OUR STORY

After moving to the farm Kilifi Creek, Antoinette took on a new venture and began farming with Kalahari Red goats in 2010. Only just learning about goat farming, she started out with just 4 females, but today, Kilifi Creek boasts a total of 300 productive females, runs a very successful goat stud operation, and is one of the most recognized names in the industry.

It has not always been easy to build a name in the industry as a newcomer, but from the get-go, Antoinette set rigid goals, educated herself, and dedicated her focus to becoming “excellent,” which became an integral part of the company’s focus and the center of its slogan.

Antoinette’s mission for Kilifi Creek has always been to produce a beautiful, correct, and show-type animal with only the very best assets, qualities, and traits to be functional, effective, and balance meat capacity together with aesthetic appeal, be it feminine does and masculine fertile bucks: a vision to ensure the epitome of top-class breeding in the Kalahari Reds industry.

In 2010, Antoinette’s decision to breed with Kalahari Red goats, above anything else, was based on the sustainability of farming with these animals.

Kalahari Reds are known especially for their fertility, multiple births, turnaround time, and meat-carrying capacity – an essential in a world heading for food scarcity.

It is a goat with very high potential when managed right… What you put in is what you get out x10.

It is therefore that Antoinette decided to run an intensive, hands-on operation… to work with only the most productive and high-functional animals to ensure a commercially viable stud. She also strives to contribute these highly adaptable, productive, and functional Kalahari Red goats to the market and see the Kalahari Red Industry grow to its optimum potential.

Farming on a land of 21ha, the only way to adapt was to follow a more intensive and innovative approach.

Following a more hands-on management system that ensures the highest survival rate and best growth of small kids, Kilifi Creek uses the kidding pen system. They hereby give every doe and her kids the best possible care, before they are moved to open camps where the kids are introduced to creep feed.

Kilifi Creek chases high production figures of 260% lambing percentage and about 240% weaning percentage. Their females give birth just over 8 months apart.

After generations of fine selection based on the best bloodlines, Kilifi Creek’s breeding sires are bred out of their own animals, giving the best line-based characteristics. Selection is based on the best possible growth rates, with the end producer in mind, but also working towards a sustainable income.

Kilifi Creek’s does are carefully selected from a pool of show-quality animals to fit into the strict reproductive program of the most efficient and fertile mothers. Fertility and good mothering abilities are requirements the does must meet to ensure a sustainable and profitable operation.

These does are all animals with deep body capacity, good length, and the most explicit trait being their eye-striking, feminine looks.

Due to it being an intensive farming operation, Kilifi Creek has a vigorous disease control system in place. A dedicated quarantine area is available for ill animals to prevent the spread of diseases, but most importantly, an adequate adaptation program is required for each new animal, making sure no new diseases and pests are introduced to the farm.

It is important to have a good relationship with the local vet and, even more so, have a solid understanding of how different diseases look, which medications to use, and how to determine and control parasites on your farm.

It is for this reason, Antoinette feels strongly about contributing her knowledge to the farming community. In 2021, Antoinette took on the initiative to host in-depth goat courses at Kilifi Creek for upcoming farmers, in collaboration with the local vet, Dr Nico du Preeze. She will also have these courses available online soon for those too far to travel to these events.

Antoinette also spends a lot of time sharing short educational videos on her social platforms with the hope of contributing some wisdom to the farming community and her followers.

Together with her passion for educating and supporting her clients, she offers them a comprehensive Kilifi Creek experience.

Kilifi Creek strives to breed with only the very best to create an overall uniform picture of excellence, which also ensures their presentation of goats in the market is of the same persistent quality.

A strict traceability protocol is followed to put potential buyers’ minds at ease.

Although the goats spend most of the day out in the field, they are divided into different camps determined by their nutritional needs and production stages, in which they will be fed a specific diet according to their needs, with additional roughage.

Kilifi Creek started to produce their own feed concentrate due to the lack of goat-specific food in the market. They have a range of various products, mainly for their own use, but also supplying to loyal customers.

Antoinette has become a world-renowned export breeder, won multiple championships with several internally bred animals, and has become a great influencer in the Kalahari Red community.

In 2023, sa stamboek honored Kilifi Creek with a silver Elite studbook award, which is proof of Kilifi Creek’s ethics and credibility status.

Antoinette Dry has always been a passionate farmer with a fervent desire to enjoy all the challenges and pleasures of goat farming, to learn from every up and down, and eventually be an inspiration to young and old in the prospect of taking Kalahari Red to a new level. And indeed, an inspiration she truly is, and a humble one at that.