Marlow & Konsortium
Since 2007 Marlow Agricultural School, situated on the outskirts of Cradock, has been hosting Konsortium-Merino sales at its clubhouse. The auctions start at 11:00, viewing is from 09:00 on the day of the sale.
Marlow farm manager, Charl Naude, offers about 60 rams on the day. Approximately half of them are pure bred Konsortium rams and the rest Konsortium progeny of the school’s Merino flock. The Konsortium rams are relocated to Marlow about 6 months before every sale, when they are a year old. It is important that all the rams on offer are subjected to the same conditions in preparation for the sale.
The first steps towards these sales are taken in April each year, when the whole Marlow stud are artificially inseminated with semen from Konsortium stud rams. “We make our very best genetics available to them free of charge,” says Gawie van Heerden, Konsortium breeder. He is very excited about this partnership. Not only does this give the Konsortium the opportunity to work together with the young farmers of tomorrow, but also to improve the Marlow stud and to make Konsortium rams more accessible to the farmers from the Cradock area.
Marlow strives to sell top quality Merino’s. They want to align themselves with the Konsortium-breeding and producing fertile Merino’s with a good constitution with quality wool. Rams from the Konsortium group have always faired well on the school’s annual auctions. Flock farmers in the Cradock area who have bought Konsortium rams, enthusiastically testify to the advances being made. This further encouraged Charl to approach Konsortium for this joint farming venture.
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