Simmentaler

The first Simmentalers arrived in South Africa in 1905 when President M T Steyn of the Republic of the Free State established a stud on his farm Onze Rust, near Bloemfontein. The breed had, however, maintained an inferior position until the early sixties when the excellent performance of the Simmentaler in official interbreed tests were revealed. It soon became clear that the demand was exceeding the supply and in the period 1960 to 1970 large numbers had been imported into South Africa, initially from the then South West Africa, and later Fleckvieh from Germany and Austria.