Valuable Kalahari Red goat

A special goat breed, Kalahari Red sire ‘Sta Soft’ (777-20-051), which was bred and sold by Bushra Stud in Botswana, has fetched a record price of R165,000 (BWP120,000), about N7.2 million at the annual Trifecta Elite Sale that was held at the National Agriculture Showground in Sebele. The buck was purchased by the South African Kalahari Red stud breeder, Rulé Ernst from the Bonisa Reds stud, near Wolmaransstad in North West. The purchase and new record price beats the previous record of R143,472 set in November 2021 for the buck ‘Homeboy’, which was also sold by Bushra Stud.

Speaking on the matter, Ernst expressed her admiration for Sta Soft’s impressive, masculine head, capacity, exceptional length, and breeding values. “This buck will add greatly to not only the genetic diversity of my flock, but also to the national Kalahari Red genetics base. I have previously purchased a buck from the Bushra stud that has added significantly to the quality of the Bonisa stud”, she told Farmer’s Weekly.  Faheem Kala, of Bushra Stud in Botswana, a Kalahari Red and Boer Goat Stud breeder, Sta Soft, hails from a highly proven genetic line, as “His sire-side goes back to the famed ‘Patchy’ bloodline, which has been one of the most impactful breeding lines in the Kalahari Red industry, whereas his mother was a 2016 Serowe show champion here in Botswana”. Speaking further, Kala says that Sta Soft is well-muscled and carries a lot of meat; his depth of body and strong top line are finished off by one of the most impressive heads in the goat industry.

“Farmers should always try to buy correct goats out of good and proven bloodlines. This will help breed quality moving forward, avoiding goats with faults and defects”, Kala said. The Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Oklahoma State University informed that the Kalahari Red is a meat-type goat breed that originated from South Africa. “The namesake comes from the Kalahari desert, which spans the borders of Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia. This semi-arid climate has contributed to Kalahari’s overall hardiness. Although guided by selective breeding, natural selection played a major role in the development of this breed. These are particularly sun, parasite, and disease resistant livestock”, the institution added.

In the comparative study of growth patterns of Kalahari Red goats and West African dwarf goats reared in Southwest, Nigeria, which was published in the Nigerian Journal of Animal Production, the Karahari goat has many benefits such that it can be used to implement feeding and management decisions that would optimise productivity while information on superior growth performance of the Kalahari Red goat can equally be utilised to further investigate genetic improvement of the indigenous West African dwarf population through crossbreeding, among other benefits.