LOCATION
The farm is located on the fringes of the Baviaans Mega Reserve in the picturesque heart of Southern Cape sheep country.

SIZE
Consisting of 1 title, the farm is a shade over 673ha in extent.

DESCRIPTION
Anyone who has read my reports will know I am a huge fan of the Kouga River valley and its surrounds. The dramatic topography and breathtaking scenery give one an unparalleled sense of apparent infinity, with range behind range disappearing ultimately into a distant blue haze. Unlike some of the area though, this particular farm combines the best of the above with some serious agricultural potential. The Southern part of the farm is relatively flat to gently sloping and has a total of just over 100ha of old lands, the bulk of which are covered in natural pasture grasses. As one moves North, the gradients become steeper and the topography more dramatic, with well wooded valleys and drainage lines that have seasonal water flow. Even here though grazing is good and the farm is well utilized by its sustainable load of small stock as well as a fair amount of naturally occurring game.

VELD TYPES
The veld would be classified as mountain sourveld. The higher lying areas have a good covering of grasses, the bulk of which is made up of Aristida Cogesta interspersed with impressive stands of Themeda (“Rooigras”) and where the loads have historically been highest, Cynodon. Graze on the valley floors is good, with patches of kikuyu around wetter areas and healthy stands of Pannicum in the forest margins etc. As mentioned earlier, the old lands are covered with natural grasses, with “Rooigras” appearing to be the most successful displaying an impressive covering.
The valley floors are heavily wooded and very picturesque. Trees encountered included Wild and False Olive, Milkwoods, Guarri , Baviaans Cedar and some Rhus amongst others. Alien invasives are present, with a relatively large quantity of black wattle trees. The current owner has embarked on a management programme of systematically clearing the wattle from the catchment area of the main dam with firewood being sold to generate additional income towards various operating expenses.
The following fruit trees have been planted: +- 200 orange trees and a few nectarines and 1 or 2 macadamia trees.

RAINFALL / WATER
The farm falls into what was historically considered a winter rainfall area. This definitely appears to be changing over the years, with a fair amount of the annual rainfall falling in spring and early summer making it a transition summer / winter rainfall area with an annual average of 650mm.
The farm has a large earth dam with an impressive solar installation that pumps +- 15 000lts per hour (5.5kW pump) into a large reservoir from where water is gravity fed to the various livestock drinking points, irrigation supply points (draglines with 9 sprayers) and main homestead plus staff cottage.
In addition there are 3 fountains: 1 in the southernmost camp, 1 below the main homestead and 1 that feeds the dam which is used for irrigation. The water distribution across the farm is excellent.
The back section of the farm to the north is actively farmed and has lots of natural water.

LIVESTOCK / GAME
The sellers are currently farming with 400 dohne merino ewes.
There is a fair amount of game on the property including: Vaal Rhebok, Mountain Reedbuck
Bushbuck, Klipspringer, Common Duiker, Cape Grysbok, Blue Duiker and smaller fauna.
Occasionally migrant kudu come through from Baviaans, as do Eland from the surrounding farms.

IMPROVEMENTS
The farm has a very well developed and maintained infrastructure setup:
The main house +-(360m2) is a modern, 4 bedroom/2 bathroom unit, with a cavernous main bedroom with open walk-in dressing room and en-suite bathroom. The kitchen is large and beautifully fitted with granite tops throughout and a large scullery. The dining room and lounge are both very large, fronting onto a large verandah. There are fireplaces in the lounge and dining area.
There is a neat staff cottage overlooking the large dam.
In addition there is a large shed (+- 220m2) with built in cold-room and adjoining storerooms.
The farm has a sharing shed and sheep pens plus both sheep and cattle handling facilities.
Fencing - there are 4 large camps (including a 200ha game fenced camp) and 6 smaller camps around the house.
Eskom supplies power to the dwellings and cold-room etc.
The 11kva solar installation at the dam has 30 panels in total.

CONCLUSION
This farm offers both a superb lifestyle opportunity combined with a genuine small commercial stock farm. Farming is predominately hassle free with absolute no stock theft ever, no theft and very few of the pressures normally associated with farming. Add this to some of the best scenery in the province and superb eco-tourism potential and one has a very attractive proposition indeed. Read more...