortality and vetinary/medical costs.
Most importantly, they are beautiful and functional and steal any cattleman’s heart.
Hope that helps
Regards
Quentin
Good Morning,
I love animals so much and I also have some cattle (brahman and mixed breed simmentaler verse) with a white bull but I’ve got to hand it to you guys wow those Boran breeds a very beautiful and their bulls are much more handsome,wow next year I want to get myself a young Boran Bull,I would like to make mixed breeds,after what I just saw I’m voting for Boran
Thank you for visiting our site Rakgosi and for taking the time to give us such great feedback! We agree with you wholeheartedly that the Boran Bulls are handsome and even better, they deliver exceptional calves when used in cross breeding. You are very welcome to come and visit us any time to see our cattle in person. You will not be disappointed!!
Hi Rakgosi
Thank you for your kind remarks. As you can see, we have fallen head over heels in love with the Boran. I currently have several bulls that I am selling out of hand. Price range is R25k to R35k.
Otherwise our annual bull sale is in August every year. You are welcome to arrange a farm visit as well.
Regards
Quentin
i would like to purchase boran heifers in 2015 but have no idea as to how is cost per head..like average price.Would you pls give me a clue.
Hi Norman. Where are you from? I suggest you come and visit. We are in Ladybrand on the Lesotho border. Heifer vary in price from R100’000 to R18’000 – depending in quality, genetic rarity and pregnancy status. You pay peanuts your will get monkeys.
im in zimbabwe and would like to buy 10 boran heifers tostart a breeding project in chegutu zimbabwe
Charles, I am more than willing to sell some heifers to you. I have three groups. R60’000 for my absolute top quality heifers. R35’000 for second best group and R20’000 for the average group. If you want F1 boran cross heifers, those go for R10000 to R12000.
Hi
I am from zimbabwe and starting a beef cattle project midyear 2015. Just wanted to find out the actual price of a boran heifer and if i want to buy a head of 50 how much would it cost. Beutifull stuff !!! Love your boran.
Hi Quentin
Once again I will sincerely like to express my in ability to get across to you regarding the export of Boran semen to Nigeria because of the election that just took place in Nigeria.i will soon get back to you with all my paper permit to enable me buy some semen.
My regards to your wife Marisa
Thanks
Ibrahim Mohammed Askirama
Thanks for the update Ibrahim. We completely understand the situation. There is no rush from our side. The most important thing is that the procedures are in place and that you eventually get the best possible genetics to make a good start for the Boran in Nigeria.
Regards, Quentin
Hoping to visit your farm sometimes next year for bench marking purposes. I need to start my own boran stud breeding in 2017, so how much could be the total cost for 20 heifers of jackie, savanna and or rustin blood line and a bull good to establish a stud breeding
Kaone, you are most welcome to schedule a visit to our stud. Please let me have some dates that you are keen to come and visit and I will let you know what suits me the best. Regards
Quentin
I would like to ask if you are selling one week to four weeks old bull calves as I am breeding from that age to 9months then sell to feedlots.Looking forward hearing from you soon.Thank you.
Hi Eric. We do not sell at that age.
Dear Quentin, I am a Ugandan veterinarian currently working and living in Zimbabwe. Like most of the readers, I am interested in establishing a Boran breeding project in Uganda on a 1,800 acre ranch that currently holds local zebu and Ankole cattle. I would like to arrange to visit your project with a view to assessing the options – i.e. to purchase and export live animals (bulls and heifers) or to go down the AI/embryo transfer routes etc. Please let me know when you are available to discuss further.
Hi Patrick. You are welcome to come and visit. We are busy from the 10th to 20th of June, but any other time would be fine. Are
you planning to come to SA?
Regards
Good Evening, I really like your Boran breed. I have been pondering on which breed to stick to, I like ur Boran and angus breed an ideal African breed.
Johnny, I like several traits from both breeds and can hopefully select animals that capture the best from both. I would like to keep to keep on using pure breed bulls to capture the hybrid vigour.
If I may ask as a new or upcoming farmer will you recommend I consider starting with pure Boran, please advice.
Well I do like boranes but I wonder they are not expensive to keep and whether they have good returns (ROE)
It is interesting to see how far you guys have come. I really want to thank you for the way you have inspired me . I am from Zambia and currently am trying to build up a herd of Boran mixed with the local Angoni breed. With you article on your web site i will truly go and do Borans . The few i Have so far are doing well.
Hi Armitage, thank you so much for getting in touch! We are very pleased to hear that our story has helped you. We love sharing our knowledge and passion of the Boran. All the best with your Boran farming!
any one have bull wepener,Dewetsdorp,Ladybrand,Zastron?
Hi Simon, thank you for your enquiry. We do have a few bulls for sale if you look under our Bulls for Sale page. However, we are busy preparing our 3 year old Bulls that will be sold at the Vastrap Auction on 19 August. If you are based in the Free State then you are welcome to set up an appointment to come and visit us and see all the bulls. Regards, Quentin
Hi Quentin. Really impressed with your website and what you are doing with the Boran. I started using them in Zim, but had to stop when we got shut down. Have you exported any semen to Australia yet? Im sure you probably have. Im looking to get back into breeding them and crossing with Piedmontese to start. Only have a very small hobby herd at present. Could you let me know if you have semen, what bulls they from and how much they are worth? I like the look of Impi. Thanks. Mark
Hi Mark, thanks for your kind comments. Where in
Australia are you based? Unfortunately there is no export protocol with Australia. At the moment we can only export semen to other African countries. A couple of quarantine centers are trying to negotiate to export embryos to Australia but there’s still no protocol in place. Really sorry not to be able to help you! Regards, Quentin
Hi Quentin
Thanks for the reply. We are up near Cairns in north Queensland. We’ll have to see what has to be done from this side. I hope to be in touch soon.Regards
Mark
Hello guys
My name is Divine from zimbabwe, I have a herd of about 50 brahman cattle and I looking for 20 pure bred boran heifers and 2 bulls. what would be the price for long weaners
Hi Divine
Thank you very much for getting in touch. We only sell fully registered pregnant heifers, no long weaners. Our auction is on 19 August and you will be able to get the best quality bulls at the auction for as little as R18000. There will be 20 Bulls on offer and 24 good quality SP heifers. We’re not selling anything off the farm until later in the year. Please let us know if you have anymore questions. We will be putting a lot more information on the website over the next few weeks.
Regards, Quentjn
Hi I’m in zimbabwe looking forward to buy 25 breeding age Boran heifers from south africa kindly assist where I can get them
Hi Surpose,
Thank you for your enquiry. We will have 24 heifers on offer at the Vastrap Auction on 19 August. We won’t be selling anything off the farm until next year so that will be your best option.
Regards, Quentin
Hi Guys, my name is Billy Moganedi and breeding brahman cattle from well known breeders like Klein-cor, R10 and Loriza but will like to comment on your exceptionally Borans. I will Love to have a few of your breed to try them out. I am very impressed and stunned at the same time. Yooooo
Hi Billy
Great to hear from you! Thank you for taking the time to look at our animals. We’re very glad that you are impressed!! We would love to have you visit some time to show you the Boran and share our passion for the breed with a fellow cattleman.
Regards, Quentin & Marisa