Emerging Cattle Farmers

A survey to assess the production management practises and challenges facing the developing cattle farmers was conducted by consulting with a total of 60 smallholder cattle producers in Amathole and Chris Hani districts situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The results of the current study are bringing evidence that our respondents are elderly people, with a lot of farming experience, sufficient land and being dominated by men. Extensive farming was the most (67%) recorded practised. A small proportion of the respondents were keeping farm records (n=21), as result they cannot really track the trend of their business. Most of them had infrastructures that were in poor condition such as fencing, farm houses and access roads, while handling facilities in most of the farms did not exist.