Karan Beef: The success story behind SA’s leading beef producer

A picturesque scene of an unending horizon of 140 000 healthy cattle of various breeds, stretching to the hills, greets us upon entering the main gate. This is enough material for a creative artist to come up with an impressive oil painting to fetch millions at Christie’s London.

A rare peaceful sight of groups of cattle in rows of pens – feeding and drinking water in a stress-free environment – told me that there must be something good that the Karan family is doing on their farm in Gauteng’s rural town of Heidelberg, some 50km southeast of Johannesburg, close to  the Mpumalanga border.

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Modern technology and world-class agricultural engineering as well as the group’s staff complement of 3 400 combined people who come from the local communities in Heidelberg, Balfour and Pietermaritzburg, employed in what we know as Karan Beef – have daily ensured that what we put on our plates as beef is hygienic and healthy by world standards.

Karan Beef Academy

For many farmers, the Karan Beef Academy has become a training ground and has provided the aspiration and vision to achieve. The Karan Beef Academy has also been hailed by commercial, large-scale and emerging farmers in the country as “empowering”.

“The academy was born out of the ideology that we would like to see more of our communities taking part in the red meat industry,” said Karan.

“Breeding cattle is a big part of our industry, and it is a low-capital, easy entry into the industry. If a lot more breeders can get going, we are then able to buy those cattle from them, feed them and supply the beef to the domestic and export market.

“It is about trying to help people prosper in the sector.”

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Karan says the feedlot industry is reliant on by-products being available.

“Majority of the products that are used in the feedlot to feed our cattle, are by-products from another industry,” he says. “We are not feeding our cattle a product that is meant for human consumption. We are not taking away from humans to feed the cattle. We are purchasing the by-product from the wheat, gluten, starch, cotton seed, molasses and maze industry, with this – the price of these products would be much higher.  We are helping those producers to balance their costs.”

Before ordering that rump or T-bone from your favourite restaurant, have you given a thought on what goes into the process?

“We have cattle buyers who deliver cattle from the various provinces of South Africa,” says Karan.

“Their job is to go and buy a weaner calf. This is a calf of about eight to nine months of age – weighing 200kg to 220kg.

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“Those calves are bought, quarantined off-site and after 30 days are then moved to our Heidelberg, Nigel or Albert Falls, Pietermaritzburg Farms.

“The first stage is called processing, where the bought animals are quality control checked, tagged and given various inoculations, before being sent into the feedlot.

“These cattle are well fed  to grow to an appropriate size and age, before moving onto the next stage of production.

“To achieve something like this, has taken 50 years – it didn’t happen overnight. This business started with my parents buying 100 cattle to feed in the late ’70s.

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“It has taken years of reinvesting in the business to get the business to where it is today.

“Growing a business is not an instant thing and my parents have worked extremely hard. Agriculture is long-term, regardless of what sector of the industry you are in. It is about early mornings and late evenings on the farm.”

When driving around, the cattle inside the pens are eating and looking relaxed. 

The pens are not overcrowded and animals enjoy enough space – neither fighting for food, nor water.

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“We have created a very relaxed, humane environment for the cattle. As the business grows, we have brought in modern technology,” he says.

On sustainability, Karan says:

“We  are very lucky to have two rivers flowing through our farm – Suikerbos and the Klipriver – helping us with our water, obviously with the correct water licences.

“The environmental management part of our business including a natural wetland ensures we don’t pollute the rivers.”

Whilst driving around, Karan pointed out the old dairy building that was converted into a school.

“The school was eventually moved to Ratanda, where we bought a piece of land that was donated to the staff, who received title deeds.”

Exports, says Karan, make up 10% to 15% of the business.

“We believe that our bread and butter will always be South Africa – we don’t want to export all our meat to the detriment of the South African population and consumer.

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“As we grow our business, exports will naturally grow – we always ensure that we look after South Africa first,” he says.

“Our major export markets are the Middle East, the Gulf region in particular, Jordan and Egypt. We are accredited for China and we have just become accredited for Malaysia and we are now working on other markets, wanting to see Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines eventually opening up for South African beef.”

On employees, said Karan: “All our people come from the local communities, here in Heidelberg feedlot, our abattoir in Balfour and farm in Pietermaritzburg – 3 400 employees in total. We will employ more people as we grow – benefitting many families.”

On his upbringing, he said “I was very blessed to grow up on the farm here, living the family business every day. As we saw the stages of growth from being a tiny business, up to what we are today – with the mentorship from my father and the professional management team – I’ve been able to grow up into what I am today. My father and mother have been a huge source of inspiration.”