SPIRAL GAME BREEDERS
OUR STORY
3rd Generation Family-Owned Business
Spiral Game Breeders is situated on the farm Groenrivier, 50km north of Thabazimbi on the R511. The mighty Matlabas river snakes through a portion of the farm. The farm has been in the family for three generations. What started out as n cattle farm from the 1980's until 2016, is now focused solely on game breeding.
Since 2017, we have been erecting fences to form breeding camps for our dream of breeding with extraordinary kudu and bushbuck. Our aim was to acquire kudu from a wide variety of origins to increase the diversity of the herds. Regarding kudu bulls, we identified breeding bulls of high standard from a young age by looking for horns with deep curls.
The bushbuck camp is situated next to the Matlabas river which is naturally home to some of the best bushbuck genetics in the country. Specimens roaming freely on the farm reach horn lengths of 15"+ and sigths of these magnificent animals motivated the intensive breeding of bushbuck at Spiral Game Breeders
The dream forward is to continue to improve the herd quality of both the kudu and bushbuck by continuing to breed with extraordinary specimens.
OUR PEOPLE
The van Tonder family resides in Pretoria but since 2007, has experienced the farm as a place of escaping the rat-race of the city.
Kobus van Tonder is the backbone of the operation and his problem solving skills acquired from years of experience as an engineer has taken Spiral Game Breeders to the next level of breeding with game. To read more about this, go to our "The Farm" tab to see how passive game capture can make game breeding efficient and economic. To Kobus, the farm is a place where he can free his mind from his office job. Being surrounded by the bush has a mesmirising effect of releasing the pressure of work. Planning and dreaming about improving the animal herds and farm facilities became a true passion for the van Tonder family.
Christoph van Tonder has spent plenty of weekends and holidays on the farm in his childhood and started helping his dad with projects since he was 8 years old. Since high school, he got more involved in the business side of Spiral Game Breeders and used every opportunity to read up on game breeding and analysing the latest game auction statistics.
Behind every successful man, there is his wife who stands strong in her support towards him and his ambitions. Hanneke van Tonder basically grew up on the farm and this is where her love for nature evolved. She now supports her two men - Kobus and Christoph - in their endevours and projects at Spiral Game Breeders.