PRODUCER FOCUS
Here at Fort Warwick
they are dairy farmers
and have about 400
Jersey cows and
crossbreads.
By Aubrey Kruger
D
uring our visit to East London
we teamed up with Senwes
Equipment marketer in the
area, Roy Moorcroft, when he
delivered yet another John Deere tractor
to the Gratz Brothers on their farm Fort
Warwick.
Roy tells us that it was the fourth trac-
tor that he sold to the brothers and this
time it was the turn of the John Deere
5082E.
They are telling us that they’ve always
had John Deeres on the farm, old and
newly acquired ones, although there is
also a couple of the competition’s ver-
sions on their farm.
But it seems that Senwes Equipment
is really making inroads as both Des and
Vernon are very chuffed about the quality
of the tractors as well as the service. On
top of it they’ve known Roy for the best
part of eight years. According to them
Roy, together with the branch manager,
Riaan Grobler and the team over there are
really on the ball and get to the bottom of
things really quickly.
The Gratz Brothers
of Fort Warwick
receive the John
Deere 5082E
tractor. Here we
have brothers Des
and Vernon Gratz
with Darryn Gratz
receiving the trac-
tor from Senwes
Equipment
Marketer, Roy
Moorcroft in the
middle.
MORE ABOUT THE GRATZ BROTHERS
They are proud third generation farmers.
Their grandfather Frederick farmed in the
Berlin area, after which their father bought
Fort Warwick in 1982, where they have
been farming ever since. In 2007 they
acquired the nearby farm Wildene and in
2016 the third, Hatchley, by which time
Senwes moved into the area.
They are dairy farmers with about
400 Jersey cows and crossbreads. The
eldest, Des, focuses predominantly on the
milking side of things with the youngest,
Vernon, focusing his attention on the pro-
duction leg.
FAMILY AFFAIR
Nothing much differs on the east side of
things as Des and Vernon’s sons, Darryn
and Kyle, are active in the business with
Des’ wife, Lor, handling the bookkeeping
and administration. Vernon’s wife, Karen,
is currently using her skills in the tomato
industry. They employ about 18 perma-
nent staff and very seldomly require the
services of others.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
Most of the Senwes farmers are situated
in the platteland in the Northwest, Free
State and such. Here they tell us that
some of the advantages of farming in
this area are that it has a much warmer
climate and on top of it they have milder
winters than the farmers up country. Some
of the disadvantages include tick pro
blems, but they keep it under control.
FUTURE
Their future at Fort Warwick looks bright
as they are planning to let their sons
Darryn and Kyle take over the farms as
the fourth generation, which will lead the
way forward. They let the cat out of the
bag by saying that they will be expanding
operations as they approach a fast gro
wing phase in the foreseeable future. The
only downside is that it all depends if the
current situation in the country will allow
their plans to pan out perfectly.
We asked the question as to what they
would like to be called. “Call me a farmer,
otherwise you just complicate matters.”
Be stronger than ever and you will harvest
the benefits, with Senwes Equipment, of
course.
SENWES SCENARIO | AUTUMN 2018
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