Cattle Baron Master Business Plan — Grazing, Land and Water
Carrying capacity, veld management, water provision and the land required as the herd scales toward 450 breeding cows.
Grazing, Land and Water
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- Overview & contents
- i. Important Notice
- 1. Executive Summary
- 2. A Note on the Name
- 3. The Market and the FMD Crisis
- 4. Foot-and-Mouth Disease as a Business Risk
- 5. The Production System
- 6. Herd Performance
- 7. SWOT and Competitive Position
- 8. Grazing, Land and Water
- 9. Unit Economics
- 10. Route to Market
- 11. The Five-Year Build and Its Gates
- 12. Funding
- 13. People, Security and Stock Theft
- 14. Compliance and Traceability
- 15. Financial Projections
- 16. Break-Even
- 17. Sensitivity and Scenarios
- 18. Risk Management
- 19. Implementation Timeline
- 20. Returns
- 21. Key Performance Indicators
- 22. Key Assumptions
- 23. Conclusion
- A. Appendix A: Consolidated Financial Summary
- B. Appendix B: Capital Schedules
- C. Appendix C: Funding and Debt Schedules
- D. Appendix D: Risk Register
- E. Appendix E: Glossary
The herd carries 172 large stock units in Year 1 rising to 597 by Year 5. Grazing is leased and costed at R1 450.00 per large stock unit in Year 1, escalating with inflation.
|
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Breeding cows at year end |
120 |
170 |
250 |
350 |
450 |
|
Large stock units carried |
172 |
232 |
320 |
440 |
597 |
|
Capacity required at 85% utilisation |
202 |
273 |
376 |
518 |
702 |
|
Grazing cost, R per large stock unit |
1 450 |
1 392 |
1 559 |
1 723 |
1 795 |
|
Grazing cost, R’000 |
249 |
323 |
499 |
758 |
1 072 |
|
As a share of cash revenue |
50.6% |
55.6% |
45.4% |
36.4% |
26.4% |
|
Element |
Approach |
|---|---|
|
Grazing capacity |
Confirmed by an independent assessment before each expansion. Capacity varies enormously by veld type and region and a national rule of thumb is worthless |
|
Camp system |
Rotational grazing with rest periods. Rotation is the primary control on both veld condition and internal parasite burden |
|
Water |
A water point in every camp, solar pumped. Cattle walking long distances to water lose condition, and condition at mating determines next year’s calf crop |
|
Boundary fencing |
Stock-proof and maintained. It keeps your cattle in, keeps neighbouring cattle out, and is the first line of both biosecurity and theft prevention |
|
Quarantine camp |
Separate, distant from the main herd, for every bought-in animal for 30 days |
|
Drought reserve |
A standing grazing reserve and a fodder budget. Destocking breeding cows in a drought sets the herd back years |
8.1 Drought
Drought is the risk that removes the grazing and the herd in the same season, and it is the one risk in this plan against which capital provides no protection. The response is structural: stocking below 85 per cent of assessed capacity, a standing grazing reserve, a fodder budget that can be doubled, and an established relationship with a speculator who will take animals at short notice.