The 2020 Agra Weaner Championship Series was officially launched on 2 July 2020 at the Agra Bank Windhoek Ring, at the Windhoek Showgrounds. The competition was received positively and farmers are looking forward to this competition as it gives them an opportunity to showcase their animals and be evaluated against national standards.
Traditionally the annual Agra Weaner Championship Series is an opportunity for farmers to show off their production quality and to be rewarded for their good farming practices. This series also offers a platform for young and emerging farmers to measure themselves and gauge their progress against national standards. Agra remains committed to its values by doing the right things right, and continually working towards improving the standards of service it provides.
All judging is done by an experienced panel of Agra and Feedmaster representatives. Judges follow very specific pre-determined criteria to ensure consistency and avoid bias between events. Weaners are judged on the following criteria: fertility; growth ability; capacity to produce meat; farming practices, which includes things like brand marking, dehorning, mass uniformity etc.
Traditionally, the Agra Weaner Championship Series also provides another very important market function, which is focused on the South African weaner calf market. South African feedlots rely heavily on this series for their Christmas market period. A series such as this one offers clients’ access to a large number of weaner calves over a short period of time. This ensures Namibian producers are able to get competitive prices during this time. It is also a good way to gauge the Namibian weaner market against that of South Africa.
Prices for sellers are awarded in three different categories. Tollie calves are judged on feedlot and veld potential, while heifers are judged on their breeding potential. These young females are ideally absorbed into local production systems where they can be used for breeding.
This year there are also two prizes for the buyers. One for total spend over the Championship Series period and another for the highest number of animals purchased across all Series auctions. This is the first time that buyers are being rewarded for their patronage, since they are a valuable part of the success of the Weaner Championships.
The Agra Weaner Championship Series is a great showcase for local production farmers, and with so many entries nationwide, getting acknowledgement in any one of these categories really is a great honour. Being one of the overall winners truly shows the superior production quality and farming practices of the farmer and it is a great achievement to be crowned as a national champion. The overall winners will be announced at the gala event which is scheduled for October this year.
The success of this annual series can be directly contributed to the longstanding relationships between Agra, their industry partners who sponsor these events, and also all of the livestock producers from across Namibia. Relationships are very important to Agra according to Paul Klein, Senior Manager Auctions and Key Accounts, who said at the launch: “We are in the relationship business.” Agra would like to thank all their sponsors namely: Bank Windhoek, Santam, Sanlam, Feedmaster, MSD, BAYER, Indongo Toyota, Hino Indingo, Agribank and MTC.