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In 2023, Plaas Media is celebrating ten years of its Santam Agriculture National Silage Competition and is proud to announce the finalists in this tenth instalment of the competition.
This year’s competition received 102 entries which consisted of 72 maize, 16 small-grains (oats), and 14 sorghum entries. These entries were made up of 72 bunkers, 22 silo bags, and eight bales. Bales were formally included in 2022, and must be entered in the normal maize, oats, or sorghum silage categories.
Read this press release in Afrikaans here.
This year’s entries
A total of 23 companies and producers entered their clients or their own farms in this year’s competition. The companies that entered this year were Stratford Farming, Exact Silage, AFGRI Animal Feeds, Sentraal Suid Koöperasie (SSK), Nova Feeds / Quantum Foods, Meadow Feeds Natal, Heinz Boerdery, Kemin Industries, Strapping & Profile Manufacturers, Nutribase, Witwildt CC, TWK Agri, Sparta Beef Marquard, Sparta Beef Taaiboschbult, Budissa Bagger, Pioneer Seed, Pannar Seed, Lake Agriculture, Summer Crest Trading, Faber Familietrust, Winterstorm Investments, Hulley Brothers and Simpson & Son Farming.
Read more about the Santam Silage competition here.
Sponsors
The main sponsor in this year’s competition was once again Santam Agriculture, who has been the name sponsor since the competition’s inception. The prize sponsors are Pannar Seed, Kemin Industries, Strapping & Profile Manufacturers, Nutribase, Pioneer Seed, TWK Agri, and first-time sponsor, Orkel. The laboratory sponsor for the sample testing is Labworld.
Sampling
The sampling was conducted by two post-graduate Animal Science students from the University of Pretoria. They were Jan-Hendrik Blignaut and Phillip Pretorius. Blignaut and Pretorius were trained in the sampling process by Richardt Venter of AgSci Unlimited, one of the competition’s co-ordinators.
The sample testing was conducted by Dr Elrisa Taljaard and her team at Labworld. The analysis was done by the overseer of the competition protocol, Prof Robin Meeske of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s Outeniqua Research Farm.
Meet the finalists!
There are three formal categories in which finalists are announced, namely maize, feed (forage) sorghum, and small grains (oats). There is one open category in which other crops may be entered but for which no finalists nor winners are announced. These entries receive only their silage analysis report.
The maize category finalists boast a number of return participants. Here they are, in alphabetical order:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Entered by | Storage format |
| Exact Silage | Kameeldrift | Burger Marais | Exact Silage | Bale |
| HJP Boerdery | Witbank | Kobus Pieterse | Exact Silage | Bale |
| Just Milk | Gala Hills | Steve Moss | Kemin Industries | Silobag |
| Maluti Beef | Maluti Beef | Danbri Saayman | Strapping & Profile | Silobag |
| Simpson & Son Farming | Cooperdale | Shane Simpson | Meadow Feeds Natal | Bunker |
| Stubbs Farming | Denleigh | Nick Stubbs | Pioneer Seed | Bunker |
| Van Greunen Boerdery | Werda | Bennie van Greunen | Kemin Industries | Bunker |
| Vizicor | Altenburg | Willie du Preez | Pannar Seed | Bunker |
| Westend Landgoed | Westend Landgoed | Hano Lombard | Nutribase | Bunker |
| Zaberoni Boerdery | Zaberoni | Leon van Vuuren | Exact Silage | Bale |
Small grains (oats) finalists in alphabetical order:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Entered by | Storage format |
| Bakenskop Boerdery | Bakenskop | Brian Hume | Sentraal Suid Koöperasie (SSK) | Bunker |
| Berg en Dal Boerdery | Berg en Dal | Pieter Hamman | AFGRI Animal Feeds | Bunker |
| Dassenvaley | Dasvlei | Johan Mostert | AFGRI Animal Feeds | Bunker |
| DCS Boerdery | Populierbos | Charl Hamman | AFGRI Animal Feeds | Bunker |
| Droëvlei | Droëvlei | Gerrit Hattingh | AFGRI Animal Feeds | Bunker |
| Exact Silage | Kameeldrift | Burger Marais | Exact Silage | Bale |
| Goedgeleë | Goedgeleë | Pierre-Jacques Human | AFGRI Animal Feeds | Silobag |
| Middelpos Agri | Goedertrou | PV du Toit | Quantum Foods / Nova Feeds | Silobag |
| Ocean Breeze Holsteins | Swartwater | JK Basson | Quantum Foods / Nova Feeds | Bunker |
| Saamstaan Boerdery | Vyevlei | Robbie Eksteen | AFGRI Animal Feeds | Bunker |
Here are the feed (forage) sorghum finalists in alphabetical order:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Entered by | Storage format |
| Berg en Dal Boerdery | Berg en Dal | Pieter Hamman | AFGRI Animal Feeds | Bunker |
| Exact Silage | Goedehoop | Dewald te Water | Exact Silage | Bale |
| VNB Boerdery | Witkraal | Christo van Niekerk | Pannar Seed | Bunker |
| Westend Landgoed | Westend Landgoed | Hano Lombard | Nutribase | Bunker |
| Winterstorm Investments | Winterstorm | Marcu Jansen van Rensburg | Winterstorm Investments | Bunker |
This year’s winners will be announced during a silage conference that will take place on 28 November in Pretoria. The winners will also be announced on our various social media platforms, so be sure to keep an eye on the Plaas Media, Veeplaas Magazine and Stockfarm Magazine Facebook pages on the day! – Press release, Plaas Media
For more information regarding the competition, 2024 entries or other queries, contact Deidré Louw at 066 231 2430 or deidre@plaasmedia.co.za
