I had been trying to get to the Steam Festival at Sandstone Estate for more than a decade.
Each time I had been invited, either work or illness got in the way.
So, I was most grateful when I discovered that it would be included on a convoy road trip that my wife and I undertook during the latter part of 2024.
What I was NOT expecting to find, given their fame for steam, was this span of oxen pulling a wagon.
It was a first for me and an experience I will not easily forget.
Where do Afrikaner cattle come from?
The captivating history of Afrikaner Cattle in South Africa intertwines with our nation’s rich history.
Would you believe that the roots of this breed can be found on the Asian steppes among the wild cattle of that era, evolving from the lateral-horned Zebu without external influences?
Afrikaner cattle, an indigenous South African breed, were developed from the native Khoi Khoi cattle of the Cape of Good Hope which are thought to have arisen from the long-horned Zebu and the Egyptian longhorn.
Sanga-type cattle, in huge herds, were owned by the Hottentots when the Dutch established the Cape Colony in 1652.
These animals were obtained by the colonists who improved them for use as draft animals. While the Khoikhoi primarily used the Afrikaners for meat and milk, they were used as draught animals after European settlement.
They were bred and developed to better suit this purpose and were prized by the Voortrekkers. They were also used as dairy cows, though less commonly, producing higher butterfat contents than other cattle breeds, without the need for supplementary feed.
Although they look mean and possibly temperamental, I have it on good authority that they are neither and given the proximity with which they work to humans, there has never been an incident that has caused injury to either species.
It was Afrikaner oxen that drew the wagons which carried Boer farmers and families on the Great Trek of 1835-36 from the Cape of Good Hope to the Orange Free State, Natal and the Transvaal to escape British rule.
The breed was almost rendered extinct when huge numbers died of rinderpest (viral disease of cattle) or were destroyed during the Second Boer War where its primary job of course was to pull wagons, and, in that regard, it was the backbone of the British Anglo Boer armies in the Second Boer war when it came to heavy haulage.
If buffalo and these cattle had to get into an altercation, I wonder who the winner might be.
I think that my money would be on the oxen!
And I would be wrong…
Cape Buffalos are massive animals that typically weigh between 300 and 850 kilograms, while an ox weighs in at half that.
Some estimate that a Cape Buffalo is four times stronger than an ox.
While Cape Buffalos are known for being aggressive and vengeful and unable to be trained to do tasks, oxen are typically docile and gentle and can be domesticated.
The juxtaposition of the old and the new…
It seems that they are easily led, but having said that I would not like to be in their path if they decide that they need to be somewhere else.
On the way back to being outspanned. This was only part of the team pulling the wagon as I could not fit them all into the frame.
We were on the final ride of the afternoon as the team and the wagon trundled across the open area that eventually led to where a series of small aircraft were parked.
The horns are MOST impressive, with each animal having a unique set.
Bont Afrikaner Cattle at Sandstone Estates
In the early 1900s after the Boer war the commercial market for cattle realised that, because the Afrikaners were multi-coloured, they were becoming less popular with the consumer.
However, the Afrikaner Breeders Society of Southern Africa started to encourage their members to breed out the colour i.e. to go for a stock standard red animal like the other so-called beef breeds.
As a result, the breed changed its appearance, exacerbated by the fact that they bred out the long-horned cattle because for pure meat production purposes, they didn’t want animals with horns.
Fortunately, though some of the old traditional breeders of the Afrikaner were fairly fussy about maintaining some of the genetics and when Sandstone began to get involved and realised what was happening they essentially started looking for a few examples of Bont Afrikaners.
They were very scarce actually but Sandstone did eventually find a breeder by the name of Martin Ras who is now very elderly and who lived at Hoopstad and who had some animals with the early genetics. They were keen Afrikaner breeders and although they had a conventional herd they kept some of these animals for nostalgia.
At Sandstone, we started with standard long-horn Afrikaners and only introduced the Bont breeding programme in the last ten years.
Attempts at Sandstone to develop a herd of Bont Afrikaners have been very successful and we now have predominantly Bont Afrikaners in our herd.
Information on the Bont cattle at Sandstone was supplied.
A bum view of the team…
This type of Afrikaner is not a separate breed but a strain where the animal’s coat is dappled or multi-coloured. “Bont” in Afrikaans means multi-coloured or brightly coloured.
Sandstone has concentrated on the Bont Afrikaner to maintain this strain. ( the 3rd and 5th animal in this team examples)
The goal is for Sandstone Estates to eventually have a fully trained trek team of 20 Bont Afrikaners, however, they already represent quite a strong component of the current team and can therefore no longer be seen as an endangered strain of the Afrikaner.
At Sandstone our Afrikaners are primarily shown at events but are used for some daily haulage duties. They also provide an educational insight into South Africa’s past.
Time to offload the passengers…
If the Voortrekkers were to return from beyond the grave what they would think of what Sandstone Estates is doing to promote both the breed and its history?
I would like to believe that they would be impressed.
So I will raise a mug of moer koffie, take a rooster brood off the fire and toast all those who are literally making history at Sandstone Estates.
This is the chat that I had with owner Wilfred Mole and Dave Richardson.
To find out more about what visitors can expect, click on the logo above…
Travel is the proud winner of this prestigious award from the digital British lifestyle magazine Luxlife. The award is for Best Travel & Experiences Blog 2024 – South Africa.
Check out the archived and current interviews… click on the image above
or use this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC388F-0Eg2f8DQmd9hmMXzA
A new platform where I chat with authors of books that have crossed my desk. Click on the logo above or use this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHlnIOSmJVkbaDWvseKUqbw
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?”
Edgar Bergen
All images are the copyright property of
and may not be used without permission.
All images used in Travel & Things posts are edited using Ribbet software. To learn more about the product and what it offers both amateur and professional photographers, click on the logo above.
