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  Hello everyone!  We have all arrived safely in the USA.  I am sorry we were not able to post on the blog in the Amsterdam or Atlanta airports.  It was a wonderful, exciting trip that we all enjoyed!  We learned much about South African agriculture and the peoples of this great country.  I would especially like to thank the following people: Dr. Michael MacNeil, who originally developed the idea for this class and has worked tirelessly to help organize the trip. Dr. Michiel Scholtz, who once again organized a terrific program with the ARC.  The visits to all of the farms were excellent!  Dr. Scholtz also helped us navigate several challenges we faced with obtaining our Covid-19 test results. Dr. Nicole Klein, who was an excellent co-instructor to have on this trip!  Her help on this trip was invaluable. Dr. Julie Walker, who was not an official instructor but who helped the students numerous times.  I am really appreciative of her help on this trip. Below is the final post from our st
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  Hello everyone, I just want to let everyone know that our students (and faculty) have checked in for their flight.  Everything so far is on time.  We should be boarding our flight to Amsterdam shortly.  Everyone tested negative for Covid-19.  Our students will be updating the blog about what we did today at some point during our travels. Next time you hear from us will be in either Amsterdam or Atlanta!
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  We started another bright and early day at 6:15 am to head to Pilanesberg National Park. It was a two hour drive that took us from Centurion to the Northwest Province. At Pilanesberg we loaded up into an open air truck to begin our Safari. A few minutes into the trip Zoey saw elephants in the distant. It turned out to be a breeding herd of about 5 cows and their calves. From there we took a dirt road in search of a giraffe. Instead we saw a few more elephants off in the distance before we came across a lone bull about 100 feet off the road. It took him a while to move out of the bushes and then we were able to see that he had a broken tusk. We learned that this was fairly common.  From there we traveled along the roads and saw kudu, impala, zebras, warthogs, wildebeest, and springbok. There were numerous birds as well. A little over an hour into the Safari we saw a Rhino. The Rhinos in Pilanesberg have all had there horns removed to discourage poaching. After the rhino we saw a t
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  Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We had a relaxing and informative day at Sizalo Bonsmaras! Mr. Lucas Msiza at this operation was a 2021 finalist for the ARC National Beef Cattle Improvement Herd of the Year! Switching gears from yesterday’s emerging farm visits, this diversified operation produces commercial Brahman and Bonsmara cattle as well as goats, sheep, and crops! We were able to tour all entities of the farm including Blue Buffalo grass pastures, sunflower fields, a remote Abattoir, and livestock handing facilities.  For lunch, we were served a traditional South African meal! We ate Pap (white corn/maize porridge) with gravy, (bell peppers, onions, & tomatoes) beef stew, and steak! It was delicious!   After lunch we made a stop at 1 of 3 capital cities in South Africa. Pretoria is home to a 9 meter bronze statue of the late president, Nelson Mandela. Our driver, David, gave us a tour of the capital buildings and history about the South African Government. We made it back t
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  March 16 th - Today we had the opportunity to visit a few of the emerging farmers of South Africa. An emerging farm is considered a small-scale farmer that is yet to become a commercial farm. The first farm we visited primarily produced vegetables with some wild game and swine. The first thing that we saw was the “Miracle Tree”, also known as the Moringa, tree that produces a high nutrient-based product containing many vital minerals and vitamins. Also, when given to pigs it can reduce fat. This tree’s seeds and leaves are a staple product sold directly from the farm and is made into powders and oils. The farm also holds some swine butchered on site and then sold locally. The next place that we visited was Motsemotala, an emerging farm that was family operated. It consisted of 128 Bonsmara cattle which they run as a cow calf to finish operation on 75 hectares (185 acres). They also use their facilities for training women farmers, youth, and other less developed emerging farmers in th
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  Today we traveled around Trekpad and the Pronk Stud Farm to learn about Afrikaner Cattle and their irrigated crop production. We started the day bright and early at 6 AM. We loaded up in trucks and traveled down the road to find a  Nyala breeding bull so we could tranquilize it with a dart and move it to a new camp. Once the bull was loaded into the truck we transported it to the new camp. At that camp we tranquilized a breeding bull from that herd and transported it back the previous camp. Then we ate a delicious breakfast…with pancakes, fresh fruit, eggs and bacon just to name a few. Following breakfast we loaded up in the vans and traveled to see the onsite Afrikaner cattle. We learned about the longevity of the cattle breed, how they survive in this unique environment, and the weaning age of their calves at roughly 205 days. One of their cows was 19 years old and had a calf. After this we traveled down the road to see the crop production under irrigated pivot. The two crops w
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  Monday the 14 th – Today was another adventure packed, fun, and exciting day! We started the day with a visit to the ARC (Animal Research Council), Animal Production Center, Irene. There we met several South African students and learned about their research projects. After listening to presentations about their research, we toured the bull testing center, looked at the ARC’s research swine unit and an Afrikaner cattle herd. It was interesting to see their research feeders called GrowSafe system. These feeders are similar to those at SDSU’s, allowing the bulls to only eat from their designated bunk so that individual feed intake could be recorded. The three most popular breeds of cattle in South Africa are Afrikaner, Nguni, and Bonsmara.   These are Bos Indicus cattle which are more tolerant of heat and less susceptible to ticks and flies. Because of these different characteristics, these cattle eat throughout the day in South Africa (even during hot temperatures), whereas Bos Ta
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