The cover story of this edition of Clarín Rural breaks down the venture of
Rafael Llorente and family
, with a brand new tambo stabled in Arenaza (Lincoln district).
It is a
nice case
to go through the history of milk production technology since the
Second Revolution of the Pampas
was unleashed , 40 years ago.
I had the privilege of participating in a trip with
CREA Lincoln (dairy)
to the United States and Great Britain, in
1993
.
That CREA was on point in dairy.
They had evolved from an eminently pastoral model (Mc Meekan's “From grass to milk”), with
supplementation with balanced feed
inside the dairy (“2 strokes of rope” for those with more than 20 liters, one stroke for those with less).
The number that everyone looked at was the
amount of grain per liter of milk
, considering that
the less you were, the more efficient
.
The system was highly
dependent on the seasonality of the pasture and the climatic evolution
.
The factory wanted milk in winter, and as even as possible during the year.
Many technicians proposed to imitate New Zealand
, where the dairy farms follow the curve of the grass and concentrate production in spring/summer.
But
the corn silo arrived and changed history
.
CREA Lincoln was the first to incorporate it, timidly at first.
It didn't take long for them to be convinced.
Alberto Hardoy
began
in Las Raíces Viejas (Junín).
Alberto said that he had "hit the roof" and suddenly
found a skylight to escape upwards
.
Another born innovator.
He had brought Quiñequeli red clover, Tama ryegrass, and alfalfa without dormancy.
All productivity jumps in grass production, always
considered the cheapest
.
But always also tied to the paradigm of seasonal production.
The “cow function” depended on the “field function”
.
When he discovered the corn silo, he was so enthusiastic that after two years he became a contractor, participating in a company that had developed the first automotive fine-ground grinders in Argentina.
He put his former tambero,
Juan Barneix
, as manager of the team.
Juan's son,
Walter
, was twenty years old and started out as a machinist.
Today Walter is
one of the big silage contractors, with a luxury company
.
Production would no longer depend on each day's grass
.
That required a "fodder reserve" for seasonal or climatic bumps.
The corn silo was expensive.
Llorente "saw" her right away.
ATAR's super early hybrids had appeared and she saw the opportunity to have conserved forage with a high energy concentration as early as March.
The cow would no longer depend on the grass of each day.
Something fundamental, because genetic evolution (with
the incorporation of American and Canadian Holstein semen) had led to a huge leap in the productivity of cows
.
For that potential to be expressed, the nutritional level had to be raised and, above all, made constant.
Instead of the cow accompanying the field,
now the field had to accompany the cow
, the unit of transformation.
But the base was still pastoral.
The best management generated forage surpluses that had to be used.
The roll did not pair well with the new model, because it was very difficult to get quality forage.
It was ideal for the old concept of "reserve":
insurance in case the hand went wrong
.
But not to feed cows of more than 30 liters.
That was the great trigger of the 1993 trip. The haylage alternative (silopaq)
had appeared
, which consisted of making
rolls of wet grass
.
It was ideal for ensiling the leftovers, which with the management of the rotary with electrical wiring were given in small plots.
There was no space for the contractor, each producer had to make do with their own.
It looked interesting, but there were doubts.
That was one of the great axes of that trip in 1993. In the end, the chop entered, and the concept of the TMR and the mixer was also definitively consolidated.
No longer the rope in the tambo, the fully mixed ration in the feeder.
Thus, everything was ordered in another way.
It was easier to grow in scale
, because it was no longer necessary for the cows to walk as much from the dairy to the field, back and forth twice a day.
And further and further away as the rodeos became larger.
The corrals arrived, the increasingly permanent confinements.
Other problems appeared.
The mud, the discovery that
the comfortable cow was also the most productive
.
From the half shade to the roof.
Suddenly, the big stables, cold bed, warm bed, manure management.
Today in the Argentine dairy many systems coexist
.
The changes are complex, expensive, full of new requirements.
In New Zealand, too, the idea of another order is gaining ground.
Everyone will know what is best for them.
New technologies arrive, such as
robotization
, which for some strengthens the tendency to confinement and for others it can be made compatible with the traditional pastoral model.
When that professor and researcher from the University of Florida explained to the group what a tambo was like in that region, a member of the group said that we had gone to the wrong place.
That
our dairy farms were not like that
, that this was not compatible with our system.
Rafael listened attentively and took notes
.
Stop by and read.
look also
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