Good feed is a prerequisite for animal production and the making of hay and silage is an art that is supplemented every year with even more new knowledge. A company that aims to add value to its community is Alzu Voere and part of this service is Alzu’s biennial Silage and Hay Day on their farm outside Middelburg. At the event, the latest, smartest knowledge is exchanged so that farmers can always derive value from hay and silage.
“Farmers are in great need of these information days and the interest has grown strongly this year,” says Paul du Toit, one of Alzu’s directors. “Here were about 400 farmers from all over the large eastern region. We are looking forward to presenting haymaking and silage cutting demonstrations next time as well. ”
Above: Speakers who have already proven themselves thoroughly in agriculture have been carefully selected to treat the farmers with the latest agricultural knowledge. Ernst Janovsky of Absa Agribusiness made a thorough look at agriculture and highlighted what farmers need to steel themselves for and what they can rest assured about. Farmers could dig into Dr Chris van Dijk of the MPO, Albert van Rensburg of Biomin and Dr Kenneth Botha of Nutrigenics’ knowledge box of silage making to learn more about the benefits, but also the dangers associated with this important and rewarding feed component.
Above: Antibiotic growth promoters are already banned in Europe and there is a strong campaign around them worldwide
get rid of. This is where Biomin’s products come in handy. Biomin is from Austria and has been in business for five years.
South Africa available. The Biomin range includes silage vaccines, mycotoxin binders, natural growth promoters for chickens, probiotics and prebiotics, which are also living organisms extracted from plant extracts. Albert van Rensburg is Biomin’s managing director and Riaan de Beer is sales manager.
Above: Johan Theunissen is Agricol’s agent for Middelburg and northwards. “We are very proud of our new soybean seed range which includes the 5609 and the 5493 and is especially a good cultivar for this region. On the white maize side, we can now deliver the 5211’s Roundup-ready and staple gene cultivar to farmers, ”says Johan. Daneel Fourie (right) is sales manager for the eastern region.
Above: Over the past ten years, the power stations in the eastern Highveld’s exhaust gases have become much cleaner. The
Among other things, sulfur content has decreased drastically and this now creates a problem for farmers, because their land was in fact enriched by it. “Initially the farmers did not want to believe it, but nowadays Omnia is working hard
to distribute this fourth macro-element among farmers, ”says Gerrit de Jager, agriculturist for the south-eastern
Highveld. To his left is Petrhi van der Linde and to his right are Louwtjie van Rooyen and Lourens van Rooyen – all three Omnia agents for the Highveld.
Above: The Alzu team smiles broadly in front of their stall.
Above: Valtrac’s brand new two-row Pecus silage cutter is also now available in South Africa. Attie de Villiers,
sales manager of Valtrac, boasts with Leon Viljoen of Agsol at the carver who now can put maize twice
as fast in the silage pit. Agsol distributes Valtrac’s products in the Eastern region.