Cape Town - It all started with Jean le Blanc in the Huisne River Valley in the La Perche region of France in 1823. Jean le Blanc, Jean White in English, was a big girl, a big white girl. And she gave birth to a single offspring that seemed to be precisely what everyone wanted. Strong of back, with powerful hindquarters, large hooves and four strong legs, as well as a broad chest containing a meek heart and, last but not least, an intelligent, sensitive mind.
That single foal offered in one package the road transport and farm-tilling solution for which a pre-automotive Europe was pining. Its birth was the official start, one might say, of the mighty Percheron draft horse bloodline.
With its strength, the Percheron became the tractor of its time as it pulled the plough that tilled the field that took the seed that grew the grain that made the bread that fed the land.
With its endurance, it became an essential in the transport business as it pulled wagons to market.
Resplendent in a slightly mottled white, it became the regal pride in front of any buggy or coach carrying the wealthy and the grand.
But after maybe a century of taking pride of place in agriculture, the Percheron’s glorious reign came to an end as first the steam traction engine and then the first tractors roared on to the fields, blowing smoke and churning up the soil.
Or did it come to an end?
Out among the vineyards between Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, just off Klapmuts, the Elsenburg Agricultural College and research facility sits against the side of a hill, overlooking some of the most valuable farmland in the country, the distant Cape Flats and the famous Table Mountain.
In an office in the building’s southern wing, Bennie Aucamp, facility manager of the directorate of animal sciences of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, plans the immediate future of South Africa’s first Percheron stud.
Not too far from the building, across the road to the west, huge horses graze contentedly in camps of rich, deep green kikuyu pasture.
“Look, it all started because farmers in the early days needed working horses, but they could not afford to keep their own breeding stock and neither could they be left to depend on imports from Europe,” Aucamp said.
“The demand for agricultural products was rising and farmers needed faster production methods to keep up. The relative speed and strength of these horses were essential,” he said.
“So the state took it upon itself to keep a stud and supply draft horses to farmers. This kept prices down and ensured a steady supply of working animals.”
In 1906, Elsenburg bred the beautiful English Clydesdale draft horse. However, the Percheron became the horse of choice, causing the colonial government to switch and import four – a stallion called Joliet and three mares.
The power and good nature of the French Percheron won it many friends among the farming communities of the Cape.
At between 16 and 16.5 hands high and weighing in at an average of 950kg, these huge but docile horses soon became their owners’ most dependable employees.
Percherons age well, reaching over 20 years and even over 30 in some cases. However, by the time they get to about 20, farmers tended to retire and replace them. The retired but extremely well-trained draft horses were often still used for special occasions when discipline counted more than strength, and they often lived out their old age in relative comfort.
At birth, they are almost completely black in colour. As they grow, the colour fades through shades of dappled grey until the adult horse is almost white.
Even when tractors began replacing the horse on the plough, these animals remained popular for tasks such as drawing carts in the vineyards and orchards during harvest times, or when the crops had to be sprayed.
The tractor, however, eventually overcame that hurdle.
“When a tractor is not needed, you can park it in the shed and leave it for long periods of time. Whether the horse is working or not, it has to be fed and cared for. That is an investment in both time and money,” Aucamp said.
To keep a huge Percheron well fed is not that expensive. Aucamp calculated that a horse kept on good pasture would require about 2kg of feed a day, costing about R10 a day.
Of course, there is the cost of electricity to irrigate the pasture and the care of the pasture itself, recently calculated in a study of Jersey cows at being about R18 000 a hectare a year. That makes it about R4 500 for a quarter hectare a year or R375 a month.
Average vet’s visits could come to R3 000 a year if the horse remains in good health, is not injured and does not breed. The horse could therefore cost its owner just over R1 000 a month, whether it leaves the stable or pasture to go to work or not.
But still, Elsenburg’s stud continues to play a role in the modern world. Here, the horses are still bought and sold.
These days, the Percherons mostly eke out a living drawing carts to entertain, but a demand for them remains. Several other private studs have sprung up over the years.
“These horses are so good with people, Aucamp said.
“As big as they are, so small are their hearts in a sense. They really like people and they are so careful around people.
“They are very docile and they learn easily. There is almost no aggression in them,” he said. - Cape Argus