ARGENTINA.
Argentine Beef Farming has to Change before we become beef
importers.
Figures from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)for week ending September 12 December 2008, reported that 645,000 cattle were slaughtered for the week .The average weight per steer carcass was 375 kilos and the average weight per Heifer carcass was 347 kilos.
In Mercado de Liniers last week ending 12 th Decmber, there were 37,500 cattle and the average carcass weight for steers was 210 kilos, the average for heifers was 190 kilos.
The weights of beef carcass’s in the United States is 8.2 kilos heavier than the same time last year, this means increased profits for the farmer,
European Union countries, take their cattle to similar weights, in fact Belgium and France take them a good deal heavier .Progressive farmers in Europe and even in Brazil have moved away from the traditional English breeds, of Hereford and Angus and focused on the European, fast growing and well muscled Belgium Blues, Simmental,. Charolais and Limousine breeds of cattle.
Taking a leaf from the rest of the worlds farmers, Argentina could have produced 6,000
Tons of additional beef from the cattle sold in Liniers last week, which is only 20pc of the national kill.
Argentina is therefore producing 30,000 tons per week less beef than it could, from the same number of cattle slaughtered each week.
When this was pointed out in March 2006 to Luciano Miguins of the Argentine Rural Society (ARS) and the minimum slaughter weight was raised by the government from 280 to 330 kilos. Senor Miguins and the ARS were ready to go on strike, in fact, there were blockades of the cattle market in Liniers by his organization in March and April of 2006, albeit far smaller than the recent blockades in March 2008..
Senor Miguins demanded the minimum be returned to 280 kilos live weight, giving a carcass of 154 kilos at best. This policy gives you some very tender beef/veal for the housewives in the suburbs of Martinez or San Isidro but is economic suicide for the farmer.
Simple arithmetic suggests, with a 154 kilo carcass in Argentina, you are getting less than 42% of beef per animal than the American or European farmers .
Australia is the driest Continent on the planet, yet have an average slaughter weight of 450 kilos live weight and they are severely handicapped by the climate conditions.
Australia and New Zealand finish 95% of their cattle on grass, in the same manner as in the Argentine.
Conceding that in the US and Europe cattle are grain fed in winter, which will give an additional weight gain. Having said this they don’t have the pasture we have in Argentina or anything close to it for finishing cattle,
The United States has 97 million cattle and 300 million people, yet a large surplus of beef to export.
Argentina has 43 million people and 83 million cattle, consuming 80pc of the beef on the domestic market. The infrastructure in place that made Argentina the food larder of the world for over a century, however we don’t appear to have the farm management today that the pioneers had 100 years ago..
Should a young farmer go out and buy a farm of land today, he could not sell his cattle at these low weights or he would never repay the bank. This is a far different scenario from the man who inherits his farm and has no need to be so rigorous in his accountability.
Argentina has seen enormous foreign investment, in the rural sector in the last two years more in arable farming, than in beef. This trend will continue unless Argentina wakes up to the False economics of killing cattle underweight.
There has been a trend towards arable farming recent years, owing to the sharp increase in commodity prices and many of the beef and dairy cows have been slaughtered.
Argentina is not alone in this trend, in the US dairy cow slaughtering is up 14.9 pc from 2006 and beef cow slaughtering is up 23.3pc in the same period.
The cattle Argentina are slaughtering each week, would be called feeder cattle in the US or store cattle in Europe, they are not grown to full potential.
The ironic thing is, the best beef in Argentina is the beef that goes into the Hilton Quota as they demand a minimum live weight of 500 kilos.The famous last words, that ruined many farmers throughout the world are, "We always did it This Way"…
When you get a weaner calf at 200 kilos, all the work has been done, the calving the branding, the castrating and the drenching, they can be turned into the pastures and grow into money..
Argentina has to now follow the lead of the farmers who have successfully tried and tested the wisdom of change.
Failure to adhere to these principles will make Argentina a beef importing country in five Years rather than the worlds third largest exporter.
