Before records were kept bulls from reputable breeders such as Gordon Knott, Peter Knott, Norton Thompson and the late Glynne Handley were used on the “commercial” cows, which in 2003 were inspected to form the current Alphaeton Bonsmara Stud. The herd now consists of 250 stud cows which run on natural grazing in a virulent heart water, gall sick and red water region known as the Smaldeel, near Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape, the areas annual rainfall is 450ml. No supplementary feed or licks are given to the cows, thus ensuring that only the most fertile and adapted females are retained in the herd. Heifers are mated at 18 months and if any cow/heifer does not conceive during the mating season or does not wean a calf she is culled from the herd. LAR 04-377, NPT 07-222, GCD 02-102, LDW 09-128, KVB 08-089, GCD 09-175 are sires who have and are still having an impact in the herd. Sons and grandsons of these sires are currently been used in the herd to reinforce their influence. Our cattle are immunized against black quarter, anthrax, botulism and BVD. All sale bulls are given Asiatic and African red water blood as an extra precaution.
