The arrival of winter brings with it multiple challenges for the livestock sector in Misiones. Pablo “Chango” Cáceres, livestock producer and former president of the Misiones Rural Society, shared with Misionescuatro his concerns about the current panorama of livestock farming in the province, highlighting several problems that affect both producers and consumers.
“The situation at this moment, with the cold that is approaching due to winter, is going to have a lot of repercussions because the quality of the farm decreases,” he warned. With low temperatures, pastures freeze, leaving producers with chalá and without enough feed for their livestock. This lack of quality grass forces many to resort to balanced feed, which arrives in the province at high costs due, according to the producer, to the price of grain and the provincial “parallel customs.”
“You don’t feel encouraged to buy,” he explained, referring to the high costs of these dietary supplements. Faced with this situation, producers are forced to enlarge their fields and reduce their livestock stocks, selling more livestock than usual so that the remaining livestock can survive during the winter.
Cáceres also pointed out a worrying gap between the price of standing livestock and the cost of meat on shelves. “The steer is 1,100 pesos per kilo and in the butcher shops it is 8,000,” he highlighted, attributing this disparity to the high taxes faced by meatpackers, along with the electricity and logistics costs necessary to slaughter an animal. “Taxes include everything,” he stressed, evidencing the tax burden that further complicates the situation for producers.
In addition, Cáceres pointed out that Misiones depends largely on the finances of other provinces to satisfy local demand. “We have to be a province that sources our supplies from other provinces because animal consumption is not something that is involved in satiety. “We consume farms from other provinces,” he explained, indicating the lack of self-sufficiency in the local livestock sector.
