Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Plaas Media has been the proud host and owner of the Santam Agriculture National Silage competition for twelve years running. The 2025 competition received a sizeable number of entries – 60 maize silage, 14 oats silage, and ten feed sorghum silage entries – despite some challenges.
Luister hier na ‘n onderhoud oor vanjaar se kompetisie.
This year’s entries
The competition drew 86 entries of which only 84 were eventually sampled. Two companies took the difficult but responsible decision to withdraw from the competition due to concerns relating to foot-and-mouth disease. The companies that participated this year by entering their clients were TWK Agri, Quantum Foods (Nova Feeds), Sentraal-Suid Koöperasie Bpk (SSK), Nutribase, Lake Agriculture (Pty) Ltd, AFGRI Animal Feeds Klipheuwel, Pannar Seed, Kemin Industries, Meadow Feeds Natal, Sparta Beef, AFGRI Animal Feeds, Pioneer Seed, Budissa Bagger, Exact Silage, Boschkop Uyse Boerdery, and Advanta Seeds.
Read more here about last year’s competition and winners.
Continuous support
The competition has been blessed with excellent industry support from the very start. Many of the participating companies have been entering their clients’ silage for most of the competition years. The top three participating companies over the 12 years of the competition were Pannar Seed with 128 entries, AFGRI Animal Feeds with 107 entries, and Nutribase with 76 entries. AFGRI Animal Feeds and Sparta Beef have participated in the competition uninterrupted since its inception.
Sponsors
Santam Agriculture has been the naming sponsor of the competition since its inception in 2012, and has already indicated that it will continue its incredible support in 2026. In addition to their long-standing sponsorship, the prize and cash sponsors for this year’s various winners are Pannar Seed, Pioneer Seed, TWK Agri, Nutribase, Greenhouse Technologies (GHTech), Advanta Seeds, and Orkel. Labworld served as the laboratory partner again in 2025.
Sampling
The sampling was conducted by three Animal Science students from the University of Pretoria: Jewyk Pretorius, post-graduate, Franco Badenhorst, final-year, and NC Engelbrecht, post-graduate. The students underwent training in the sampling-process facilitated by one of the competition’s co-ordinators, Richardt Venter of AgSci Unlimited. The samples were tested by Dr Elrisa Taljaard and her team at Labworld, after which the final test results were processed and captured by the competition’s organising team.
Let us meet the finalists!
Participants were entered into the competition based on crop type and storage format. The crop categories are maize, feed (forage) sorghum, and small grains (oats). The storage formats are bunkers, bales, buns/drive-over piles, silo bags and wrapped bales. From this year onwards, finalists will not only be announced according to crop type, but also according to storage format.
The finalists in the maize category, in no particular order, are:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Entered by | Storage format |
| Alzu | Kleinfontein | Nefdt du Toit | Exact Silage | Wrapped bales |
| Broadview Farm | Broadview | Justin Boettiger | Lake Agriculture (Pty) Ltd | Bun/drive-over pile |
| Dendelor Investments | Broadside | Russell James | Pannar Seed | Silo bag |
| Dendelor Investments | Goxhill | Russell James | Pannar Seed | Silo bag |
| HJP Boerdery | Witbank | Kobus Pieterse | Exact Silage | Wrapped bales |
| Limpopo Dairy | Limpopo Dairy | Joubert Fourie | Nutribase | Cement wall bunker |
| Salt Springs Farming (Pty) Ltd | Salt Springs | Mike Arnold | Pioneer Seed | Gravel wall bunker |
| Scotson Family Trust | Scotston | Steven Clowes | Meadow Feeds Natal | Gravel wall bunker |
| Simpson & Son Farming | Cooperdale | Shane Simpson | Meadow Feeds Natal | Gravel wall bunker |
| Stapylton-Smith Farming | Elsan | Rob Stapylton-Smith | Pannar Seed | Gravel wall bunker |
The finalists in the oats category, in no particular order, are:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Entered by | Storage format |
| Bakenskop Boerdery | Bakenskop | Brian Hume | SSK | Gravel wall bunker |
| Elstelm Boerdery | Riet Valleij | Jaco Kok | SSK | Bun/drive-over pile |
| Goedgelee Boerdery | Goedgelee | Pierre-Jacques Human | Pierre-Jacques Human | Silo bag |
| JC Nel Junior Family Trust | Hoëkraal | Johann Nel | SSK | Gravel wall bunker |
| Lactimar | Bergsig | Dian Landman | Nutribase | Gravel wall bunker |
The finalists in the sorghum category, in no particular order,are:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Entered by | Storage format |
| Exact Silage | Kameeldrift | Burger Marais | Exact Silage | Wrapped bales |
| HJP Boerdery | Witbank | Kobus Pieterse | Exact Silage | Wrapped bales |
| Te Water Boerdery | Grootvlei | Eddie Zeeman | Exact Silage | Wrapped bales |
| VB Voere | Opperman | Johan Venter | Exact Silage | Wrapped bales |
| Winterstorm Investments | Huntly | Marcu Jansen van Rensburg | Budissa Bagger | Silo bag |
The finalists in the category for wrapped bales,in no particular order, are:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Crop category | Entered by |
| Exact Silage | Kameeldrift | Burger Marais | Feed sorghum | Exact Silage |
| HJP Boerdery | Witbank | Kobus Pieterse | Feed sorghum | Exact Silage |
| HJP Boerdery | Witbank | Kobus Pieterse | Maize | Exact Silage |
| Te Water Boerdery | Grootvlei | Eddie Zeeman | Maize | Exact Silage |
| VB Voere | Opperman | Johan Venter | Feed sorghum | Exact Silage |
The finalists in the category for wall bunkers are, in no particular order:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Crop category | Entered by | Wall type |
| Gerber Melkerye | Langhoek | Frikkie Kapp | Maize | AFGRI Animal Feeds | Cement |
| Limpopo Dairy | Limpopo Dairy | Joubert Fourie | Maize | Nutribase | Cement |
| PR Griffin Farming cc | Langewacht | Shaun Griffin | Maize | Pannar Seed | Gravel |
| Simpson & Son Farming | Cooperdale | Shane Simpson | Maize | Meadow Feeds Natal | Gravel |
| Stapylton-Smith Farming | Elsan | Rob Stapylton-Smith | Maize | Pannar Seed | Gravel |
| Stubbs Farming Partnership | Denleigh Farm | Nick Stubbs | Maize | Pioneer Seed | Gravel |
The finalists in the bun/drive-over pile category are, in no particular order:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Crop category | Entered by |
| Boschkop Uyse Boerdery | Platkoppie | Neels Uys | Maize | Boschkop Uyse Boerdery |
| Broadview Farm | Broadview | Justin Boettiger | Maize | Lake Agriculture (Pty) Ltd |
| Rydal Farms Trust | Rydal | Rob Strachan | Maize | Pannar Seed |
| Van Greunen Boerdery | Jonkershoek | Michael van Greunen | Maize | Nutribase |
| Vizcor | Altenburg | Willie du Preez | Maize | Pannar Seed |
And, in no particular order, the finalists in the silo bag category are:
| Enterprise name | Farm name | Farmer/producer | Crop category | Entered by |
| Dendolor Investments | Broadside | Russell James | Maize | Pannar Seed |
| Dendolor Investments | Broadview | Lutho Nozulu | Maize | Pioneer Seed |
| Dendolor Investments | Goxhill | Doug Armstrong | Maize | Pannar Seed |
| Morgan Beef | Couwenburg | Louis Olckers | Maize | Nutribase |
| Winterstorm Investments | Huntly | Marcu Jansen van Rensburg | Feed sorghum | Budissa Bagger |
This year’s various category winners along with the overall Silage King for 2025, will be announced during a brand new Santam Agriculture National Silage Competition webinar to be held on 25 November, from 15:30 to17:00. During this webinar Richardt Venter will discuss this year’s competition data, while well-known producer and long-time participant in the silage competition, Joubert Fourie, will discuss his silage-making techniques.
To register for the webinar, click on the following link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/735c101d-5224-44bd-bac5-e49da73b8261@66a86836-d521-49db-a67a-71c632873a4b
For more information regarding the competition, entries for 2026 or other queries, contact Deidré Louw at 066 231 2430 or email deidre@plaasmedia.co.za
