Situated at the Western border of the typical Kalahari dune landscape but in almost completely flat countryside, Farm Springbockvley is located 180 km southeast of Windhoek. On its 9.500 hectare of predominantly red sand and partially limestone soils, Springbockvley contains open grassland with some shrubs and trees. Only few shallow depressions exist, of which the most prominent one is the name giver to the farm: more than 100 years ago, when the farm was marked out and the house built, many springbuck are said to have lingered around this valley from although more in the that is fed by a spring and therefore holds semi-permanent open water. The long-term average rainfall at Springbockvley is 260 mm, with figures differing between 70mm and 460 mm in the last five years.

Ekkehard Külbs took over the farming business from his parents in 1989 and since 2004 runs it together with his wife Judith Isele. Ekkehards father, who bought the farm in 1959, developed it with simplicity and efficiency in mind and managed soil, rangeland and animals conservatively, but with much passion for the whole ecosystem. For better utilization and to establish grazing management, he built up the main part of today’s infrastructure on the farm: 60 camps and – as is common in this area of the country – jackal proof fencing along the borders of the farm. After having studied agriculture in Germany, Ekkehard not only continued with the farming approach of his father, but also refined it in his years of farming. He started off with attending a course in Holistic Management in 1990. Later, with her background of having studied Organic Agriculture, it was easy for Judith to keep up with Ekkehards holistic approach when she moved from Germany to Namibia to join him on the farm.

On Springbockvley, 4 permanent staff members assist with the tasks. Each of them carries responsibility for one of the four “flerds” – a flock of sheep and a herd of cattle combined. In 1990 Ekkehard started to implement the principles of Holistic Management and many of the financial and grazing planning procedures. He combined herds and started to move them according to a time plan that included the differences in size and quality of each camp. The nutritional needs of the animals at different times of the year were accommodated into the planning to optimize condition and production. Now there are three big cells of 16 to 17 camps each, which contain up to 2000 sheep and 300 cattle. In the fourth cell 11 camps around the farmyard are at the disposal of a smaller flerd with around 500 sheep and 100 cattle.

Apart from cattle and sheep, approximately 350 springbuck, 100 oryx and varying numbers of kudu and warthog are utilizing what grows on Springbockvley. They are being used for own consumption of venison, or by professional hunters when needed to control numbers. Still, oryx and springbuck have increased substantially in the last 10 to 12 years, after being freed from restriction to only a few “game camps” Ekkehards father had limited them to. They now can roam freely and are easily changing through the gates that are open whenever camps are not occupied by sheep and cattle. Oryx sometimes allow even to be moved between camps, sometimes done to install rest before or after planned grazing by the flerds. In addition there are duiker, steenbok, aardwolf, bat-eared fox and other small animals as well as predators like African wild cat, cape fox, and the, for sheep farming ever controversial, caracal and black-backed jackal. The movements of latter are closely monitored and whenever moving between the sheep, will be trapped and killed. Still the lamb losses to black-backed jackal and other small predators are accepted to be approximately 5 % annually. Although Ekkehard and Judith would prefer co-existing with jackals, they carry on with the current practice, for the time being, to keep losses down.

When Ekkehard in 1989 took over the livestock from his parents they ran 250 Simmentaler cattle and 3000 Karakul sheep. By 2010 the number has risen to about 700 Nguni cattle and 5000 Damara sheep. Farming with these two indigenous breeds – Ngunis and Damaras – achieves remarkable production per hectare at Springbockvley. The annual meat production since 2000 is on average 11 kg / hectare with a maximum of 14.8 kg per hectare in 2003. The meat production constitutes more than one third of the stocking rate since 1995, which compares well even with areas of higher production capacities.