About Us
The Karan Beef story
Karan Beef is one of South Africa’s leading suppliers of beef products and continuously sets the benchmark for excellence in the local beef industry. Karan Beef is committed to adhering to the highest productivity, hygiene, housekeeping and general maintenance standards.
KARAN BEEF Farming houses and feeds our cattle until they are ready for processing. We have developed strong and lasting relationships with our cattle farmers and cattle breeding suppliers. These relationships help us maintain a superior herd, resulting in the quality beef we are renowned for, and strive to be the largest beef producers in the world.
We purchase calves between 7 and 12 months of age and transport them from our holding stations to our feedlot using our own fleet. Our South African and Namibian holding stations play a crucial role in obtaining cattle from established and emerging cattle farmers who do not have the means to get their calves for sale to our feedlot.
Feedlot
Our cattle feedlots are located at our Heidelberg, Nigel and Albert Falls cattle farms. Our Heidelberg farm is the largest feedlot in the world at 2 330 hectares. These facilities are the home of our carefully and scientifically designed crop farming programme that produces the key ingredients for our specialised cattle feed to ensure a quality beef product. The farms are also used for our grain-fed cattle backgrounding programme. This allows us to maintain being the largest beef producers in Southern Africa.
Upon arrival at each KARAN BEEF feedlot, each calf is weighed, inspected, inoculated and tagged. As part of our state-of-the-art biosecurity programme, this information is captured into our database to keep track of each animal, from gate to plate.
Once processed, the cattle are moved into pens where they are fed a scientifically formulated starter ration designed to stimulate feed intake before being moved onto production and finishing rations. We comprehensively monitor the animals and their well-being throughout the entire feeding period, quickly identifying and treating any diseases that may appear within the herd.
Feedmill
We know that what we feed our cattle significantly influences the quality beef we produce. Therefore, the KARAN BEEF feed mills, located at the same cattle farms as our feedlots, are arguably the most modern cattle feeding facilities in the South African meat industry and in the world. Our Heidelberg feed mill relies on Programmable Logic Controls technology and the most advanced support technology available to monitor and manage what we feed our cattle and when.
Our feed recipes are scientifically formulated from data collected across the globe. We produce approximately 2500 tons of our mixed feed daily, using nothing but locally sourced ingredients that contain no animal by-products, to ensure the highest quality natural feed mix.
Our computer-aided feeding programme automatically controls the amount of feed to individual pens. This allows quantities to be varied when necessary and enables us to account for variables like the physical condition of the animals, prevailing weather conditions and the change of seasons. This responsive approach to feeding maintains our animal’s health and well-being and translates into the best quality beef possible.
Our Nigel farm is not only used for beef farming in South Africa, but it also used to grow the maize, soya and hay required for our scientifically formulated cattle feed. It is also the base for our cattle backgrounding programme, where calves are left to graze and receive balanced rations for supplementation to ensure they are well-adapted and prepared for entering the feedlots.