The Free State Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs staged the 28th Annual Game Auction from the 12th till the 13th of April 20013 at the Willem Pretorious Game Reserve.
Detea in conjunction with Tirhani Auctioneers, which will run this prestigious event till 2015, saw 106 Live Animals lots which include 485 animals and 8 Game carcass packages with a total of 474 carcasses auctioned during the two day event. The Department of Treasury is also on board, offering assistance to the growth of game farming industry.
On the first day of the auction, the department made an amount of R2.7 million from trophy hunts packages and on the second day the Game was sold for R8.3 million. The Game include among others, Sables, Buffalos and Giraffes. A total amount of R 11 million was made this year which made it better than last year’s event in terms of revenue collected.
The province has a limited number of Game Reserves. Most do not have natural predators and as part of conservation Detea calculate the carrying capacity of each Game reserve to avoid overpopulation.
The number of Game auctioned in each reserve varies each year. Detea then auction off the designed packages to Game farmers and professional outfitters for both breeding and hunting purposes.
The Game farming industry, which employs over 100 000 people in the country, is a lucrative industry with impressive long-term returns. Entry into the Game farming industry is fast becoming more accessible to those interested in reaping its rewards and emerging game farmers in the Free State are accommodated in the province’s bid to grow the industry.
Previously, Detea donated game to 13 emerging black farmers and loaned 10 buffalo to the owner of Three Sisters Game Ranch in Smitfield, Mr Sipho Dube. Detea also donated 60 Sringbok and 10 Zebra to Four farmers in Thaba Phatswa, Koffiefontein, Zastron and Bloemfontein respectively.
It was really encouraging this year to see one of these emerging black farmers taking an active role in the auction. One of the black farmers answered the call by making a lucrative bid of about R674 000.00.
For further enquiries:
Zia Nyangwa
Tel: 051 400 9547
E-mail: zian@detea.fs.gov.za
