We had a fantastic time at the 2015 National Boran Auction last weekend that was held at the Afridome in Parys. It is always a real pleasure to catch up and socialise with our fellow breeders from around the country and to meet new people interested in the breed. The auction itself went very well. The top priced bull, Rupert LW 09-13, was sold for R230’000 to a Namibian breeder. Several females, both cows and heifers went for between R60’000 and R85’000 with average prices in the range of R35’000 (see Latest Auction Results). We were thrilled to purchase two great animals to join the Vastrap herd. A prospective stud sire, DVB 08-16, whose grandfather is 2738 and on the dam side has 494 and HVT 95-03 (R70’000). We also bought, JH 07-08, which has HVT 95-03 as her grandfather and KPO 791 on her dam side (R35’000).
The biggest surprise for us, was that Vastrap was awarded the Dave Green Memorial trophy for the best managed medium-sized Boran herd in South Africa! We really weren’t expecting any prizes, but it is fantastic to be acknowledged and to know that our work is paying dividends. The award not only celebrates the animals, but also gives credit for good administration and data capturing, which is one of the things we focus a lot of effort on.
The award is based on performance in a number of quantitative indicators. A third of the scoring is for data capturing (birth, weaning, 12 & 18 month weights) and the percentage of bulls that participate in phase D performance tests. Vastrap bulls account for a third of all Boran bulls in Studbook’s official performance tests each year. This data plays a very important role in our selection of bulls for the annual Vastrap Auction, which will be held on 14 August (see 2015 Vastrap Boran Auction).
The rest of the scoring is based on the size of the herd, inter-calving performance, age of first calf of herd and days since last calving. We have been very blessed to have exceptional fertility in our herd over the past year. There are many things one can do to improve performance in this area to achieve consistently good results, but a lot of it is also down to weather and grazing conditions. There is no doubt that we have been blessed and we are extremely grateful to have these wonderful animals in our daily lives.
Vastrap Boran 