Proveld Bonsmara

Profit of the veld!

The Proveld Bonsmara Group is a dedicated group of top Bonsmara stud breeders in the Vryburg District who collectively veld-test their stud bulls under the same tough veld conditions that the female animals are required to produce and reproduce.

Our perfect System

Ensurering buyers gets the best of the best

Our Passion and Pride

View some of our herd sires premium quality Bonsmara Bulls.

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Previous Auction Results

Results from our previous auctions.

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Message from our clients

Japie wrote

``I have been farming on my farm outside Bray for 12 years now, and for the last number of years am very happy with my Bonsmaras. My bulls were all bought from Proveld and I am really satisfied with them. These bulls adapted to my farm very quickly and begin working immediately, they are fit, exeptionally fertile and full of life. I believe that the Proveld system under which the bulls are selected, raised and tested on the veld is the key to their success. Each Bonsmara herd has a certain percentage animals that convert grass into meat better than others, and these breeders manage to identify those animals. In short, one can say that they select the best of the best!``

Bonsmara history overview

Bonsmara was bred at the Mara and Messina Research stations between 1937 to 1963 by scientists under the watchful eye of Prof Jan Bonsma. Bonsmara soon became world-renowned as the only beef cattle breed in the world which was created through a well documented crossbreeding programme, with the aid of objectively recorded performance data. Visual evaluation according to norms for functional efficiency, has been implemented from the start and is still strictly applied to today.

The name ‘Bonsmara’ was derived by combining Prof Bonsma’s surname (Bonsma) and Mara research station (Mara), where the first crossbred calves were born. Prof Bonsma and his colleagues constantly exercised crossbreed experiments in about 20 commercial herds in different parts of South Africa, to finally come across the best performing crossbreed sample, 5/8 Afrikaner and 3/8 Exotic Hereford/Shorthorn.

Formation of the Bonsmara SA Society

This led to the formation of the Bonsmara SA Society in 1964. Bonsmara were widely spread across South Africa and other African countries which promptly accepted Bonsmara included; Namibia, Uganda and Zambia. The international beef cattle industries of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia, USA and Uruguay soon followed.

Proveld to the test

In 1998, seventeen Bonsmara breeders from the Vryburg area enrolled 51 bulls for a test on the veld. From the outset it became evident that the veld test did not care who the breeder was – if the bull did not have the required hardiness and adaptability traits, it simply did not make the grade. The number of breeders that enrolled bulls into these veld tests declined dramatically – something that is understandable: Bulls that otherwise would possibly have made it to the auction, had to be culled.

Four die-hards however had the conviction to push through to the bitter end! They were the founders of the Proveld Bonsmara Group

Proveld’s first auction

Whereas at the first Proveld veld bull auction in 1999 12 bulls were sold, by October 2007 auction Proveld had 50 bulls on offer, and achieved a 100% sales figure.

Going Strong

During Proveld’s 19 years existence, other breeders who shared the founder members vision, joined the group and it now consists of ten stud breeders. Thirteen commercial breeders are also affiliated as commercial members. Presently about 250 Bonsmara bulls per year are tested at Proveld, where approximately 35% are culled because they don’t make the grade in the tough test. Those that actually pass the test are offered at the Proveld auctions which take place on the second Wednesday of February, the second Wednessday of June, and the second-last Wednesday of October every year..

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