The trials of farming in ‘Murdersdrift’
A local farmer talks about the challenges of duck farming on a smallholding in Muldersdrift.
A local farmer recently talked to the Northsider about some of the things that are detrimental to farmers in Muldersdrift.
Angela McClure is a free-range duck farmer on a local smallholding. She said that the operational costs of a farm are extremely high. She and her husband, Neal Rogers, began their journey in duck farming in March last year, hoping to earn an income from their activities after having worked with horses.
Their original plan was to sell the duck meat and eggs to restaurants, however, they lost the business of large restaurants.
“Although our quality was far superior, these restaurants would rather buy cheap Taiwanese exports than local produce,” Angela explained.
Angela added that farming on a smallholding has its challenges as the farms are not massive, and costs are cannot be reduced by buying stock in bulk. “It is difficult to get into the market without cutting your profits to the demands of your buyers,” she said.
Crime among the smallholdings in the Muldersdrift area is also an issue. Recently there was an attempted theft of her ducks. Luckily, the thieves only broke the enclosure and did not steal any of the animals. Angela added that their alarm goes off frequently during the night and they have to lock themselves into the house, as if they were in a jail. “The locals commonly refer to the area as ‘Murdersdrift’,” she added and said that since 2004 when she began living on her smallholding, named Lochlorien Farm, there have been several murders in the area.
Natural predators, such as jackals, make it necessary to keep the ducks in enclosures, albeit large ones. When Angela used to incubate the duck eggs on the farm, power outages were also a problem, wreaking havoc with the hatching process.
Both Angela and Neal have day jobs; however, they have created an outlet to sell their products and cater for the everyday man on the street. Their mission is to be a little convenience store for the residents of Muldersdrift who do not wish to travel into town for groceries, as they feel it is important to support local farmers and South African products. She thinks if people realised that they could get their groceries locally instead of relying on large supermarkets, the local economy would surely improve.
Angela has had to juggle her job with work on the farm and the care of her seven-year-old son. Although challenging, her passion for local produce will continue to motivate her to grow her deli, which is situated at Ngwenya Glass Village.
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