FACULTY OF NATURAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES
ANIMAL SCIENCE PROGRAM
ANSM 415 : BEEF PRODUCTION SCIENCE
ASSIGNMENT : 1
DUE DATE :
INITIALS AND SURNAME :
STUDENT NUMBER :
, The Modern Beef Industry in South Africa
Introduction
Animal breeding the art and science of selecting and mating specific animals to influence the type and
performance of the offspring beared from the mating. It is considered the only science in animal
husbandry that links with the market of the beef entrepreneur as well as the beef industry.
Smallholder agriculture defines the efforts of the modern agricultural entrepreneur in South Africa. The
sector has been identified as the vehicle through which the ambitions of poverty alleviation and rural
development can be achieved (Pienaar & Traub, 2015). Over the span of the past decade, the role of
smallholder agriculture has been highly debated. As such, the smallholder industry has been assigned the
task to feed the global population of approximately 9 billion people and counting by the year 2050
(Christiaensen, et al., 2010).
Tasked with the job to draft guidelines for beef cattle marketing for beef farmers in South Africa, under
the above mentioned theme, key factors and aspects will be discussed in this assignment. Placing
consideration on the South African beef cattle industry dynamics, the following arguments will be
dissected:
1. Overview of the South African beef cattle industry.
2. Effect of age on price per kilogram.
3. Effect of fat covering on price per kilogram.
4. Effect of conformation of price per kilogram.
5. Effect of bruising on price per kilogram.
6. Marketing recommendations to optimise income of your beef cattle enterprise.
1. Overview of the South African Beef Cattle Industry.
In 1992, the South African meat industry was deregulated which led to the formation of the new
Marketing of Agricultural Products Act, Act no. 47 of 1996 (Soji et al. 2015). The Act was introduced as
a means to better the marketing approaches of agricultural products belonging to smallholder farmers
including cattle and their by-products. Disappointingly, more than twenty years after the deregulation,
smallholder cattle producers are still trapped in a vicious cycle of challenges, including low productivity
rates and great lack of access to stable and dependable markets to push efficient cattle production
sustainably(Njuki et al. 2009).
In South Africa, livestock farming, particularly beef cattle farming, is a nationwide agricultural practice,
both at smallholder and commercial level. According to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries, South Africa has a cattle population of approximately 14.1 million (DAFF, 2012), which
amounts to 6.0% of the total percentage of cattle on the African continent. It has been estimated that 40%
of the country’s total cattle population belongs to smallholder producers who raise on communally owned
SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES
ANIMAL SCIENCE PROGRAM
ANSM 415 : BEEF PRODUCTION SCIENCE
ASSIGNMENT : 1
DUE DATE :
INITIALS AND SURNAME :
STUDENT NUMBER :
, The Modern Beef Industry in South Africa
Introduction
Animal breeding the art and science of selecting and mating specific animals to influence the type and
performance of the offspring beared from the mating. It is considered the only science in animal
husbandry that links with the market of the beef entrepreneur as well as the beef industry.
Smallholder agriculture defines the efforts of the modern agricultural entrepreneur in South Africa. The
sector has been identified as the vehicle through which the ambitions of poverty alleviation and rural
development can be achieved (Pienaar & Traub, 2015). Over the span of the past decade, the role of
smallholder agriculture has been highly debated. As such, the smallholder industry has been assigned the
task to feed the global population of approximately 9 billion people and counting by the year 2050
(Christiaensen, et al., 2010).
Tasked with the job to draft guidelines for beef cattle marketing for beef farmers in South Africa, under
the above mentioned theme, key factors and aspects will be discussed in this assignment. Placing
consideration on the South African beef cattle industry dynamics, the following arguments will be
dissected:
1. Overview of the South African beef cattle industry.
2. Effect of age on price per kilogram.
3. Effect of fat covering on price per kilogram.
4. Effect of conformation of price per kilogram.
5. Effect of bruising on price per kilogram.
6. Marketing recommendations to optimise income of your beef cattle enterprise.
1. Overview of the South African Beef Cattle Industry.
In 1992, the South African meat industry was deregulated which led to the formation of the new
Marketing of Agricultural Products Act, Act no. 47 of 1996 (Soji et al. 2015). The Act was introduced as
a means to better the marketing approaches of agricultural products belonging to smallholder farmers
including cattle and their by-products. Disappointingly, more than twenty years after the deregulation,
smallholder cattle producers are still trapped in a vicious cycle of challenges, including low productivity
rates and great lack of access to stable and dependable markets to push efficient cattle production
sustainably(Njuki et al. 2009).
In South Africa, livestock farming, particularly beef cattle farming, is a nationwide agricultural practice,
both at smallholder and commercial level. According to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries, South Africa has a cattle population of approximately 14.1 million (DAFF, 2012), which
amounts to 6.0% of the total percentage of cattle on the African continent. It has been estimated that 40%
of the country’s total cattle population belongs to smallholder producers who raise on communally owned
