January 7, 2014

January 7, 2014

Well today was a very early start for us with having to leave the hotel by 7:45. We had two completely different stops and a long day ahead of us.

The first stop was with a co-op, the strongest in the La Pampa province, close to Santa Rosa. The co-op deals with both feedlot operations and crops. The co-op, which is around 60 years old, is composed of over 400 partners; 250 of those were regular partners, who were involved in the process of everything, and the rest were strictly just business partners who were more silent. The co-op has it's own type of elevator system which can hold around 40,000 tons of grain and fertilizer. The elevator was built around the railroad tracks that were used up until 2001. Near the elevator facility there is an auction area for the cattle. The co-op has 6 or 7 sales a year and takes a 3% from every sale whether it be a partners cattle being sold or a person not part of the co-op.

Along with visiting the co-op's elevator facility, we also got to visit one of the partnering farms. The farm was one that had been a partner for 13 years, however it has been running for almost 100 years. The farm had a feedlot and crops that are used for the consumption of the cattle. This feedlot has been different from others we have seen on the trip in the way it is used only 90 days out of the year in the winter. The feedlot, when full, can hold up to 1500 head of cattle. Since it is summer in Argentina, the cattle are currently grazing alfalfa fields. This operation uses an alfalfa crop 3-5 years for grazing before discing and replanting. They have 4 different lots that they rotate between leaving the cattle on for approximately 10 days on each lot so they can return to the original one every thirty days. The co-op uses its cattle for domestic consumption and exports. They export approximately 300 head at 520 kilos only to Europe. Because of the government restrictions on exportation it is very hard because they have to meet a certain quota for domestic consumption before being able to export any. In Argentina, bigger cattle are worth less than small animals, so the co-op sorts through the finished cattle and send the small ones for domestic consumption, but keep the larger ones to finish (around 22 months) for export. Where this farm is located, almost 85% of the soil is sand, but as hills get taller it is closer to 100%. Right now there is a drought and the area is suffering about 9 inches of water difference from 2013. They cannot irrigate because the ground water is to salty and to deep. Even if they were able to irrigate, there would not be enough water anyways. Like most farms in Argentina, the co-op contracts out all of its harvesting.

Our visit with the co-op ended with lunch at a small cafe. There some of us were introduced to some very interesting food including small intestine and kidney. That was my first time trying either and to say the least I pry will not ever do it again, but I'm glad I did anyways.

The second stop of the day was really unique because the farm was owned by an Alabama American rancher, Wat Johnson. He got into the Argentina land ownership around 10 years ago with a place to the left of his current farm, Flor de Lis. He sold the first and helped the owners of Flor de Lis at the time get out of a bad financial situation and then purchased the property. Flor de Lis is a yearlings production and cow-calf operation included in the partnership of "La Tregua S.A." which is a member of CREA. The farm is 4431 hectares large and looked more like it should be in the Savannah Desert with giraffes according to Ty. Flor de Lis does not feed there cows alfalfa and grain like other farms we have been to. The managers of the farm believe that natural grasses and a few other imported grasses are the best way to feed cows and calves until maturity to clave or slaughter. They are currently working on planting grasses that will last many decades,  are good sources of nutrients for the cows and calves, easy to maintain, and relatively inexpensive. If their grasses are not enough to finish out the calves they produce enough crops to make silage. This partnership was by far the most interesting in the fact that they did not believe in doing a lot of extra things to finish out their cows and calves. They are trying to show the Argentina government and the world that success can be reached with simple techniques.

Our farm and day ended with us joining Mr. Johnston and his workers at his place for some fresh butchered pig and talking about all kinds of things. A few of us were able to ride horse, some for the first time, and just relax for awhile also. We compared the U.S. to Argentina, talked about bull sales, and just enjoyed being able to speak to someone who farms in Argentina without much needing to be interpreted.

Well I hope that wasn't to long explanation of our days activities, but as you all know I've never been short of words. Stay warm and safe! See you all soon :)

Sincerely My Friends and Family,
Kasey Aasby

January 6, 2014

January 6, 2014


Hello again from all of us down south. It was another warm one today but we are beginning to be acclimated to this summer weather. I thought it would be a lot more difficult to bear the heat after being used to the midwest winter, but in all reality it has been quite painless (minus the people who have gotten sunburnt).

Today we visited a university research farm where we toured their cow calf operation. The department that hosted us was the agronomy department where they were focusing on beef cattle production. The part of the country we are currently visiting is in a drought. They ended up the year of 2013, 150 mm short of the average rainfall which converts to nearly six inches short.

In order to visit this operation we had to travel down a loooong rough dirt road. This cow calf operation operates on 2000 hectares, or roughly 5000 acres. The government will not recognize cow calf operations under 1500 hectares or 1750 acres. One of the primary research areas of this farm is the control of an evasive tree. This is a  very slow growing, one cm per year, legume that only grows here in Argentina. The seeds of this tree are located within the fruit of the tree, which the cattle eat, thus spreading the seeds to other areas of the rangeland. The effects of this tree on rangeland appears to be very similar to cedar tree overgrowth that pastures in America can experience.

The only legal approved method of removing these trees is by removing each tree by hand. This method becomes very costly in a fast hurry. The other method currently under research, is not legal. This method involves heavy machinery. The implement used appears to be a large, beefed up version of a stalk roller commonly found back in the States. This is then rolled around the pasture breaking up the trees in its path, thus killing them. This method can only be used on small to moderately small trees. The cost of this current illegal treatment runs around $80 per hectare.

In addition to this tree, their rangeland has a grass that is also an issue to pasture quality. This grass has very low grazing qualities and can continue to overcome rangeland. If this grass becomes too thick, the pasture can become next to worthless. The removal of this grass is expensive to the extent that it is no where near feasible. The average cost of pasture in this area of Argentina is around $500 per hectare. Keep in mind that one hectare is approximately 2.5 acres. The cost of eradication of this grass is roughly $2000 per hectare.

After inspecting their rangeland research we went on to look at their cattle, which is located even further down this rough road. When we arrived, we found what appeared to be the workers weaning the calves off the cow. I was quite surprised by the size of the calves being weaned. The calves were roughly only two months old. These calves will be moved to a feedlot where they will receive special feed due to the lack of presence of rumen in its system. The cows will then be re-bred within the next month. Due to this practice, the nutrition of the cows, and their condition, pregnancy rates run in the range of 60% with a high rate of 85%. These rates really do not seem that terrible when compared to artificial insemination programs, but all of these cows are naturally bred with bulls.
The stocking rate of the cattle on these pastures is one cow, without calf, on 7 hectares in the tree infested pastures, while only 4 hectares are required for one cow on clear rangeland.

At the end of our visit, we inspected their working and load out facility. This being a university establishment, they naturally will have nice equipment. We were told that this working equipment is nicer than 90% of all cattle producers in the country.

As you can see by the pictures, this is not the most impressive facility, and by most standards in the United States are quite rudimentary and even by some crude. The reason for this lack of quality equipment throughout this country makes complete sense when explained.

This country strongly regards a system that resembles the class system of old Europe. There are the elite that own the land and equipment, and then those that do the work. Those that own the equipment and make the monetary decisions do not actually do much of the physical work. Because of this system, the workers are forced to use the equipment at hand and make due with what they have. The next question you may have is why do the workers agree to work under these conditions? The unemployment rate here is quite high, and if the workers complain, they are easily replaced by another person happy to do the job.
Another characteristic of this country that makes this class system so much stronger is the fact that financing is nearly nonexistent. Any purchases made must be done with cash money in savings. This makes it nearly impossible for lower class citizens to escape their economic position. They cannot get a loan to purchase cattle or land to build up their own farm.

After the little that I have experienced here in Argentina, I have really grown to appreciate the structure and system that we have in America. We may have many issues, but overall we truly are blessed to live the life we are able to.

From the south,
Travis Poppe

January 4, 2014

January 4, 2014


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

January 5, 2014

January 5, 2014

We had a pretty slow day today because it is Sunday and several businesses are not open. So we checked out of our hotel in Catrilo and headed to Santa Rosa. This is the furtherest west we will be traveling into the country. Santa Rosa is also the home of our amazing host Alejandro. After our drive in we took a little cesta (or nap/rest) and then headed to Alejandro's home for the afternoon. We were able to play soccer with his kids, take a swim, and, as has been the nature of all our stops, enjoyed some wonderful food.. We even Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for another great day.

Hope all is well back home, we are wishing we could send some of the warm weather your way to balance things out....we will do our best.

Stacy M. Scramlin

January 3, 2014

January 3, 2014

We are going to start  with a question to consider as you read our blog for today.  Compared to the United States, do you think Argentina consumes more or less beef per capita?? Keep reading to find the answer.

Today was the day that all our minds were blown at our first tour.  We attended the Liners Sale barn.  This is the largest cattle auction in the world.  The facility was constructed in 1901 and it sets on 64 acres in the city of Buenos Aries.  The number of cattle that are run through the facility can range from 5,000-10,000 head per day with an average of 8,000 head per day.  The record for this facility was 30,000 for one sale day.  This works much like a sale barn in the United States however the buyers are on the catwalk with the auctioneer and they are either buying for a supermarket or a packing plant.  Sales are held Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Thursdays are reserved for special sales throughout the year.

In the facility there are roughly 20 different scale houses that are used to weigh the the cattle.    These scale houses are used by the buyers and their system is different when you consider how they weigh the cattle.  The cattle are weighed on the way in to give the buyers an estimate of what the cattle are.  After the sale takes place the cattle are weighed again and that is the weigh that is paid on.  Each buyer has their own scale house or one that they share with a few other buyers.  On estimate each house can run through 1,000 head per day.

The weights of the cattle really shocked all of us.  Many of us on this trip are from a cattle background and thought it would be similar, we were severely wrong.  Cattle at the sale barn average 300-450 kilograms or approximately 650-800 pounds.  Now, there were heavier cattle there but very few.  The reason that the weights are low is that the Argentine people believe that the lower the weight the more tender the meat will be, which we all know to be false.  This said, the lighter weight cattle are worth more money  per kilo.  Average price per kilogram for a 300 kilogram animal is 14 pesos per kilogram, for a grand total of approximately $700/head.  To compare to U.S. the cattle are mainly British influence and the Black Angus have had a large influence on their cattle industry as well as the Red Angus.

Here's the answer you have been waiting for.  Argentina is a country that consumes much more beef per capita than the U.S.  On average they consume 64 kilograms or 141 pounds of beef per capita per year.  That is almost double that of the U.S.  In Argentina they eat the most beef, then chicken, then pork.  The reason for this high consumption rate is that they export very little beef and instead feed there people with it.   To contrast to the U.S. beef is considered a luxury product due to the price because of export and demand.  The price of beef in Argentina depends on the cut but for example loins would be approximately $10 per pound and ribs would be about 50 pesos.

Another triva question for the day. What is the average daily gain, and what is the cost of gain for feedlot cattle in Argentina?
After the Liniers market we visited a farm that is mainly crops and feedlot cattle.  The cattle come from other producers and they put them in the feedlot.  This farm is called Grupo Bermejo and they have approximately 22,000 acres of land in the La Pampa province.  17,000 acres of this is put to crop use to feed the feedlot cattle and soybeans for export.  In terms of their crop care and fertilizer program, they are very similar to the United States in that they are always testing the soil to balance their fertilizer program.  On the farm they also have an Agronomist that is continually checking the weed pressure and cares for the records for the crop side.  When visiting with them we also learned that we all are terrible at converting standard to metric.  They are very comparable in their soybean production as far as yield is concerned however we beat them in corn yield.

Here's a thought that occurred to me as we were looking at soybeans.  After visiting China and hearing their exports and import situations. Its interesting to know that even though we are close in yield, Argentina will export more soybeans to China due to higher oil content for the making of tofu.  It is all coming together in terms of global markets and it is easier to understand how exports work and how it affects prices.  The interesting thing is that the Argentine government watches the Chicago Board of Trade for their prices and basis everything off that.

The feedlot was the most impressive for most of us as it was huge.  I mean huge in the sense that they have capacity for 10,000 head and they currently are operating at 95% capacity.  In a  year they can finish out 30,000 head of cattle.  As we learned earlier their cattle here also small and their finish weights are as mentioned at Liniers.   This operation feeds three times a day and at every feeding the bunks are scored to adjust the feeding if needed.  Their ration consists of wheat silage, wheat silage due to the poor corn silage and the wheat has higher protein but less energy than corn silage, in addition to the wheat silage they use a pre mix with Rumensin, as well as a urea pellet for extra nitrogen.

Now, for some facts and maybe the answer to the second question of the day.  To understand the feedlot  industry here we must first understand that here in Argentina there is no grading system for yield grade or quality grade.  There is a numbering system of sorts and it is 1, 2, and 3.  They shoot for number 2's and that is approximately 4-5 mm of fat at the 12th and 13th rib.  There is also no way to score intramuscular fat as we do in the US with Quality grades.  In addition their dressing percent is not what we would expect and is much lower than the United States, they expect 59-60%.  Average daily gain in a feedlot  such as this on is roughly 1.3 kilograms/day and their cost of gain is approximately 7-8 pesos/kilogram which is roughly a dollar American currency.  The cattle are in the lots for a 90 day feeding period.

Visiting with them we found out other facts and situations that explain their agriculture industry.  The feed mill at the feedlot cost $4.6 million American, and in Argentina there is no possible financing.  And we all know that they had to put money with that 4.6 to get up to production.  It was also fun to talk to them about land prices. 8,000 pesos per hectare is very common.  


Hope you all enjoy traveling with us as we venture through Argentina.  And I will leave you on a brighter note its approximately 100 degrees here.

Adios!
Laura Schoneman