Farmer’s Weekly – 02 August 2019

Humansdorp. They then moved

on towards Grahamstown, where

they were ideally positioned to

join the Great Trek of the 1830s.

THE UYSBEES

The Uys family and their black

cattle trekked north in 1837, and

after many trials and tribulations,

eventually made their way to

today’s Mpumalanga, where

Dirk Cornelius Uys, better

known as ‘Swart’ Dirk, founded

the town of Wakkerstroom.

Born on Hessaquaskloof and

a veteran of the battles of Italeni

and Blood River, Dirk would

not only successfully establish

the Uys family and their black

cattle on the farm Gryshoek,

but guide them through the

brutal Anglo-Boer War (1899-

1902). Dirk managed to fight in

a commando and hide a portion

of the family’s beloved Uys cattle

(by then known as the Uysbees)

in the Drakensberg to prevent

their destruction during the

British scorched-earth policy.

When peace was declared

in mid-1902, Dirk returned to

Gryshoek to rebuild his life and

the Uysbees. But it would be

his successor, Coenraad Uys,

who would go on to consolidate

Dirk’s admirable act of rescuing

the family’s cattle. By the time

Coenraad left Gryshoek to his

eldest daughter, Nelsie, the

Uysbees had influenced many

other herds in the region.

Nelsie then married the

unrelated Joey Uys from

Heidelberg in the Cape, who

took over responsibility

of the Uysbees.

THE DRAKENSBERGER

Joey’s greatest achievement was

his protection of the Uysbees in

the face of the infamous Livestock

Improvement Act of 1934, which

penalised farmers for the use of

bulls from unregistered breeds.

As a result of the Act, many

breeders of indigenous black

cattle began using bulls from

exotic breeds, including the South

Devon and Aberdeen Angus. It

was a trend that deeply concerned

Joey, who continued breeding

within his closed herd of

Uysbees while actively working

on the official recognition of

the Uys cattle as a breed.

Despite resistance from

the state, Joey eventually

spearheaded the creation of

the Uysbees Telersvereniging

(breeders’ society) on 1 May 1946.

Later, he suggested that ‘Uysbees’

be replaced by a more inclusive

name that could accommodate

other bloodlines of indigenous

black cattle, and on 7 November

1947 the South African

Drakensberger Cattle Breeders’

Society was established. Today,

brothers Pikkie and Johan Uys

still farm Drakensbergers on

Gryshoek near Wakkerstroom.

• Sources: 65-Jarige Drakensberger
  Gedenkjoernaal, ‘Getting through
  at Swellendam’. 2004. Village
  Life 8 (October/November); Simon
  Streicher S. and Wessels, H. 2005.
  ‘In the footsteps of Jan Hartogh’.
  Village Life 12 (June/July).
  ▪

FW

I

ndigenous Khoikhoi cattle were

multicoloured and included a

black strain, which was noted

as early as 1497, when Vasco

da Gama’s sailors bartered a black

ox from Khoikhoi herdsmen. By

the mid-1600s, Jan van Riebeeck

is said to have preferred black

oxen as draught animals, and

by the early 1700s, the Uys

family, who had immigrated

from Leiden in the Netherlands,

were specialising in the trade of

black cattle in the Overberg.

As they trekked into the interior,

the Uyses continued to barter,

and by the time they reached

Grahamstown in the 1820s,

they had a large herd of black

cattle that would accompany

them on the Great Trek.

VADERLANDERS

By the late 17th and early

18th centuries, the cattle

trade between the Dutch and

Khoikhoi was being fuelled by

a demand for beef at the naval

refreshment station at the Cape.

The rich and famous were

also involved; the Van der Stel

family, for example, controlled

no fewer than 17 cattle stations

along “Het oude Caepse wagen- weg”

(The old Cape wagon road).

The Van der Stel family’s

interest in cattle was underscored

by their importation of black

Groningen bulls to the Cape

in the 1680s. These were put

to indigenous cows to breed

Vaderland oxen. The Uys family

preferred these animals to power

their wagons into the interior

and it was Vaderlanders that

took them to Hessequaskloof,

between Riviersonderend

and Swellendam.

With trekking in their

blood, the Uyses eventually

left Hessaquaskloof in the

1820s and moved towards the

Eastern Frontier to settle near

ABOVE:

A plaque on the

farm Noukloof

(formerly

Hessequaskloof)

between

Riviersonderend

and Swellendam

commemorating

the Uys family’s

involvement in

the Great Trek

of the 1830s.

Piet De Villiers

After arriving at the Cape in the 1700s, the Uys family bartered black cattle with the Khoikhoi.

Today, these genetics live on through their Drakensbergers in Mpumalanga. By Mike Burgess.

The legacy of the Uys cattle

History of Rural South Africa liFestyle

2 August 2019 farmer’sweekly 57