Women venture into the cattle business

LEINANYANA TSIANE | Wednesday June 2, 2010 00:00

 

Popularly known as Showers of Blessings, this group numbering seven, was formed in 2008 and is the brain child of Tlhakadiawa Councillor, Evelyn Kgodungwe who headed the all to support women empowerment.

'We almost gave up after applying for funding from Women's Affairs Division because it took a year for the grant to be approved but Mma Kgodungwe encouraged us to be patient, eventually we were given P244, 000,' Mosa Kegolotswe, one of the members explained. She said the money was used to buy cattle, purchase equipment like pipes that they use to draw water from the borehole, as well as pay rent for the farm where they keep their cattle. Kegolotswe explained that after the group buys the cattle from places such as Lepokole, Semolale and Gobojango, they keep the beasts in a feedlot for a period of three months before selling to BMC.

'We buy all types of breeds, Simmental, Brahman, Afrikaner as long as it is a good breed because we want to sell at a good price at BMC. We buy beasts from as high as P2, 000 to P3, 000. Feeding for these animals takes three months and they are ready to be sold. We start selling them at 18 months and above,' she said.

The group say they discovered that the cattle business was more profitable than poultry farming.  To add value to their business the women, through the help of a veterinary officer, have been trained on cattle farming and all of them are competent enough to dip or administer injections on the beasts.  They currently rent a farm in Mowana, between Selebi Phikwe and Sefhophe, but are looking for land they can call their own.

They acknowledge that there is a shortage of cattle and highlight other challenges they face in this business.They do not have a truck to ferry their cattle and have to hire trucks for this job.

'That is not our only problem but we had to use our own funds to build the kraals and storeroom where we keep the stock feed which we buy from shops and sometimes it is expensive. We feed them Lucern though we give them other stock feeds. Not only that but there was a time when our borehole broke down and the repairs were expensive,' Kegolotswe said.

In spite of these challenges, Showers of Blessings encourages other women to make use of available government policies to empower themselves and start their own projects.