Sometimes the Tuli ladies can spring a surprise or two! It was with huge delight that we welcomed our first 2010 Tuli calf, whose mother timed his birth to coincide perfectly with my birthday! We were amazed when we found he weighed 50kg at birth (glad human babies don’t do that) and realised that his ears were larger than usual for a Tuli. Turns out his mum thought a visit to the Simmentaler Bull in a nearby camp might be a good idea….just as well she was old enough and large enough to cope with his birth!! Thus it is, that Badoli, the ox, had become a much loved member of our Tuli Treasure Chest. He insists on having a scratch whenever he spots us and we all love to oblige. He’ll be 2 years old in May this year and weighs almost 700kg! The photo shows Badoli with Galpin Jnr & Sons

We realised that we would need to buy more females and were able to get them from our friend and fellow-breeder, Werner Gouws who farms in Bronkhorstspruit. They have proved to be a great asset to our herd as we build up our numbers. We have decided to take the longer route to breed the SP proper and are very satisfied with the quality of the ‘B’ calves who arrived in 2011. Johan Wagner, of Welbekend, who undertook the cartage for us, proved to be very reliable and we were delighted to find our new girls arriving calm and as unstressed as is possible when an overnight journey of over 1300km is undertaken. The photo shows them with our Herd Sire AM 09 02.

As we keep up to date with the necessary information that is required by StudBook for performance testing, it is very rewarding to receive the results. Initially it was quite daunting to negotiate the Beefpro programme and the Logix website with my mouse, but thanks to the help (via fickle Telkom lines) of fellow breeder, Chris Hobson, I have survived these exercises! From the results we are able to assess the bulls and cows so that we know how to plan the future breeding. It’s exciting when one sees a good index and troubling when they’re a little bit l-o-w StudBook Staff are always helpful and friendly…especially to grandmas like me, who get the data wrong quite frequently !!

2011 was quite a scary year as far a weather is concerned. For the first time in our lifetime, our large dam dried up in March….all we saw was cracked mud. Then….in June….the rains came…. and came…. and came…. and every hollow place on our farm became a dam. Some farm ‘roads’ became streams and we spent quite a LOT of heave-ho time getting our bakkie out of what we thought was dry veld!! It was, however, happy heave-ho time, because of the relief of having the drought broken. The water table is healthy again and the whole farm is lush and green. The downside of this, is that ticks and other related mites, have risen to the occasion…literally….and we are having to be very vigilant about making sure that bovine tails and toots are not infested with the nasties. Interestingly, we have found that our Tulis manage this invasion far better than the commercial cows in the herd do. Their resistance truly is remarkable and for that we are very grateful. The photo shows a sunset over the wet Kariega River Valley.

One of the bull calves born in 2009, has become a firm family favourite. We have unofficially named him Guyu, in honour of his Tuli ancestors. He wears his ’Patch’ badge of honour like Guyu Patch did in years gone by. Having been a member of the first crop of Tuli calves on our farm, he has , like his peers, become very tame and he insists on having a scratch whenever we appear in his territory. He also delights in having his ticks plucked and gets quite stoked when we do so. Although he is our youngest working sire, serving our commercial Angus and Limousin cows, he likes to think he’s King Kong when round-up time comes and our older bulls are around. He announces his presence with great gusto and doesn’t seem to notice that they are not at all threatened! Photo:Doug &Guyu(9mths)

We were privileged this year to be able to leave the farm in our son’s capable hands in order to attend the Tuli AGM in Bloemfontein, as well as visit the herds of the Rautenbach brothers, fellow Tuli breeders in the Free State. This was followed by an unexpected chance to visit Dullstroom with my daughter, who deposited me on the doorstep of the Blomvlei home of Stephan and Carmen Welz, just in time to be able to attend their annual sale. What memorable visits and happy interaction we all enjoyed !

May the rest of this year be kind to us all and may Tuli breeding go from strength to strength !

Cheers,
Edie and Doug Galpin – April 2012

DT 06 4 and Goldie

DT 06 4, the mother of E 09 2, birthed another heifer on 24 October 2010, (ICP 355).

E 10 7 is the granddaughter of PS 01 56.  Her sire is DT 07 21.

E 10 7 Goldie

DT 05 2 and Rex

DT 05 2, the mother of E 09 3, birthed a strong bull calf, E 10 9,(ICP 354) on 1 November 2010. The sire is DT 07 21.

E10 9 Rex

Pisiri 01 62 and Joy

PS 01 62, mother of the bull DT 09 4, produced the last calf  born in 2010, on 27 November.

E 10 11

Pisiri 01 56

PS 01 56 surprised us by producing twin bulls on 9 October 2010. She would not accept both calves, so one is in foster care with Dave Cawthorn, of Horseshoe Tulis in Stutterheim.

E 10 5 - Swaer

Their names are Boet(E 10 4) and Swaer(E 10 5). Their sire is DT 07 21, the son of AJR 90 06 and ADM 04 33.

DT 04 15

DT 04 15 produced a heifer 374 days after birthing DT 09 5 in 2009.

E 10 6 - Honey - 6 weeks old

E 10 6 was born on 21 October 2010. She was sired by DT 07 11.

Brown Cow DT 04 5

Our brown cow, DT 04 5, mother of DT 09 2, was once again the first to calve in 2010,    (ICP 367).

E 10 3 - Clover at 2 months old

Her calf is E 10 3, a long bodied red heifer born on 30 September 2010. The sire is DT 07 11, the son of PS 01 56 and ADM 04 33.

DT 05 10

DT 05 10, the mother of DT 09 8, birthed another strong bull calf, (ICP 375), on 29 October 2010. She is the daughter of AJR 90 06.

E 10 8 - Shiloh

E 10 8 is a sturdy, dehorned little bull, seen here at 4 months old. He is sired by DT 07 11.

Our second Eagle’s View heifer is Suede(E 09 2), born on 3 November 2009. She is a typical light gold Tuli colour. Her dam is DT 06 4 and her sire DT 07 13.

Our youngest calf for 2009 is Velvet(E 09 3), the dark red daughter of DT 05 2. She was born on 10 November 2009. Her sire is DT 07 13.