Vryburg is South Africa’s largest producer of beef and home to some of the largest Bonsmara (cross Hereford, Shorthorn and Afrikaner cattle) herds in the world. It is also the place where many of these beast are bought and sold with around 250 000 cattle auctioned off every year. That’s a quarter of a million cattle, a year! It is no wonder that it is known as the ‘heart of the cattle farming country’.
It is situated on the main railway line between Cape Town and Botswana and on the N14 that stretches all the way from the Northern Cape to Gauteng.
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Vryburg, meaning ‘free fort’ was established as the capital of the Republic of Stellaland, a country where the Boer’s could be free of English rule.
What is now known as the Bophirima Region was founded in 1882 as an independent republic, The Republic of Stellaland. Although the country didn’t last long, its capital remained and flourished- at least in the farming sector.
