Tafelsig Ngunis is the largest herd of females and the second largest total herd in South Africa. The herd is made up of 60% Barthlow Combine from the Mukuze area, 10% Makatini, 10% from the Lebowa in the Northern Transvaal and 20% Pedistock.

The 100 cows in the Pediherd make up the largest group of registered Pedi’s in the country. The entire herd is subjected to performance testing. Selection done on cow/calf efficiency and cow ICP

Young bulls are put to sour veld grazing to grow for the following year. Those that do the best and comply to the strictest phenotypical paramaters are kept as bulls. The rest are sent to feed-lots in the north. Between 5% and 10% are kept for breeding and selling purposes.

The next sale on the annual production of heffers will take place on the 28th September where we aim to have 130 females on sale.  Selection Goals are rated in the following order: Priority A - All animals must adhere to the Armstrong & Meyer Nguni  Cattle description of Ngunis, Priority B – Fertility, Priority C – Cow/Calf efficiency ratio. 		nguni cattle breeder cedric stoch
 

Retention Females
Normally all females are put to bulls at ± one year. Retention females are selected from the pregnant group. The rest of the pregnant females are put up for auction.  All tempremental females are culled at weaning and checked a second time at branding. Retention females are normally the prodgeny of cows ten years and older (automatically selecting for longevity) or/and if they are the prodgeny of a specific bull kept back for a specific reason.

Climate
Cattle live in typical Mediterranean climate where the grazing season usually lasts 60 to 90 days (rain depending).  The cattle are then supplemented with hay on wheat and oat stubble land.