VN May 2023

Vetnuus | May 2023 16 After Solomon had been anointed as a king, the successor to his father David, he negotiated with King Hiram of Tyre for cedars to build the temple, which his father had wished to build but could not achieve in his lifetime. Once the agreement had been concluded, Solomon told Hiram (1 Kings 5:6),“Now, therefore, command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” As an analogy to this, and in retrospect, one cannot but say,“Because you know yourselves that among us, there is no one who understands how to breed a Boer goat like the South African farmer.” The African Renaissance already started 80 years ago – at the beginning of the 20th century – with the breeding of the ennobled Boer goat. The resurrection and renascence by breeding the Boer goat – which forms an integral part of the African goat - comply with the basic principles of a Renaissance. A regeneration of thinking and an amendment in the view of the life of a group of farmers in the Eastern Cape converted the indigenous Boer goat into the best meat goat breed in the world. Seen against the background that 341 goat breeds are distributed worldwide makes this a unique achievement. It has been a remarkable effort compared to where Boer goat farmers found themselves 70-80 years ago and where they are today. The small group of farmers in the Eastern Cape who took the initiative to improve the Boer goat had no choice but to play the hand they had been dealt with through circumstances. In this hand was the former indigenous goat breed that was an integral part of the greater whole, namely the African goat. It was the goat that the farmers acquired from the indigenous people to farm with. The Origin and Development of the Ennobled Boer Goat A heart-warming story by Prof Etienne Terblanche An Adapted article fromwww.Boerboksa .co.za Thus the name Boer goat gradually evolved.