(Source: The South African Stud Book and Livestock Improvement Association)

The Drakensberger, a smooth coated black, strikingly long, deep bodied, medium to large framed beef animal with a tranquil (serene) temperament, an exceptional reproductive drive, virile pre-potency and effortless adaptability was born, bred and developed in South Africa. Although the first recording of black cattle, dates back to a diary entry of Vasco da Gama made in 1497, the Drakensberger Cattle Breeders' Society of South Africa was only founded on the 7th of November 1947.

In May 1969, the DCBS was recognised as an Associate Member and in 1972, a Full Member of the S A Stud Book Association. In 1980 the DCBS made Performance Testing a compulsory measure for membership of the Society.

Since then only cattle with performance data available, are eligible for inspection and registration. With the advent of the BLUP-analysis, the Drakensberger breed, due to the involvement of the entire breed in Performance Testing, became the first breed on whose data basis the BLUP-analysis was conducted. The DCBS has however never neglected the Commercial Drakensberger Breeder. Their numbers, and those of their commercial Drakensbergers, have increased drastically over the past decade. The Society recently embarked on a certification scheme for our Commercial Drakensberger cattle breeders whose cattle meet the breed's standards of excellence and purity. There is no difference between the standard of excellence of stud females and those for grade or commercial females. This certification then enables the owners of the animals to negotiate a premium price for their weaner stock.

The Feedlot Association of South Africa has identified the Drakensberger breed as one of only six breeds as the most profitable breeds in the feedlot. This fact is of extreme importance economically. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) / Agricultural Research Council (ARC) project in their search for, amongst other aspects, the favourable or positive genes (alleles) for marbling and tenderness, have just recently identified animals within the Drakensberger breed as carriers of this favourable gene. The USA and Australia especially are in search of the marbling gene, as they do not have it. This has created a further opportunity for the Drakensberger to enter the international seed stock market.

The Drakensberger is one of only three indigenous cattle breeds to South Africa. Due to a process of Natural Selection over a period of several centuries, the Drakensberger has developed an additional edge over the other breeds with regard to adaptability, hardiness and natural resistance to diseases. The MODERN DRAKENSBERGER is the culmination of the development process through strict selection, based on scientific norms. In the selection programme, emphasis is placed on the economically important traits, viz. Fertility, Adaptability, Milk Production and Low Mortality with regard to females and Growth, Feed Conversion and Carcass Quality with regard to bulls. The existing gene pool cannot be improved and enlarged through the importation of animals with new genes when the need arises, as in the instance of so many other breeds today. The stud industry does however have an extensive gene pool numbering hundreds of thousands in a vast and very important commercial enterprise. The breed can thus be declared as self sufficient whilst also unique in the sense that it is totally unrelated to any other breed in the world today.

The Drakensbergers have the best inspection system in South Africa (D J Bosman, 1987). Within one year of the founding of the DCBS, the first inspection tour took place. This has continued to date with the inspectors rotating annually, thus preventing a single inspector from imprinting his own vision on the breed in a specific area.The best of all is that the Drakensberger is pre-eminently a "Veldbees", living off the natural pastures (the cheapest asset available to the cattle industry). It has an amazing rumen capacity and ability to convert roughage, even of low quality, to BEEF!!! The Drakensberger is adapted to wide ranging climatological and environmental conditions. This can best be illustrated through the distribution pattern of the breed where it flourishes in the cold sourveld regions of the Eastern highveld, the hot sweet Bushveld, on the snow-capped mountain peaks of the Drakensberg range, the grassveld plains of the Free State and even the arid dune veld of Namibia. Drakensbergers are also found in Zimbabwe and even further north in the hot and humid climate of Equatorial Guinea. This is a great and true testimony of the adaptability of the Drakensberger Breed. The Drakensberger has proved its ability to cross well with both Bos Indicus and Bos Taurus breeds, making it exceptionally suitable as a mother line breed in crossbreeding systems. Purebred Drakensbergers however remain the corner stone of the breed.

In conclusion a statement made by Paul Andre, editor to the USA Cattle magazine, "BEEF": "If nothing else, Drakensberger cattle have to be rated as superior survivors. Parasites, diseases, harsh climatic conditions, official and unofficial government policies and other disparagers have all failed to put them down. They are not just mere survivors, though. The breed is making a contribution to the cattle industry in South Africa. In fact, the potential offered by this breed could have significant impact in the future".