Gauteng Smallholder December/ January 2018 | Page 14

SMART SMALLHOLDERS
From retirement project to leading cheesery
F
inding themselves with
time on their hands at
retirement, Norman
and Rina Belcher founded
The Belnori Boutique
Cheesery ~ now 15 years old
~ which has grown to
become one of the top
cheeseries in South Africa.
The Belchers' success on their
15 acre smallholding in Nest
Park, lies in Swiss Saanen
goats and a lot of hard work.
Upon his retirement, Norman
Belcher looked to start a
project on their property and
Ouklip underlay drove Norman Belcher
to choose livestock over crops on his
Bapsfontein retirement plot ~ today
he milks 230 goats daily
very quickly decided that the
ouklip bedrock upon which
the property was situated
meant only livestock produc-
tion would be suitable. Soon
after, Norman went on a
short course in nearby Springs
learning animal husbandry
and how to make feta
cheese. In the meantime, his
wife Rina continued working
fulltime in the financial
services industry.
The Belchers began with four
goats. They hand-milked the
mothers and bottle fed the
kids. Today, they milk 230
goats twice a day and employ
#SAFoodCrisis
From page 11
as patronising and conde-
scending by the participants.
For middle-class South
Africans modern townhouse
and security clusters also
don't lend themselves to
vegetable and food produc-
tion.
Rural South Africans, also,
face challenges in home food
production.
In many rural areas it is the
elderly who are left at home
tending the grandchildren
while the productive
generation is away in the
cities and such elderly often
lack the strength and vigour
for the rigours of gardening
12
www.sasmallholder.co.za
13 staff.
Their goats are the popular
Swiss Saanen breed. Because
of the prevalence of this
breed in South Africa, it is
easier for small-scale farmers
like the Belchers to ensure a
pure bloodline. The goats
breed seasonally with all of
the females being covered by
April at the latest. After a five-
month gestation, birthing
season begins around August,
Continued on page 15
on a productive scale.
K If you want a fuller
exposition of the crisis in the
South African food sector,
read Dr Tracy Ledger's 2016-
published work entitled An
Empty Plate, published by
Jacana and available at
bookstores and online.