Theft on farms can be a big headache, and nowadays it causes farmers to assign a fair percentage of their budget to security.
Johan Engelbrecht is a farmer who has to fight a fierce battle against livestock and other theft on his farm between Fochville and Vereeniging in the RSA. He also does not dehorn his Brahman cattle so that they can defend themselves against cattle thieves. He is obliged to keep three cattle herders in the field to ward off thieves. Johan also plans his breeding season to have fierce cows within the herd throughout the year to help protect the herd.
Crime also forces Johan to kraal his cattle near his house every night. “We do not have any fences or boundary wires on the farm anymore, because they steal it, therefore the cattle have to spend the night in the kraal,” he states. Johan realised that meshed wire was necessary to keep the cattle inside and make it a bit more difficult for livestock thieves, because it takes a longer time to cut. Three years ago, he decided to try Bonnox to protect his precious animals.
“A few years ago, we decided to try hinge joint wire, specifically the Bonnox product. In addition to the added security benefit, it also contains the cattle more effectively. The cattle were able to push their heads through the ordinary fences, even electrified fences, to reach the grass on the other side of the wire. With these efforts, they soon damaged the wire and then broke it. With the hinge joint wire, they are not able to push their heads through the wire. That is why we decided to try this product. You just have to erect it very tightly.” he says.
Johan Engelbrecht’s Bonnox fence succeeds in keeping livestock thieves out of his camp and keeping his Brahman cattle inside.
Johan’s third reason was that the Bonnox fence could be erected very quickly. He says: “You are really able to erect kilometres in a very short time. According to the Bonnox recommendations, I made a clamp that holds the wire and then tensioned it with the tractor before repeating the process with the next 100-metre roll. You can erect this fence with very little labour. We could erect the entire 1 100-metre kraal in two days. Once your straining posts and props are cemented firmly, the wire is erected very quickly.”
Johan had to use wooden posts instead of the usual y-standards because on this farm, iron and steel disappear very quickly.
Johan decided to use a 1,4-metre wire from Bonnox’s Money Saver range to prevent his cattle from jumping over the fences, and to give it that much-needed extra strength. “It works excellently for a kraal and it can even work well for home security. It is very light and easy to handle and to erect.”
Call 076-169-9068, 012-666-8717 or send an e-mail to Linda@bonnox.co.za, Gerda@bonnox.co.za or zane@bonnox.co.za. Also, visit their website at www.bonnox.co.za.
Johan had to use wooden posts to erect his Bonnox fencing because the thieves kept on stealing his steel y-standards.
