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At the start of 2016 in the best
interest of our stud we decided to make
the serious decision of resigning from
the Boran society and deregistering all
our Borans knowing full well it would
have serious long-term consequences.
This became necessary because we had a
serious conflict of interest at the time
on how the society conducted inspections
and how animals were culled for
reproduction. The high costs to members
of the society because of the way the
society was also lavishly spending money
only benefiting a few of the bigger
breeders was also unacceptable.
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Females were being deregistered on first
calving dates and inter calving periods
not considering the vast differences in
feeding and management of breeders that
led to animals performing very
differently,
it mostly had nothing to do with the
genetic makeup or ability of the female
to reproduce. The culling standards
were not set to high at all, it was just
unfair and not good for the breed that
conditions regarding feeding and
management determined whether an animal
must be culled or not. When BLUP
values with high accuracy would later
become available figures could have then
been used to accurately class out the
actual weaker producers as BLUP removes
the effect of the environment. To be
honest we were just not prepared to
again get caught up in the politics of
stud breeding that I knew so well, it is
all about how one can manipulate the
system and make the rules for your
personal financial benefit and very
rarely about improving the animals.
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We had started Borans to fit in with our
farming management strategy of being
able to make it through the bad times
because the good times look after
themselves, put differently we wanted to
guarantee still making money no matter
how bad the times may be. Often this
meant that it was more important to save
money than make it. This strategy had
proved itself beyond doubt with the
development of our Meatmaster sheep and
we did not intend to also breed a new
cattle breed as we were convinced the
Boran offered us all we needed, we saw
this in Kenia, all we needed was to be
left alone to do our selections the way
we wanted to for our long-term success.
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Our starting point was to immediately
stop the feeding of any form of licks to
our Borans. From that day they would
receive only rock salt the same as our
Meatmasters. The severity of Nature
was to help us select for genetically
superior fertility, growth, and
adaptability. Within three to
four years, we drastically improved the
genetics of our entire heard. This was
possible because during that period we
simply culled the 25 % worst producers
each year and nature helped to
accurately identify them.
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Now free to do our selections the
COLLETT FARMING WAY we could start out
to be 100% committed to breeding a Boran
that can truly be the mother cow for
South Africa because of her maternal
traits, functional body structure and
adaption to our harsher environments.
Our bulls were to be very masculine,
heavy, and deep in the forequarters with
strong muscling over the back and loin.
Hindquarters must have just sufficient
muscling. Most importantly bulls and
cows had to carry enough body fat to
take them through the tough times
receiving no help what so ever At the
same time we have passionately selected
for all the traits such as disease
resistance, tick resistance and a docile
nature that we believe will win the
hearts of South African Cattle breeders.
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We have taken the long route of building
a stud with the best genetics and all
breeding done naturally in an extensive
environment. This is in stark contrast
to what most other breeders have been
doing by simply multiplying genetics
rapidly to have animals to sell and make
quick money. By doing so we have
established a heard that is fertile, can
rear calves adequately and maintain body
weight through dry winters without
feeding.
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We will not preach one thing and then do
the opposite as is customary in the stud
industry, as every breeder strives to
breed the most expensive, oversized or
rather over muscled bulls. Forgetting
in the process is what his breed is
really all about and what it is meant to
contribute to the South African cattle
industry.
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We concentrate on a medium framed Boran
with excellent balance between length
depth and width. Functional efficiency
and the ability to keep condition is
more important than excessive muscling.
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We do allow for variation in type to a
point as without variation you cannot
make genetic progress.
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We have found that not all Borans have
the ability to maintain condition in
times of drought or during the winter as
is claimed, but that there are defiantly
some outstanding animals in this regard.
We are focusing on these animals
getting the balance just right between
amount of milk and the ability to
maintain body weight. These two aspects
are at constant war with each other, and
few breeders make the effort to select
them in harmony.
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To breed polled Borans
was from the start our obvious choice as
more than 80% of commercial cattle
Breeders prefer Polled Bulls. For the
first time in 2020 the entire calf crop
was 100% polled.
