By INTA.
Argentine livestock farming contributes more than 5,000 million dollars in foreign currency, mostly from the bovine sector. Although this chain is not characterized by exporting large volumes of meat, is capable of offering excellent quality products to high-value markets concerned with reducing the impact of livestock farming on the environment.
In that sense, Argentina has the challenge of promoting the growth of the sector to position itself in these markets that demand quality meat with lower greenhouse gas emissions.. In this search, INTA installed the first Patagonian center that allows detecting the feed conversion rates in kilograms of meat of each animal. An efficient tool from an economic point of view, sustainable and key for the genetic improvement of breeding herds in the Patagonian region.
Mauricio Álvarez – coordinator of the INTA Animal Meat and Fibers program – highlighted: “If Argentina wants to position itself in these markets, it has an unavoidable goal, which is to increase its productivity in a sustainable way and, in addition, prove it.. To this end, INTA together with the primary and industrial private sector has been developing a series of actions to anticipate this scenario.”
And he added: “One of them is the creation of a national platform aimed at genetically improving the conversion efficiency of livestock. We already have four plants in the main producing regions of the country, and now we add the first installed in Patagonia”.
If Argentina wants to position itself in high-value markets, it has an unavoidable goal, which is to increase its productivity in a sustainable way and, furthermore, to prove it.
Mauricio Álvarez – coordinator of Meat and Animal Fibers at INTA.
Residual consumption is a measure of conversion efficiency of animals. That is, residual consumption is the difference between the observed consumption and the consumption that an animal should have for a certain level of production. Animals that eat less and gain more weight are the most efficient.
In this regard, Álvarez remarked that “A very positive aspect to highlight is that this characteristic has a heritability that allows relevant genetic progresswhich makes its incorporation into genetic improvement programs viable.”
Selecting more efficient animals reduces the cost of feeding in the long term and even those animals could perform better in situations of nutritional restrictions.. Likewise, this provides the possibility of proving that these animals emit less methane per unit of product, mitigating the emission of greenhouse gases.
The new plant located in the city of Viedma –Río Negro– has a particular relevance because the region has a differential health status, since it is an area free of foot and mouth disease without vaccination.
“This means that you can export meat to the non-foot-and-mouth circuit, but it is not possible to import live animals from other regions.. Consequently, the genetic improvement of commercial herds depends on the herds of the region. This Center will allow them to be incorporated into this national network of genetic improvement of conversion efficiency,” said Alvarez.
The Secretary of Livestock of Río Negro, Tabaré Bassi, participated in the inauguration of the Centralwho highlighted the result of joint work with technical associations, producers and governments.
“We are convinced that this is the way. And that the design of public policies and the developments of scientific organizations must be directed to what the sector needs, otherwise it will not bear fruit. The inauguration of this Central is an example because it is something that the producers of Rio Negro were waiting for.”Bassi remarked.
The design of public policies and the developments of scientific organizations must be directed to what the sector needs, otherwise it will not bear fruit.
Tabaré Bassi, Secretary of Livestock of Río Negro.
It is important to highlight that the growth of the network, to which other private plants are added, is part of a public-private innovation process that has been in progress for years.. It includes the development of measurement equipment by a national technology-based company and the development of agreements with breeder associations, to incorporate the evaluation of residual consumption into genetic improvement programs.
In this sense, Alfonso Bustillo –president of the Argentine Angus Association– reflected: “This project was necessary to continue working on the genetic selection of our animals with new variables and new Deps – expected differences in the progeny.– as is the conversion efficiency. It is very important for the development of our livestock to work increasingly on genetic information and know what animals transmit to their offspring. It is the only way to improve.”
Technology for precision livestock farming
The Residual Consumption Center is an experimental module that is being executed with the teams of INTA Valle Inferior and the National Fiber and Meat Program of INTA. It has 12 automatic feeders equipped with caravan readers that individually record food consumption.
Juan José Gallego – INTA Valle Inferior professional – explained that “the actual consumption of each animal is measured exactly and from that data the individual consumption and conversion efficiency of each of the animals is estimated. That is, we can know which animals need to consume less food to generate 1 kilogram of meat.”.
“This center is oriented to the demands and needs of livestock producers and is linked to the Angus and Hereford breed cabins in the region to provide them with information that can be used in the genetic improvement programs of their herds.”said Gallego.
Its inauguration took place during the first phenotypic swearing of the seventh Productive Test of Patagonian Bulls, carried out by INTA and Angus and Hereford breed associations.
