A very formidable and inspiring female farmer, Baps van Jaarsveld, farms on the farm Rusfontein, between Balfour and Villiers. Over the years, many people cross paths with your way, but only some people have the gift of leaving a marked imprint. Baps is definitely one of them. Baps can teach you a lot about farming, being a farmer’s wife, and about being a woman.

Baps has lived on the farm for 48 years and spends 90% of her time between her cattle, because this is what she loves to do.

“A person must be made for farming! You must really love the farm. You must persevere through good and bad years,” she says.

Baps explains that she was a teacher, but her husband had a sudden stroke after twelve years of marriage and she was forced to help out on the farm. She says: “I became much more involved in the farm. I learned everything about farming. I expanded on what he taught me and then we expanded the farm together. Those were very good years.”

Baps and her husband farmed together for seventeen years and after his death she had mustered the courage and willpower to take over the farm and continue with it. “The Van Jaarsveld family has been on the farm for five generations and the area holds a lot of history and good memories. My son, Louis Pieter, also became involved in the farming over time and today he helps me with the grain component,” she adds.

A love for the farm and for her cattle

She says: “I am very happy on the farm. I really love the farm and what I do. It is so important to me that I get to my cattle every day. Because it is continuously changing farming has been a tremendous challenge at times. You can no longer just say it’s fun and you enjoy it. It must now be a something you can earn a living from.” Baps says when they decided to close their dairy years ago, they kept the cattle as veld cattle and over the years she adapted the cattle to a more Bonsmara type.

“Most of my cattle look like Bonsmaras. I like the red type of cattle. We sometimes use Bovelder bulls as well, but it is ultimately important for us to breed a strong animal with strong feet to be able to function and adapt well here in the mountains.

“And of course it should be a delight to look at a beautiful animal. They should always be nice and fat. They should always look satisfied,” she adds with a laugh.

Kynoch’s involvement for the past 40 years

For the cattle to be round and healthy, it is also essential that they consume sufficient nutrients. The Kynoch fertiliser that is spread on the pasture improves the quality of nutrients in the grass consumed by the cattle and contributes to Baps’ beautiful red cattle being something to behold.

Baps says: “The partnerships and relationships I have built over the years with people in the industry, role players and suppliers, have also made a remarkable contribution to our farm. In the 48 years we have used three different fertiliser companies. The first company went bust and we did not do so well with the second partnership. After that we were introduced to Kynoch and since then it is all we use and know.

“For me and my son, who is involved in the crop farming, it’s nice to know exactly what we are getting, and what we are dealing with, and the support we get from our Kynoch agent helps us to move our farming forward. Kynoch not only helps us with the provision of fertiliser on our grain crops, but also with the fertiliser we spread on our field for grazing for the cattle and on top of that my cattle can also feast on the leftovers after a successful harvest.

“Although in the end it is a mutual relationship, it is important that we also reach out to our agent when we need their advice and support.”

Driving force behind everything

Baps says: “Sometimes it feels like you are not strong enough; at times there are health problems that make it challenging for a person, but every morning it is such a grace for me to be able to get up; to be able to see how beautiful it is in the area, and that the Lord has chosen me to build and preserve this place where we live for our posterity, to be able to love and appreciate it.

“One of the biggest lessons I could learn from farming over the years is that there are very good years, and there are very hard years, but I have learned that we have enough. We have enough to eat. We have enough to be able to distribute to others; to help others. We ourselves have never suffered in the sense that we did not have some support to be able to move forward.”

Highlights

Baps says: “Throughout my life I have been truly blessed with gifts and things that have come my way. One of my biggest highlights was being able to end up here on the farm, to come such a long way and still be here and involved. I never thought that I would end up on the farm and that it would become my whole life, but I am so grateful for the opportunity. It really is a present I received. The nicest thing about the farm is that everything that is taken care of is beautiful, and I am proud of that. I did my part, and it was good.”

Baps’ cattle are her pride.

Women in agriculture

Baps believes that women on farms should get more involved in the community. “Women can have just as big a role and impact in the agricultural communities as the men. I think we as women still do too little. Women can have a greater impact in so many parts of the agricultural industry, even with the management of firefighting, organisations, savings projects and so on,” she says.

“Many women in the agricultural industry think they are only on the farm, but I believe it is extremely important to become part of the farm. Become part of the decision making on the farm, not just what you are interested in. Get in the van and drive along. Get into the harvester and harvest together. Be excited together about a good harvest and go down on your knees together in times when things are going badly. It is just as important to educate our children on the farms to also contribute on  the farm and be involved as well.

“Not every year is a good harvest; some years are more difficult and should be budgeted for. Women must be involved in the financial side of a farm to see how hard it is for the male farmers. There really is a wonderful future for women in farming and the agricultural industry. It is good to be able to do what you want to do, when you want to,” she concludes.

Kynoch celebrates remarkable women in the agricultural industry and wishes all women a happy Women’s Day and Month.