It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I report that Jackie MHB 05-08 was stuck and killed by lightening last night. Jackie has had such a huge impact at Vastrap and her story reflects the journey that I have walked with the Boran. It’s probably hard for new Boran breeders to really … Continue reading Jackie MHB 05-08 – Tribute to a Herd Matriarch
Hi everyone, it's Quentin here. We are starting to gear up for the 2017 Vastrap Auction, which will be held on Friday, 18 August. This weekend, while taking photos of the new crop of 3 year old bulls that we'll be offering, I noticed something which highlights the great value for money that can be … Continue reading Vastrap Auction Bulls
Thank you to everyone who supported the 2016 Vastrap Auction on Friday, 19 August. We had a lovely dinner at Vastrap the night before the auction catching up with people who had travelled from far to be there. The next morning, quite unusually for the Free State at this time of year, we woke up … Continue reading Gumboots and raincoats at the 2016 Vastrap Auction!
At Vastrap Boran, we verify the parentage of every stud animal through DNA testing at Unistel laboratories. This is not only because we use more than one bull in each breeding herd (multi-siring), but also because we believe that it is crucial to establish the parentage of our animals with 100% certainty. The confirmation of … Continue reading The importance of parentage verification through DNA testing
Every year as part of our efforts to ensure that only the best 3-year old bulls are offered at the annual Vastrap Boran Auction, some independent fellow Boran breeders help us to do a visual evaluation of our bulls. It was one of the coldest mornings of the year, but seeing how far the bulls have come … Continue reading Final bull selection for the 2016 Vastrap Auction
Vastrap Boran is excited to introduce one of our new stud sires, Samurai SS 11-31 (Dianna SS 06-03 x Kobra SS 08-61). His mother, Dianna SS 06-03 (HVT 97-15 x HVT 95-03) caught Quentin's eye very early in his stud breeding career when he visited Corn van der Watt in January 2012. She is an extraordinary cow – beautiful … Continue reading Introducing our new stud sire, Samurai SS 11-31!
Based on records going back 119 years, 2015 was the driest year ever recorded in our district. At Vastrap we recorded 386mm in 2015 compared with a long term average of 620mm. Our rainfall for the 2015/16 summer has only been 300mm. Two dry summers in a row have really taken their toll causing a succession … Continue reading Boran resilient through extreme drought
Like many other parts of the country, Vastrap has been affected by a severe drought this year. By last week the veld was looking very desert-like with no roughage or green shoots for the animals. Things were so bad that we started grazing animals in the road and calling in favours to get extra feed bales from … Continue reading At Nature’s Mercy
The two most prominent bloodlines in the Vastrap Boran herd are the Jackie motherline and the Khan sireline. The Jackie's have been prolific breeders because of their enormous flushing capabilities and excellent fertility. The Jackie's are obviously close to our hearts, because the very first investment we made in the Boran was the purchase of Jackie … Continue reading Jackie-Khan: the foundation of the Vastrap herd
Vastrap Boran 