Angus Cattle, Angus Asado

Some of the registered Black and Red Angus herd. Genetics seen here also consist of bloodlines from American  Angus herds. 

Alejendro had a top quality herd of Angus Cattle and even did embryo transfer 

Students viewing the cattle handling facilities made of all wood that had an extensive catwalk system. 

Discussing the cattle portion of Calderon  family farm I will focus on their Angus operation. Alejandro is the name of the owner of the operation. He has a herd of 350 black and red Angus cattle. In Argentina, black and red Angus are considered one breed, as compared to the U.S. where they are two seperate entities. His herd of 350 consists of 120 registered cattle and the remaining 230 are commercial cattle. With the 120 registered cattle, he raises seedstock bulls and heifers. Hosting his own bull sale each year. He sells the bulls as two-year olds and the heifers as yearlings. On average he sells 75 to 90 bulls, ranging in price from $2,000 to $4,000. The remaining calves he backgrounds, and then sells at the local market. 

Talking with Alejandro about his cow herd I also learned about some of his herdsman techniques. He artificially inseminates his whole cow herd in a 60 day period and then puts cleanup bulls out with the herd for 25 more days. Talking about how he feeds his cattle, I discovered that his herd of cows graze year round. They are not fed at all. But his bulls and background calves are fed different rations of hay, silage, and corn. Today, we viewed some of his yearling and two-year old bulls, along with some of his registered cow herd. 

An aspect of his operation that I greatly enjoyed, was the fact that he implements rotational grazing. He uses a grazing system that is similiar to the mob grazing system that some ranchers use in the U.S. With this system the cattle are moved to a different portion of the pasture everyday to graze new grass. This stimulates better quality and quantity of grass growth. It was a learing experience for me because we implement similiar grazing techniques on our own operation.

Overall, the visit to today's farm was very educational and very fun. I learned many different techniques and compared a lot of them to our own in the U.S. I am definitely looking forward to our next farm visit.

Submitted by Austin Effling, the portion of the cropping information from this farm was reported by classmate Derek Van Heek 

Studying Year Round Farming

It was a beautiful morning in Melincue, Argentina with a temperature of 26 °C (78.8°F). We started our day out with a typical Argentinian breakfast consisting of pasteries, fresh fruit, and coffee. Then we traveled 60 miles to visit and study at an Argentinian farm owned, and managed by Alejandro Calderon. Alejandro was an agronomist and very sharp with the details involved in his large farming operation.

Alejandro owns 282 hectares which is 696.8 acres. He also rents and manages 800 hectares (1,976 acres) from other land owners. It is very common for land owners to hire a third party, or an outside producer, to help manage farm ground in Argentina since input costs, like machinery are too high priced  for smaller operators to afford. Alejandro owns all the machinery necessary to do planting, spraying, harvesting, and transporting. He practices mainly no till on his ground and said he does not apply any more chemical than he has to, due to weeds becoming resistant to certain herbicides like Roundup. Some of his farming practices are similar to those in the US, but overall, producers in Argentina have a much more conservative approach.

For being a rather large operation, they used older machinery than what is generaly used on convential farming operations in North America. The farm ground we studied today was very fertile, the soil was comparable to the soil in Illinois. The land here is very flat and generally recieves 40-44 inches of rain a year. This makes drainage a problem for the farmers. Alejandro mentioned they were late getting crops planted this spring due to excessive rains. I asked him if drainage tile was commonly used to fix this problem. He said it was too costly and he would have to go very far with the water to get rid of it. He used his farm ground mainly to produce wheat and green pea´s in the winter months and corn and soybeans in the summer. 

We ended the tour of his farming operation with a traditional asado meal prepared by Alejandros wife, Maria and hired man, Hector. By the end of the day it was over 100°F so the cold beverages and well prepared meal was greatly appreciated! 

Submitted by Derek Van Heek. I discussed the crops at this operation and my fellow student Austin Effling with next discuss the livestock portion of our visit. 

Alejandro discussing his farming and cattle operation with the students and interpreted by Jorge to the students. 

Brady H takingdetailed notes during Alejandro's discussions about crop operations in Argentina. 

Lexi Jennings studying the handout presented by Alejandro about his farming operation including detailed maps about  crop rotation history for past 15 years. 

Equipment owned by the farm. 

Students viewing corn planted 25 days ago into a field which previously was pastureland but tilled up for crop. Corn was late in planting due to recent excessive rainfall.

Ten year old New Holland combine that is worth more in dollar value now than when purchased due to demand for equipment for cropping in Argentina. 

All aboard

The second day of our adventure started with a typical Argentine breakfast consisting of with pasteries and juice. We left the hotel and headed to the marina where the Miss Litoral Argentino awaited our arrival to start our voyage. We started up the 3rd largest river in South America, the Parana River, just outside of Rosario which carries five times the amount of water that the Mississippi River. The Parana River moves large quantities of silt downstream and the locals like to say, "Brazil is melting and we are gaining their ground." Due to high rainfall, the Parana has been experiencing flooding in the recent weeks. There has been recently an estimated loss of one million cattle due to the high water rising above the island banks. The flood was especially apparent as large clumps of aquatic vegetation were floating with the current. We were told these grass clumps often carry large snakes and alligators down stream.

As we headed upstream toward the grain terminals, our tour guide, Jorge, explained that the river must be 32-35 feet deep for the Paramax to travel the river. The Paramax is a term for ships that are eligible to use the Panama Canal. These ships can be loaded with 60,000 tons of grain in 1 1/2 days.  We saw numerous ships being loaded with grain to be shipped all over the world. There were some from Greece, Panama, and Hong Kong to name a few.

We learned that much of the grain that is produced around Rosario and Buenos Aires is sold by the farmer directly to the terminals. Many barges bring the grain down the length of the river from inland to load the Paramax and some also go out to the ocean. From the terminals, the large Paramax ships travel 500 kilometers to the Atlantic to start their haul. After 40 kilometers of our own haul, we finished the day with a lunch of fish and ice cream while enjoying the view of the Parana River.

Submited by Jalen Baldwin 

As we were riding in our boat down the river along came a large Paramax Vessel, it was huge and very neat to be going right beside it. It passed us in no time as we determined it was from Greece and was empty on its way here to pick up more grain. 

Dust showing the loading of the Paramax vessell and how close we really got to it. this was at the Cargill Terminal 

Some of the cement storage bins at the terminals along the river

Another view as we approach a vessell along its terminal loading system 

This was a very of a Paramax vessell at the Cargill Terminal on the River 

It has been hot here....our bus showed 38 degrees celcius today...over 100 F and it has been tht since we have arrived. 

It's Summer in Argentina

Well we made it Argentina safe and sound without too much hastle. The weather was a little turbulent leaving Atlanta but cleared up as soon as we flew over Florida. Mostly everybody had fallen asleep on the plane ride from the long day within the first hour of flight to Argentina. When we arrived in Buenos Aires, we met up with our guide, Jorge. From there we took a bus to our first farm visit of the trip about two hours northwest of Buenos Aires.

A view from Alberto's farm house over a tributary that leads into the main river upstream that is very important to grain transportation in Argentina.

We arrived at the first farm visit owned by Alberto Moore. He owns a 650 hectare farm in which is mostly put into corn and soybeans. His wife, Ines prepared an Asado for us which is the same as an American BBQ. The food was delicious and their dog was happy to take the leftovers.

Slicing up the beef for the tasty Asado. It was our very first Asado and we could tell from this point on we were going to like the food in Argentina.

After the meal, Alberto explained his farming operation to our group. Alberto hires the planting, spraying, and harvesting done on his home operation much like other area producers, due to the size of this operation. We visited about new government control taking over and what it was like in the past under different presidents. We also discussed similar issues that both American and Argentine producers are facing such as herbicide resistant weeds and high input costs. When leaving his farm we stopped by a corn field that he had just planted twenty days ago to check up on its progress. I estimated the corn was a foot tall.

Viewing corn at Alberto's farm 

Jalen taking a closer look at the emergence of the corn 

The group discussing planting strategies and timing with Alberto 

Made it to Argentina

A short note for now to let all you followers know that we arrived safely to Buenos Aires, Argentina about 10 a.m, this time which is 3 hours ahead of central time. The flight went well leaving rainy weather in Atlanta and arriving to  hot, humid yet cloudy day here.

We found our tour guide Jorge and got on the bus to head around the outer limits of Buenos Aires to avoid the traffic as we headed to our first stop to a smaller farm grain and cattle farm. 

Student Dan Hansen will report will provide a more detailed report later, we just wanted to let you know we arrived safely and are ready for our adventure. 

Dr. B. Lynn Gordon

On our way

We have made it to Atlanta our stop between Sioux Falls and Buenos Aires. Have a long layover here and will fly overnight to Argentina arrive in the wee hours of the morning. So the first leg of the trip started with a bone chilling early morning in BROOKINGS at -9 degrees as we headed to airport but glad we got out of South Dakota before the next big snowstorm was to hit, and we don't want to rub it in but our tour guide said its 89 degrees in Buenos Aires and hot.

Found a Blue and Gold decorated Christmas tree in Atlanta airport...a great way to send off  a group of SDSU students to South America just a few days after Christmas.

Everyone is doing well and taking the trip fine just have to get through the travel leg before we can step foot on the ground in South America and start our adventure. Hope you will continue to follow our progress.

Raining here in Atlanta as we soon get ready to board the plane, but hoping for no delays. It's a 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires and we are all looking forward to some sleep after are 2 a.m., wake up calls this morning. And very excited to see our travel guide JORGE on the other end when we arrive.

 

For some students today was their very first flight, so a big day, but all doing great and ready to see the sights in Argentina.

We will sign off now and be back to you once we land in South America. Hoping all our friends and families are safe dealing with the snowstorm hitting eastern South Dakota and Minnesota

Dr. B. Lynn Gordon

Countdown Begins

South Dakota State University 2015-2016 Argentina/Uruguay 

International Travel Class Participants

 

Back Row, L to R: Jacob Baustian, Garretson, SD; Dale McMullen, Comfrey, MN; Dan Hansen, Tyler, MN, Jason Madison, Iroquois, SD, Austin Effling, Britton, SD; Derek Van Heek, Crofton, NE; Paul Sitter, Ortonville, MN; Brady Hauswedell, Tyler, MN, Jalen Baldwin, Madison, MN.   Front Row, L to R: Chelsea Sweeter, Lennox, SD; Dr. B. Lynn Gordon, SDSU Assistant Professor, Brookings, SD; Lexi Jennings, Spirit Lake, IA.

The countdown to Christmas and the New Year is on and so is the countdown for 11 SDSU College of Agriculture students who will leave December 28th for a 12-day trip-of-a-lifetime traveling to Argentina and Uruguay to view agriculture production and learn about agricultural policy, global agricultural trade issues, as well as the economy and culture of these two South American countries. 

Follow us on our journey by checking in regularly on our blog. Our goal is to post daily updates starting Monday, December 28th. Our goal is to show you through the blog what we are seeing and learning on our study trip. The students have been preparing for this trip during the 2015 fall semester and are now very excited to actually to make the trip. 

Stay tuned for updates. 

submitted by Dr. B. Lynn Gordon