South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Ntaba Nyoni cattle ranch paid a record 3.5 million rand (€170,000) for a Boran bull named Jester.

The price, paid at an auction this past weekend, surpassed the previous record for the breed by almost €60,000.

The Boran breed is known for being very well adapted to the harsh conditions on the continent, with high fertility and a docile nature.

The sale at the weekend where the record price was paid also saw record bids for 12 straws of semen from a bull called Picasso. That bull died last year when it was struck by lightning.

Avid breeder

President Ramaphosa is an avid cattle breeder and has Ankole (longhorn) and Wagyu studs among his stable at Ntaba Nyoni. The president’s love for Ankole cattle extends to publishing a coffee-table book on the breed titled 'Cattle of the Ages'.

He suffered some controversy in 2020 when thieves stole more than half a million dollars in cash from one of his farming operations.

There were questions raised over the amount of cash at the property and how the president came to have so much foreign currency. He survived an impeachment vote late last year over the issue.