Andrew Roberts (front), Danie Strauss, Stiaan von Wieligh (Meat Central), Koenie and Marina Kotze and Andrew’s wife, Jumari and Johan Botha (Oranjerivier Foere) at the Savannah ram, Epic. (Photo: Facebook)
A Savanna Boer goat ram was auctioned at the weekend for a record amount of more than R2 million – by far the highest amount this type of goat ram has ever fetched at auction and a new world record.
Andrew Roberts (35), the seller, says they hoped the ram would break the South African record price of R400 000, “maybe another R500 000”, but “not in our wildest dreams did we think he would fetch R2 million.” The goat was auctioned on Friday evening at the Black Tie Blue Blood auction in Rawsonville in the Cape winelands for R2 050 000. More than 7,000 watched the proceedings online.
He says that although the amount is by far a new record for an auction, more has already been paid in private sales.
At last year’s auction, he bought a Boer goat, which was bred by the Nico Botha Boerboek Stud, for R320 000 – that year’s record amount.
Andrew Roberts and Ju-Mari with other champions from their stable. (Photo: Provided)
Roberts, well-known boer goat breeder and his wife, Ju-Mari, started the Maize Valley Boerbok, Kalahari Red and Savanna herd outside Hoopstad in the Free State four years ago.
Koenie (stet) Kotze, the buyer and a world champion Savannah goat breeder who farms on Van Niekerkshoop in the Northern Cape, says that when he saw a photo and video of the ram before the auction, he told his wife, Marina, that they should go get the goat. He too was surprised by the high price the Boer goat fetched at the auction. “None of us expected him to go for so much,” he says of the buck he’s considering naming Rekord.
He labels the Boer goat ram as exceptional in several respects – “its composition, such as its size, the leg placement, the neck connection. Its overall image is the closest to the most perfect goat that one can come across in the industry.”
This Savanna has already been at an embryo station to ensure his genetics are preserved. Kotze believes in strict selection, the best possible genetics and a goat whose overall image conforms as closely as possible to a picture of an ideal goat.
Roberts says they started breeding with Savannas in 2022. “We looked at where we could get the best genetics.” They started with Savannas, then Boer goats, and in 2024 he bought Kalahari Red goats from Kotze.
He says the prices for boer goats have started to climb in recent years. “In 2025, a ram sold for R850 000, then three others reached the million mark and finally a ram was sold the same year for R2.3 million.”
He has been breeding Boer goats since 1985. In 2019 he got the highest points for Savannas at the World Show.
Danie Strauss, auctioneer of Central Sale Yard and a boer goat breeder himself, says the goat achieved the highest price ever at a South African auction. South African Boerbok are divided into three breeds: the Boerbok, the Savanna and the Kalahari Red. “It was an incredibly great privilege to auction the ram. I became the first auctioneer to auction livestock for more than R1 million, let alone R2 million,” he says.