South Africa: African Farming: Obakeng Mfikwe - From Hospital Rounds to Breeding Champion Cattle

Great doctor, better farmer! It would take a family tragedy to launch this young doctor’s impressive farming career. Following his elder brother Rotham’s tragic passing in a car accident, Obakeng Mfikwe found himself increasingly having to take off time from his medical practice in Fourways in Johannesburg to help his ageing dad with the family’s communal cattle farming at Beestekraal, close to Jericho in North West. And the more he farmed, the more he found himself enjoying it. When he finally took the plunge and bought his first few cows, he knew he was well and truly hooked. So he closed his medical practice and started farming full-time, and within just a few years, achieved some great successes. His Simmentaler and Simbra cattle studs have already won several awards, and he also plants more than a 1000 ha of maize, sunflower and fodder crops on several farms in the North West and Magaliesberg.