Hello from Argentina!
I'm just going to start off by saying how glad I am that we are not at home! Heard it it was - 50 in some places! Just thought you all should know that it is 104 degrees ;)
We started our day off with a short ride to a farm called La Colonia, which means the colony. This farm was made up of 3000 hectares and 7000 head of cattle. It takes 2 1/2 hectares to make up an acre. Crops make up 2200 of the acres. The rest are for the feedlots. These feedlots are homemade. They use them in a very traditional way, much like people in the United States. They will put the calves on pasture and move them to the feedlot to finish them. They get put in pens at about 330 kg and are sold at around 400 k=g. It amazes me the weight that they wean and slaughter. They wean so early!!!! Some as early as two months!! When they leave the farm they go straight to a slaughter plant. Their diet consists of 70% whole corn. They use whole corn because they do not have any machinery to crack it. Twenty percent silage, and the rest of the diet is made up of sunflower pellets. The first 15 days of finishing is 50% silage. The two pens that we saw right away had about 600 animals between them. Within the next year they would like to build new lots and get more cattle.
Most of the ground that they rotate cattle on is alfalfa. This causes problems with bloating. This is something that I've noticed is a very large problem here in Argentina. When they have problems they do not stick a tube down their throat like we do.They take a sharp object into their left side to release the gas from the rumen. Once they have done this the animal becomes a chronic bloater and will never be the same. The animal gains 300 grams per day on alfalfa.
It is so dry here that when they transported us around the farm in the back of the trucks we were COVERED in dirt! A few of us learned the hard way that it will stick to you even more when you have put sunscreen on. :/ They served us lunch on the farm. Can I just say empanidas are AMAZING!!!
After cleaning up at the hotel and taking short naps we headed to Don Poncho. This is where Ty Littau lives and works. We met the Fossati brothers Raul and Pato and Ty's roommate the night before when we went to eat. When we got there they introduced us to everyone on the farm and Ty gave a short presentation on the Bakura which means Union or partnership. Bakura is the whole group of 11 farms owned or operated by the Fossati brothers. They have 14,413 hectares total and 4000 head of cattle. There is 1000 alone on Don Poucho. They get 14 to 28 square meters per head in the lots. Ten years ago there was 8000 head on it. The land is divided into 55% crops, 37% livestock and 8% both. They feed three different set rations. It amazed me how much they ground their corn to feed to the cattle.It looked like our pig feed!! So fine!
Bernardo, Tys roomate is in charge of the argronomy side of the operation. He took us out into the fields to see the crops. Tyler, Laura and I, all having a large interest in agronomy really liked learning about the crops. Tyler was in heaven walking though the fields!
After our tour they had a get together to celebrate us coming and visiting. All I have to say is that they really know how to have a good time. After eating they had us sit around in a circle and proceeded to play music on the guitar and sing. So beautiful! Then they got us singing, it wasn't so beautiful then :/ They were fascinated by us dancing the two step and jitterbugging. This was by far my favorite day so far! We got to know each other a lot better that night. The Fossati brothers are hopefully planning a trip to the states soon! They love Brookings and South Dakota!
I feel so blessed for everything the people we have met have done for us. Alejandro is one amazing guy as is Miguel out bus driver. Really looking forward to the rest of the trip with these people!
We miss you all and can not wait to be home, but I think we want to enjoy the heat for a few more days!
;)
With Much Love,
Liz Dahl
No comments:
Post a Comment