I
really enjoyed the article “’n Boer maak ‘n plan – A farmer always has a plan”
the other day and chuckled at our nation's (South Africa) ingenuity.
According to the original article by IOL Scitech on 11 July, Erard Louw, a farmer just outside Durbanville (Western Cape) had enough after 27 sheep and 13 lambs were stolen ten days earlier, from his 750 hectare farm. So he decided to take things into his own hands and make a plan. He knew it would be useless to phone the police as they were based too far away in Malmesbury and he has learned from experience that their vehicles would either be out of fuel, without tires (also stolen) or that no driver would be available.
According to the original article by IOL Scitech on 11 July, Erard Louw, a farmer just outside Durbanville (Western Cape) had enough after 27 sheep and 13 lambs were stolen ten days earlier, from his 750 hectare farm. So he decided to take things into his own hands and make a plan. He knew it would be useless to phone the police as they were based too far away in Malmesbury and he has learned from experience that their vehicles would either be out of fuel, without tires (also stolen) or that no driver would be available.
So
Mr. Louw decided to equip four sheep in different camps, each with a cellphone. The phone would activate at night when the
sheep starts to run and make an automatic call to the farmer, saying it is sheep
number 1 or 2 etc. According to Mr Louw he
then at least knows where to start looking, but he also knows that when the
phone rings it is not good news and that he would have to jump to catch the
thief in the act. He said that through these calls, he managed to get a sheep rustler
arrested, but it's not easy.
Stock
theft is a major problem in the Western Cape and has forced many farmers to
leave the industry. Thefts peak during the long dark winter nights when the wet
weather, easily sweep the tracks.
This phone concept makes me wonder what Uncle Jan Spies (Legendary South African storyteller) would make of these sheep and I wonder whether he would embrace this new technology. Maybe so, but I can only think of all the good stories that would follow, about that silly sheep with his phone. I can see Uncle Jan stare, shaking his head at the contraption in his hand, there in his kitchen with the rich and strong aroma of coffee from the can ...
This phone concept makes me wonder what Uncle Jan Spies (Legendary South African storyteller) would make of these sheep and I wonder whether he would embrace this new technology. Maybe so, but I can only think of all the good stories that would follow, about that silly sheep with his phone. I can see Uncle Jan stare, shaking his head at the contraption in his hand, there in his kitchen with the rich and strong aroma of coffee from the can ...
Let's hope that this contraption is the way forward for our sheep farmers, before it’s too late. There is after-all nothing as good as a lamb chop, especially from a learned one that can make phone calls.
This is a translation of my article published in The South African on 25/07/2012.
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