• Rep Agrimonitor

‘The time to start is right now’

Ellanie Smit



A young, vibrant and highly ­ambitious Brahman stud breeder from the Omaheke Region says there is no right time to venture into farming, but that the best time is to start now.



McAlbert Katjivirue is a livestock breeder from Otjiwamapeta village in Epukiro and started farming in 2011 with a commercial herd, with most of it having a Brahman bloodline.



According to Agribank, he developed a deep love for the breed.



Katjivirue started acquiring quality Brahman bulls to transform the structural correctness of the animals in the herd.



In 2019, he bought his first stud animals with just a ­stud-registered bull and four heifers and ­registered with the Brahman Society of Namibia.



“With no capital loan from financial institutions, I managed to increase the herd by mostly getting good genetics, as it is of utmost ­importance to have fewer structural defects or ­problems in the herd,” Katjivirue added. Continuous learning



When asked how farming contributed to his character building, he said farming is a trade filled with immense learning, so as a farmer, one can never be an expert. One remains a student as it is continuous learning and with that, it teaches a farmer lots of ­patience, he said.



“It has contributed to my tolerance level and the ability to be patient as breeding requires passion and the will to wait for the fruits of your magic.”



Katjivirue said Otjiua Brahman Stud is home to great and high-quality genetics and those genetics emanate from their main stud sires, one being Ludo and the second being the son of Loriza, Burney.



According to him, the priority of Otjiua Brahman Stud is good ­genetics, offering to increase vigour aimed at improving the future Brahman race with good quality and performance.



“Having faced a severe drought between 2018 and 2019, I lost about 40 cattle from both my stud and commercial breeds.



“Another challenging experience was the inability to get a capital injection from banking in­stitutions to boost production.”



Katjivirue said acquiring land was another challenge.



“One cannot inject so much money into farming and still want to farm on communal land, so I had to lease a farm to have better control over the animals, where they are, and control grazing and mating too.”



Passion



According to him, the best thing he experienced while farming is the ability to become a believer and strive for high-standard breeding.



He also considers networking through farming to be another good experience.



“I hear a lot of young people claiming that they need a large sum of capital to start farming. Remember that the longer you wait, the more it will cost you to buy animals,” ­Katjivirue said.



He added that farming requires one to be passionate about what they do, be ready and able to make sacrifices and develop a system that will help them manage their farming ­businesses efficiently.



– ellanie@namibiansun.com