For some areas of Uruguay this was the third hot dry spring/summer season in a row. And in some areas it was even an adverse fourth spring. in livestockand on a planet that is warming up and where the summers are getting hotter, one of the adaptive strategies refers to genetics.
There is a set of options that can be valued from the challenges of this spring and summer:
- Synthetic breeds that retain the meat quality of the British with the adaptation provided by crosses with Indica breeds (Braford and Brangus).
- The Senepol, developed in the Caribbean for warm climates from a Senegalese breed and an English one (Red Poll).
- The Limangus, crosses Angus and the French Limousine.
- And the Criolla, with centuries of adaptation to local conditions.
In Uruguay it is a path that has been traveled for a long timebut it is strengthened from the very difficult summer that takes place in this 2023. Breeders, producers and technical advisors specialized in breeds confirm that the comparative advantages of these breeds have been better exposed in the face of critical conditions.
“The problem of heat in summer was, is and will continue to be structural, we have heat stress data from 40 years ago”says Álvaro Simeone, an agronomist expert in animal nutrition and technical advisor for the Senepol breed.
It is quite likely that given how hard these past three years have been, hybrid breeds have fared better generically. They are cheaper to maintain, more efficient at converting feed to meat, and resistant to weight loss.
There is scientific evidence of a significant decrease in the grazing activity of British breed animals in the summer during the hottest hours, with a potential loss of up to 40% in the case of Hereford steers.
“Nutrition is the main production factor in pastoral livestock in Uruguay, but it is known that summer in Uruguay constitutes a situation of thermal stress that does not allow capitalizing on the efforts made in this regard, so the use of more resistant biotypes to heat is a way to improve production in livestock farming in Uruguay”, sums up the first of the Senepol Notebooks, published in October 2016. The third of these papers, which details applied research on the breed in Uruguay, will be published this year for the Expoactiva Nacional (it will take place from March 14 to 18).
Animals of the Brangus breed.
Expensive
The race Brangus is the third in number of breeders sold in Uruguay behind Hereford and Angus, the majority in the country. Between 300 and 400 Brangus bulls per year are sold at auctions, 10% for herds and 90% for commercial producers. This reflects that “People are using Brangus to cross,” said Adrián Duartepresident of the Brangus Breeders Society of Uruguay.
Research for the cross between Angus and Zebuino indico Brahman cattle began in the United States in 1932 and was established in Argentina in the 1960s. The aim was to complement the lack of adaptation to high temperatures and the extreme parasitism of the dominant British breeds –with excellent meat conditions– that led to slow-developing animals. The Brahman, due to its rusticity, provides resistance to heat and adaptation to lower quality pastures, as well as a very good reproductive performance.
“These last two hot and very dry years in the north have tested the cattle. In fields with nothing to eat, with some bales and water, the cattle are kept in good body condition,” said Duarte.
The animals graze for longer, while other breeds seek shade and water in the hottest hours. They can also walk more while maintaining body condition. The difference is clearly noticeable, affirmed the president of the breeders’ society. The yield of fat Brangus green cattle in fourth scale is 56% and 51% in field animals.
“In summer they gain more weight, and in the dry season with little food they take longer to lose weight,” says Duarte. In early weaning “they start eating with two or three days of adaptation instead of 10 days, they are very intelligent cattle.”
The breed has been growing rapidly and in the Artigas area, far to the north, there are a lot of people switching to Brangusdue to both tolerance to heat stress and resistance to ticks that they exhibit as a consequence of short hair and looser leather: the tick grabs less.
The meat is comparable to Angus, with very good marbling and rib eye area..
Braford
Alberto Stolovas is a pioneer in breeding the Braford breed (Brahman + Hereford) in Artigas. The turning point in his case was the dry season of 1988-89. He defines it as “worse than this, more northern, and without so many possibilities of applying technology”.
In his family’s field, only cattle with a zebu component survived.. “We followed that path, with animals adapted to heat stress, to less quality pasture – they eat branches, bark, dry grass – and low water quality,” he said.
This synthetic biotype has 5/8 British strains and 3/8 Indica strains. It stands out for its efficiency in the hot months due to its short hair and “a lot of leather” that dissipates heat better. At the same time, it loses less moisture through respiration. Winters don’t hit it like pure indica. It supports the cold due to the good subcutaneous fatness of its British lineage.
It adapts to plot rotations quickly and the demand for Braford animals for summer feedlots is increasing, because they eat more efficiently and convert feed to meat faster.
In a country that is taking structural measures for climate change and the sustainability of production, “it is a biotype to be consumed in our productive system, an animal that the industry persecutes,” said Stolovas, who chairs the Braford Breeders Society and Cebu del Uruguay, which brings together some 35 cabins.
“Profitability is the proof”, he maintains, “We have been raising Braford for more than 30 years with a company that has no other cattle”.
Senepol calves at the foot of Hereford receiving dams at Expo Melilla.
senepol
Álvaro Simeone analyzed several breeds with the aim of introducing into the country one that was specifically resistant to heat, and with meat of equivalent quality to British breeds.. “We wanted a Taurus breed, not an Indica”, he pointed out.
In Senepol he found the most consistent information. A cross between the Senegalese N’Dama and the English Red Poll developed to withstand the climate of the Caribbean island of Saint Croix.
“Within the framework of a strategy for introducing the breed, we carried out a series of tests with 400 Angus cows: 200 Angus cows with Senepol (Senangus result) and 200 Angus cows with Angus.”
Their performance was followed up to the slaughter, the carcass, the carcass and then the meat, the boneless, comparing the weights of the cuts and doing tests for tenderness and resistance to cutting.
In winter there were no differences between pure Angus and Senangus. In spring and summer yes. The animals crossed with Senepol consumed less and gained more kilos, the conversion efficiency was better.
“We began to study the performance of the heifers and we saw that the crosses were pubertal at earlier ages, a desirable characteristic, fit for breeding at 15 months,” he said.
All these studies were published in two technical notebooks and “only then did we go public with the information generated.” So far about 160 bulls have been sold to 60 companies, and the breeders’ association with four herds and breeders was formed.
Analía Pereira
A Grand Champion of the Prado in the Limangus breed.
Five
The cross of the French Limousine breed with Angus was developed in the humid pampas of Argentina. “Seeing the good results, since 2000 we began to import genetics, in 2005 we did the first auctions and in 2018 we founded the Limangus Breeders Society,” said its president, Juan Godiño.
They are rustic animals that graze very well in hot hours, maintain good condition and reproductive fitness under stress conditions, and have a good pregnancy rate.. Due to their efficiency in any production system, they add value throughout the meat chain. Its moderate size, rustic and low requirement makes it very efficient when converting food into meat.
In Argentina, the growth of the breed has accelerated in the last four years, given the evidence of a slaughter yield of 2% to 5% higher than other breeds. It is distinguished by having a lower percentage of bone and the greater volume of the rear cuts. “It can yield 10% to 15% more money than a steer of the same weight from another breed,” according to Fernando Luis, president of the Association of Argentine Limangus Producers. This pulled the demand driven by feedlots and refrigerators.
The calves are increasingly outstanding, Godiño points out, by adding generations of selected Limangus with very good performances that are sought after by winter keepers who know the qualities of the breed.
Resistance to change
The growth of synthetic breeds in Uruguayan fields and the crosses with them is to be expected, technically and business wise.considers Álvaro Simeone.
But the prospect of genetically innovating can be traumatic for breed-identified farmers.
The debate with those who choose to follow a breed remains open.
Alberto Stolovas draws a comparison with crops: “Today’s wheat or soybeans are not the same varieties that your father or grandfather planted; In that sense, in cattle there is a certain resistance to change”.
P. Carrasco
Creole cattle.
The return of the Criollo cattle
The Criolla breed is the oldest in the country and the American continent. It is 400 years old, although it has been more than a century since it was left aside. Fewer than 1,000 animals remain in Uruguay, says Eileen Armstrong, a veterinarian specializing in genetics, who is researching the breed.
Although there is still no specific scientific data regarding resistance to heat – a new issue that has gained importance in recent years – “empirical evidence shows that they cope better with adverse conditions than commercial breeds, such as low feeding , the heat, the dry, the cold”. Under stress conditions “their state recovers faster, they lose less weight and we believe they have greater resistance due to their adaptation to dry regions where they are the only cattle that thrive, such as northern Mexico and the Argentine provinces of Tucumán and La Rioja” he expressed.
Unlike productive breeds, “which have always had everything available”, the criollo herd “makes do with what there is, and we believe that it is of great value.”
A project that Armstrong leads together with the Faculty of Agronomy, the CURE of Treinta y Tres and producers is collecting data and conducting grazing behavior tests to analyze how they eat and how they move.
Pablo Carrasco, director of Conexión Ganadera, is convinced of the potential of Criollo cattle. “It was never possible to take it to a corral or to high-quality pastures, in the Army fields where it is found, which are among the worst in the country –San Miguel, Rocha– the tenderness is the same in terrible pasture conditions, the marbling is greater and the amount of bone is less”, he affirmed.
One of the first objectives is a cross between the Criollo and the British breed, Armstrong explained, to generate a specific and more ecological line of meat with cattle that do not require many inputs.
