Breeder suffers huge loss

Award-winning stud breeder Piet Coetzee lost small stock to the value of N$600 000 when rain and freezing winds hit his farm.Coetzee, who is also a renowned auctioneer, lost between 120 and 130 head of small stock on Monday night. Coetzee and his son farm on the 3 500-hectare farm Aukukams in the Rehoboth district, about 170km from Windhoek. Coetzee breeds Kaokoland Damara, Red Damara, Van Rooy and Veldmaster sheep, and Boerbok and Kalahari Red goats. According to Coetzee they received about 74mm of rain, accompanied by a freezing wind, on Monday night. On Tuesday morning more than 120 of his animals lay dead – 82 sheep and 40 goats. He feared that more could die later, as the freezing rain had left them in poor condition.According to Coetzee a major part of his Damara, Boerbok and Van Rooy studs was lost. Coetzee told Namibian Sun that although about 15 lambs survived the cold, their mothers died and they now have to be hand reared.He said the loss was estimated at N$600 000. Because he breeds stud animals, excellent genetic lines have also been lost. According to Coetzee the carcasses were loaded onto a bakkie and disposed of on Tuesday. “I could not watch anymore. I just climbed into my car and drove back to Windhoek,” he said.Coetzee on Tuesday posted photos of his losses on social media, saying that he felt hopeless and that farming “was not fun anymore”. However, encouraging messages streamed in from all over Namibia urging him to keep going. Coetzee yesterday said it was the worst setback he had ever suffered. “I have had losses, but never as bad as this one. I have been in this business for 21 years. But that is farming for you and I will get back on my feet.”Coetzee has been a highly successful small-stock breeder and he and his sons run Namboer Auctioneers in a close corporation. Coetzee has won world championships with his small stock, and holds the world record for the most expensive Van Rooy ram at N$45 000.He was crowned Small Stock Breeder of the Year for five years in a row since 2009 and is one of only 370 individuals in the world to have been awarded the National Auctioneers Association's prestigious Certified Estate Specialist (CES) award as an internationally qualified specialist auctioneer.He was also crowned SA's champion auctioneer in 2008 and competed at the world championships in Nashville in 2008.Communal farmers and stud breeders alike buy Aukukams stud rams and ewes to improve their flocks.There have been reports of other livestock losses in the Rehoboth and Kalkrand areas, of up to 300 animals per farmer. Unity Olivier yesterday posted on Facebook that a lot of small-stock farmers had probably suffered losses. “On Blomputs, 33km east of Rehoboth, we had 33mm of rain and more than 60 animals died and we are still counting,” Olivier wrote. ELLANIE SMIT

Breeder suffers huge loss

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-17

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Breeder suffers huge loss

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-17

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