Land clearing: We have initiated a clearing operation on 500 ha in order to control the natural vegetation which is typical for the region of Salta (a formerly forest area with a subtropical highland climate). This operation will help us in the re-growth of pastures in those plots and will also facilitate the management of the cattle.
To this aim, we are only using specifically machinery and no phytosanitary products as their prices have significantly increased in the latest months. Furthermore, the results are longer to wait and in any cases, clearing machines must be used.
You can see the chopper blades in action. This machine was specifically designed to help control invasive brush, shrubs and weeds, while making cleaning or dismantling pastures much easier and faster than ever. His action is also helping to penetrate the soil enough to fracture the deeper, “dry pan” soil. This helps to prevent water run off and maintain high levels of water retention, while not hurting the existing grass or exposing the roots.
Once the dry pan soil is fractured, it enables water, air, and organic matter to penetrate deeper into the soil. This process allows grass or hay to establish deeper root beds, giving you a much more stable and hearty foliage. We hope to achieve our target of 500 ha before the rainy season will started in November, and increase our chances of pasture re-growth.
Cattle operation: We have currently around 3,000 heads at the farm. After the intense drought we faced since March 2020, the cattle need time to return to normal condition. In the meantime we continue to supplement with pellets and corn for the most sensitive categories.
Cattle service is underway and inseminations should be completed by mid-May (1,240 cows). Fertility tests should then be available by mid-end of June. For this service, we don t have big expectations given the drought experienced earlier. We will evaluate the opportunity to give the cows a 2nd chance or to sale the weakest as beef to slaughterhouses in order to stabilize the herd and reduce death ratio as well as supplementation costs.
