About

My grandfather, Percy Graham, farmed Aberdeen Angus Cattle and later my father and mother, Robin and Lyn Rous, continued farming with Black Angus Cattle. My mother experimented in cross breeding using an Nguni bull in a terminal cross with our Angus heifers. We were very impressed with the progeny. In the early 90’s my brother Trevor and I started farming full time and as a result from the increased interest in Nguni cattle and the higher prices paid for pure animals, we changed to a pure Nguni stud farming system.

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We sourced a  broad genetic base throughout Southern Africa, where my brother Trevor and I selected for smaller framed animals. We often travelled to many remote areas in acquiring our breeding animals.  The smaller framed cattle came out of an area of Zululand called the Makatini where the grass was ‘sour’ and less palatable to grazing animals.  We found that a smaller framed animals were able to produce a healthy calf, often with less feed, than a bigger framed cow. We strived to keep things as natural as possible and selected animals that were able to adapt to our farms in the Karoo with only rock salt as supplement.

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In 2007 my farm was bought by the ANC government. I flushed embryos from some of my cattle and exported them to Australia. In 2008 my family and I moved to Australia and we have finally settled with my Ngunis in the Gundaroo district of NSW. I have the same genetic base but find that the cattle are growing bigger and are doing exceptionally well with only a rock salt as supplement feed.

 

I believe Nguni  cattle are the cattle from the past for a sustainable future making them perfect for any program for grass fed ,organic or from paddock to plate.

I was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Raised on a 4th generation farm in the Natal Midlands. Growing up, farming was what I knew best. All my education was centred around agriculture and farming livestock.

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I attended school at Hilton College and finished year 12 in 1990.After year 12 I went to Freestate University in South Africa where I studied BSc Agriculture. While at University I played rugby and ended up playing for the Freestate Rugby Team for 5 years. Later, I moved to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, in 1995 where I was chosen to play rugby for the Sharks until 2001. 

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During my years playing rugby In Natal I would often go up and help my Dad on the farm. Working cattle and helping with the farm business. In 2001, I moved to the United Kingdom to continue with my rugby career. This pursuit continued for another 9 years, until in 2010 I moved back to South Africa and back to our family farm. 

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Back on the Farm I continued to run our crossed cattle. During this time, I had one Nguni cross female that got pregnant at a very young age and continued to calf every year to this day.She made such a huge impression on me as her fertility was unmatched by any of the other crossed cattle we ran.

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When I moved to Australia in 2019 I met Edwin Rous who was an Nguni fanatic. We hit it off immediately. A fond memory I hold is driving from Canberra to Bowen and back with Ed. For the entire 5000km we didn't turn the radio on once, all we did was talk cattle, regenerative farming and Nguni's. It was during this drive that the call to farm Nguni's and conserve their genetics in Australia caught me. 

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Since then, In 2022, I have started my own herd of Nguni currently running in Kin Kin, whilst still running my farm in South Africa. 

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I can see a real future for Nguni as I know where the genetics have come from and how the Native Africans loved their cattle. I also know how the native African tribes were ruthless with their culling of poor genetics. There wasn't room for animals who were not meeting the standard, they became food for the tribe. This breed survived under the harshest of conditions and in my opinion, they are needed in Australia.

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