Santa Teresa: Feedlot and Dairy

 

It was immediately evident that Santa Teresa was a larger and more complex operation than what I had seen up until this point. Upon arrival, I met the administrative/operations managers that consist of a team of about six men that oversee the agricultural production, the dairies and the feedlots onsite.

The owner, Henry, had flown in on his private single-engine plane from Buenos Aries to greet me and introduce me to his property. The next day we drove around to get an overview of the work being done at this time of the year on the farm.
At the feedlot, I could see immediate differences from Los Potros, including the use of demi plastic barrels for the feeding troughs and the presence of Holstein steers in the lots. The plastic barrels are a cheaper alternative to cement troughs when starting out, and the Holsteins steers are all the male offspring that result from the dairy operation.

In the morning, Juan, who is in charge of the feedlot, had to go to Lincoln, the nearby town, to get permits for his hired trucks to transport steers that had been sold. However, the issuing office refused his permits until noon on the grounds that it had rained the night previously and it would be too dangerous for the fully loaded trucks to proceed on their route before the sun was able to dry up  the dirt roads adequately. The loading of the animals on the property did commence before noon so that they were ready to go as soon as the permits were valid, but one of them did get stuck in the mud before it was even loaded with animals. It needed to be pulled out by tractor.

In the afternoon we started by visiting the young female dairy calves that live in the front yard of the big house onsite. As I approached the area I was reminded of a petting zoo – the young creatures had each been allotted their own straw covered bed to which they were affixed by a pole and chain at the center allowing them a small radius to adventure. The reason these calves are so heavily monitored, is because they are removed from their mothers after 24 hours to optimize the milking of the adults. The calves are allowed to consume the protective colostrum to help build their immunity, then they are put on a man-made diet. Some calves are larger, some smaller, and they all learn how to feed at different rates. So, to ensure they grow up to be productive milking cows, they each provided with personal care.

The males, are separated into another area on the front lawn as well and need to learn to group feed much more rapidly, as they will be sent to the feedlot ultimately.

 

We then visited one of the two dairies at Santa Teresa.  Both dairies milk herds  of about 350 daily. The cows are milked at 2.30 am and 2.30 pm, which I said seems to be a very unusual schedule since the Canadian dairies I have visited milk at 5.00 am and 5.00 pm or 6.00 am and 6.00 pm. We couldn’t figure out why the Argentines have such a different schedule.

The cows enter their milking stalls in an orderly fashion. As they stand diagonal to one another to maximize the number of animals being milked at one time, the dairy men are below in a pit rinsing, sanitizing and stimulating the udders for milking. Then a milking vacuum is attached to each nipple to milk the animal dry – each animal is currently providing about 22-24 litres per day.  Once the animal is dry, the vacuum automatically detaches itself from the cow. A seal, meant to replicate the seal caused by a calves saliva, is then applied to prevent infections in the udder.

Throughout my travels, I have had very little problem working with meat cattle, and am happy to see them as delicious steaks and asado meat.  But the dairy industry is one that I just can’t seem to get excited about. In Canada, I have for years limited my dairy intake and generally reserve dairy consumption for cheese. I acknowledge that my disinterest is a direct result of my limited consumption of dairy products, and my negative impressions of the work is a result of this distance I have put between myself and the industry as a consumer. Nonetheless, when I return to Santa Teresa, I hope to work an entire day in the dairy division of the operation to get a full experience. 

On my first day, it was decided that I would be better served by going to the larger feedlot operation, La Candelaria, about a two hour drive away from Santa Teresa, so as we drove back from the dairy, we went right to Henry’s private plane we he announced to me he would fly me to La Candelaria. Not having packed, I asked him when. He said now! So I ran to the house, packed in flurry and within 10 minutes was in the plane ready to take off on my next adventure.