This week at Luyengo Fresh Produce

This is a new born calf with his mother. This calf is about two hours old.

Once again a busy week at Luyengo. It was business as usual in spite of Tiekie suffering a bout of flu. We planted 4 000 cabbage seedlings and harvested cabbage and tomatoes

More carrots and beetroot were planted this week and we concentrated on the tomatoes that we will cultivate using the open hydroponic system.

Our butternut field is also looking very good.

Average max temp this week on the farm: 28°C

Average min temp this week on the farm: 15°C

Rainfall Averages 2013 to Date

January         169mm 270mm

February 140mm 180mm

March 100mm 167mm

April         70mm

75mm

We had our first inspection from government’s seed production team to check on our bean seed plants. We are thrilled to announce that Luyengo Fresh Produce received a good report. We have also agreed on the final price for the seed at E22 000.00 per ton, while the normal commercial price for bean seed is E 13 000.00

(E = Emalangeni, the Swazi Currency which is on a par with the South African Rand (ZAR) and at the time of writing this E22 000 was equal to £1,571.)

Ready for another “ah sweet” story?

Cattle farmers want female calves because they can produce more cattle and the bottom line is – generate more income. So on a cattle farm a male calf is doomed.

On a fresh produce farm only the perfect can be sold to the client.  Tiekie has looked at the amount of damaged and below standard produce that has to be discarded and he went looking for a solution. He does have a piggery that can benefit from this waste but that means transporting the waste and that involves costs in the long run. Then he met a local cattle farmer and the solution was clear. Tiekie has already got one young calf, called Toffee, on the farm. The first few days Toffee had to be bottle fed with milk but since he was weaned he is doing his best to work away all the sub-standard vegetables thrown into his part of the farm. He is kept behind a fence so as not to help himself to the prime produce. 

Toffee is treated well, he has a lush shaded part of the farm as his home and the staff regularly visit him to feed him and to keep an eye on his well-being. Tiekie may find him another calf-friend one of these days.

Think about these wise words from Africa:  A fight between grasshoppers is a joy to the crow. 

Here is Toffee behind his fence. He is growing  into a healthy young bull.

More soon,

Heloise