Breeding Strategies

We have chosen to follow a well established South African gene-pool with a production history second to none. Unlike many Studs who advertise a wide diversity in their genetic base with animals purchased from every direction, our Stud was developed on lines from Nico Botha and two lines from Braam Maritz. In recent times we have introduced two family lines from Lukas Burger which are distantly related to some of our existing family lines.

It is our strong belief that having a narrower rather than wide gene-pool, allows the genetic strengths to be multiplied through careful line breeding and bringing in line crosses when new traits are required.

With the assistance of the detailed records of Nico Botha and Lukas Burger, we are able to trace the ancestry of our animals much further than the Pedigree Certificates show. This enables us identify where particular traits originated and how the careful line breeding in South Africa has cemented in these traits in the various family lines, creating a high degree in their ability to pass on their particular strengths. This ensures the end result is top quality animals that will breed true.

Many Studs win in the Show ring with kids from imported embryos (that is easy), the challenge is to breed on with these imported animals and produce your own Champions. We are proud to say we have achieved this goal many times over at the highest level.

Through the use of embryo transfer we have made significant genetic progress each year, which has enabled us to be more selective and only breeding with the very best we have produced. We have now developed our own “Family Lines”, which are sub-families to the original South African family lines we began with.

We know our Stud is going in the right direction, because every year without fail we look at our new kids on the ground and say, “These are the best kids we have ever produced”.

Much of our success can be attributed to the very sound advice given to us by our good friends and mentors, Nico Botha and Lukas Burger. Nico and Lukas have over the years, kindly shared their wealth of experience with us, always guiding us in the right direction to help us achieve our goals.

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