The Farm unit LaRochelle is situated on the south side of Lake Gariep, the largest man made lake in South Africa between the towns of Bethulie and Venterstad. Viewed on Google Earth you will notice that the entire Farm lies in a very big crater. The farm comprises 6 000 ha of Grass and Karoo Bush Veldt. On the flats we find mainly perennial Grass with a few annual types.  Along the river that flows for 16 km through the property we find mainly Karoo Bush and perennial Grass Veldt. The river bed itself is a mass of reeds supplying adequate feed for the Cattle for at least six months of the year. The hills and mountains are mainly grass with Olive trees and various shrub types.

The Farm has a Summer Rainfall of 400mm mainly in the form of heavy thunder showers. Because of the compactness of the soil, the steep slopes and rockiness we have a large runoff with much less penetration than would be expected from a 400mm Rainfall.

The summer days are extremely hot with temperatures in the high thirties reaching 40 degrees plus on the hotter days. The winters on the other hand are extremely cold with night temperatures well bellow freezing with heavy frost.

Because of the unpredictability of Rainfall and extreme temperatures the area is prone to some severe drought conditions. The average carrying capacity is 2ha per Small Stock Unit or 12ha for a Large Stock Unit. We are blessed with a relatively disease free area due to our large variation in temperature and dry hot climate.