General News

As many of our readers and visitors to Sandstone will know, the farm is fairly substantial and operational during the COVID 19 lockdown as an essential service, the staff are 95% at work, the management are carrying on normally and all farming activities are functioning normally.  Tourism is on hold because obviously we cannot entertain visitors at this time but we will re-open for visitors as soon as the travel restrictions are lifted. This time of year is particularly beautiful in the Eastern Free State and we shall be featuring a regular series of “Lockdown Galleries” from our roving farm photographer. We hope you will enjoy them, admire the views, meet some of our people and be ready to visit us when the lockdown is over.

Our first gallery is from the end of April 2020. Click here to view the Gallery

Whilst the Covid-19 virus keeps us at home, Sandstone, as a farming enterprise, keeps busy. Our picture gallery shows some of the activity and scenery of the last week as we move through Autumn towards Winter.

During these trying times Sandstone, as a farming unit, will be carrying on as usual. The farm is looking particularly beautiful at this time of year and we shall be sending out regular picture galleries of life “down on the farm”. We know you will enjoy them as a welcome break from the trials and tribulations of the “lockdown” Click here to view Gallery

Because 90% of the company’s employees live on the farm they are considered as a single unit with a high degree of insulation from the broader public beyond our boundaries.  Obviously the regulations state that they should be confined to their homes but the farm does have dispensation as an agricultural enterprise with food production as its priority.  Therefore employees doing land preparation, doing baling of hay, land preparation for summer crops and livestock management are all on duty.  Our staff have been well briefed regarding the threats that exist and are going about their business in an intelligent way while at the same time remaining well separated from each other.  In this update we allow our visitors to spend a typical day with us on the farm at Sandstone Estates.  

AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES:- 

Firstly lets deal with our livestock.  We have many different categories of livestock and they are oblivious to the threat that exists to humans and carry on with their lives in a very benign way.  

We have a donkey sanctuary which provides a safe refuge for donkeys that are currently under threat worldwide.  The pictures below shows just a few of our donkeys including the rare bont variety i.e. multi coloured.

LIVESTOCK:-
Livestock is a big part of Sandstone’s agricultural strategy.  We have a large commercial herd of over 1000 cattle.  We started with less than 100 ten years ago and we have built the herd up very satisfactorily.  The pictures below are two 12 month old calves which have been weaned and are excellent examples of the quality of our herd. 

Click here to view

In line with President Ramaphosa’s announcement on the prohibition of gatherings of over 100 people due to the Covid-19 virus situation, the event scheduled to be held at Sandstone from 10th to 13th April has been cancelled. If you have made any pre bookings for accommodation please contact Leigh Sanders on 051 933 2235.

We think you will enjoy this short gallery of the farm in recent days.

The Management of Sandstone Estates recently decided to invest in the restoration of the Class NGG 16 A Number 155.
The locomotive will be restored to the original condition called the Little Red Devil with the kind assistance of Shaun McMahon especially with regard to the modifications on this locomotive.
The locomotive was shunted out and the boiler was lifted from the engine units. The boiler was taken to Wonder Steam who will do the boiler work needed while the Sandstone Steam team will do the rest of the restoration. Click here to Read the full Steam Report