Colorado cowman
AH member
Monday, August 15. 10th hunting day
No hunting today. We slept in a bit, had breakfast and then Katja told us that Nikolai, her son, was willing to give us a tour of the cattle ranch. Susan had asked about it yesterday while I was hunting and Katja confirmed. We were both very interested in the ranch and cattle operation as we also raise beef cattle seedstock. Nikolai came about 9 a.m. and we jumped in his Land Cruiser for the tour. He was a little reserved at first as he hadn't previously met us and didn't really know our history, but after a few minutes when we expressed a real interest in the operation and showed a bit of knowledge, Nickolai opened up and spent the rest of the morning showing us their operation, of which he is justifiably proud.
We saw cows with young calves, developing bulls, what I jokingly refered to as the "show barn", where cattle were being prepped for a show in September. Their prep was much different than what we are used to in the U.S. and showing is still one of the major ways they promote their bulls for commercial cattlemen.
We also saw the bulls being prepped for their bull auction in September.
We also learned about their nutrition program, marketing of commercial cattle, animal health and the many challenges they face, many of which are quite similar to those faced by cattlemen in the U.S. Nikolai is obviously passionate about his ranch and the cattle and at one point he remarked that it was great to have a hunter visit who really liked cattle.
We returned to the lodge for lunch, then visited the salt shed, where Johannes was working on heads. We lined up all the skulls of my game, except the zebra.
We also walked around the grounds of headquarters, some of which I had barely seen in the daylight.
Berni also headed back home. I had intended to give him my Stable Sticks as part of his tip, but when they broke I didn't want him to have to deal with getting replacement parts. He had really come to love them during our hunt. I mentioned that I had planned to give them to him and he enthusiastically said he wanted them anyway. He had already figured out how he was going to fix them himself.
That evening, Mario Metzger, Diethelm's brother drove in. Mario was to be our driver and guide on our trip to Etosha National Park.
No hunting today. We slept in a bit, had breakfast and then Katja told us that Nikolai, her son, was willing to give us a tour of the cattle ranch. Susan had asked about it yesterday while I was hunting and Katja confirmed. We were both very interested in the ranch and cattle operation as we also raise beef cattle seedstock. Nikolai came about 9 a.m. and we jumped in his Land Cruiser for the tour. He was a little reserved at first as he hadn't previously met us and didn't really know our history, but after a few minutes when we expressed a real interest in the operation and showed a bit of knowledge, Nickolai opened up and spent the rest of the morning showing us their operation, of which he is justifiably proud.
We saw cows with young calves, developing bulls, what I jokingly refered to as the "show barn", where cattle were being prepped for a show in September. Their prep was much different than what we are used to in the U.S. and showing is still one of the major ways they promote their bulls for commercial cattlemen.
We also saw the bulls being prepped for their bull auction in September.
We also learned about their nutrition program, marketing of commercial cattle, animal health and the many challenges they face, many of which are quite similar to those faced by cattlemen in the U.S. Nikolai is obviously passionate about his ranch and the cattle and at one point he remarked that it was great to have a hunter visit who really liked cattle.
We returned to the lodge for lunch, then visited the salt shed, where Johannes was working on heads. We lined up all the skulls of my game, except the zebra.
We also walked around the grounds of headquarters, some of which I had barely seen in the daylight.
Berni also headed back home. I had intended to give him my Stable Sticks as part of his tip, but when they broke I didn't want him to have to deal with getting replacement parts. He had really come to love them during our hunt. I mentioned that I had planned to give them to him and he enthusiastically said he wanted them anyway. He had already figured out how he was going to fix them himself.
That evening, Mario Metzger, Diethelm's brother drove in. Mario was to be our driver and guide on our trip to Etosha National Park.
