Africa Estate Farm Tools
Can this farm pay for itself?
Enter the price and your deposit, then the cattle or the crops you would run and what the farm costs to keep. The answer updates as you type: whether the farming covers the bond and the running costs in a normal year and in a drought year, and the deposit that makes it work.
1. The farm and the bond
Banks usually ask 20% to 50% on a farm.
Prime 10.75% (SARB). Production credit runs at about prime plus 2%.
FNB: usually up to 15 years; Land Bank longer.
2. Cattle (leave empty if none)
Use the carrying capacity tool for the number this farm carries.
Commercial average 62% (ARC); target 80% (KZN DARD).
About 42% of a 460 kg cow (KZN DARD): 193 kg; ARC averages 183 to 210 kg.
This week's price from your auction or buyer; we do not carry a live price.
Planning choice.
Licks, vet, dipping, fuel for the herd.
3. Crops (leave empty if none)
Grain SA 2026/27 budgets (30 Sep 2026); adjust to your own farm.
Yield (t/ha) times the farm-gate price (R/t).
4. Other income and fixed costs (R per year)
At the minimum wage of R30.23/hour: R 70 738 each a year.
Assumptions used (change any of them)
2015: the maize crop was 31,5% smaller than 2014 (DALRRD, Crop Estimates Committee).
Planning choice, not a published norm.
- Bond instalment: the standard annuity, checked against ooba to the cent (R1 000 000 at 10,25% over 20 years = R9 816,43).
- Transfer duty: SARS, Transfer Duty rates effective 1 April 2025 (unchanged for 2026/27). Attorney fees: LSSA Conveyancing Fee Guidelines 2026 (guideline, excl. VAT), plus VAT; Deeds Office fees as published (GG 52191, 1 April 2025).
- Debt cover: Nedbank (Daneel Rossouw and John Hudson), Stress-testing your business, SA Grain, 5 May 2020: above 1.4 strong, below 1 not viable; cash flow ratio at least 110%.
- Cattle norms: ARC (Jordaan and Greyling) as cited by the University of the Free State; KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture, Useful Statistics.
- Crop budgets: Grain SA summer grain production budgets 2026/27 (Excel workbooks, 30 Sep 2026).
- Minimum wage: National Minimum Wage Act, Schedule 1 item 2(a), GN R.7083 in Government Gazette 54075 of 3 February 2026.
The answer
Enter the price to start.
Bond per month
R 0
Net farm income / year
R 0
Debt cover
0,00
| Deposit (30%) | R 0 |
| Bond | R 0 |
| Transfer duty | R 0 |
| Attorney, Deeds Office, bank fees (incl. VAT) | R 2 200 |
| Cash needed to buy | R 2 200 |
| Cattle income | R 0 |
| Crop gross income | R 0 |
| Variable costs | R 0 |
| Fixed and living costs | R 0 |
| Bond per year | R 0 |
| Surplus or shortfall after the bond | R 0 |
Farms that fit these numbers
Africa Estate farms for sale now.
What this does not tell you
- This is not a valuation and not a bank's credit decision; it tests whether the farming can carry the debt under your assumptions.
- Weaner prices, yields and costs are yours to enter; the defaults are published averages for a region, not this farm.
- Transfer duty, attorney and Deeds Office fees are the published scales; the attorney and SARS confirm the actual amounts.
- A drought year is an assumption, shown so you can change it.
Sources
- ooba bond repayment calculator (the annuity cross-check) (2026-10-19)
- SARS, Transfer Duty rates effective 1 April 2025 (unchanged for 2026/27) (2025-04-01)
- LSSA Conveyancing Fee Guidelines 2026 (guideline, excl. VAT) (2026-07-01)
- Deeds Office schedule of fees, GG 52191 (1 April 2025), as measured against ooba 2026-10-14 (2025-04-01)
- Grain SA summer grain production budgets 2026/27 (Excel workbooks, 30 Sep 2026) (2026-09-30)
- ARC (Jordaan and Greyling) as cited by the University of the Free State
- KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture, Useful Statistics
- Nedbank (Daneel Rossouw and John Hudson), Stress-testing your business, SA Grain, 5 May 2020 (2020-05-05)
- DALRRD, Crops and Markets, 1st quarter 2015; Crop Estimates Committee final 2015 crop 9,955 million tons (2015-03-31)
- National Minimum Wage Act, Schedule 1 item 2(a), GN R.7083 in Government Gazette 54075 of 3 February 2026 (2026-03-01)
- Land Bank, Financing for Farmers (qualifying criteria) (2026-10-19)
- FNB Agricultural Long-Term Loan (2026-10-19)
Estimate, not advice. Confirm every figure with your bank, attorney and tax practitioner before a decision.