The rural producers of the South Pampas, included in the departments of
Caleu Caleu
- which reaches the town of
La Adela
- and
Lihuel Cale
l - of
Cuchillo Co
- are experiencing a dramatic situation as a result of
a drought that has been going on for several years
and is getting worse day after day. day. From 2023 to date,
5,392 animals
have died and another
100,000 cattle have been taken to slaughter
or to rented fields in
other areas
.
Based on the vaccination record of the
National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service
(Senasa), in
May
2023
there were a total of
650 livestock producers in the two
departments
with
270 thousand heads of livestock
.
"In
September
2023
,
according to what the farm guides indicated,
between 90 and 100 thousand animals had already left
the area. Today there are more than 100 thousand animals," said
Rosana Erviti,
press officer at the
Rural Association of the Sur Pampeano
, centered in
La Adela
, the last town in the south of the province of La Pampa.
From there, if you cross the Colorado River, you go to the province of Río Negro, in the Río Colorado location.
Río Colorado - La Adela
is called
the urban agglomeration that extends between the Argentine cities of
Río Colorado
in the Province of Río Negro, and the city of
La Adela in the province of La Pampa.
It is the Viedma Patagones region.
The same source added: "In
2022
there was little precipitation and in
2023 a total of
300 mm
fell
, but
almost nothing in autumn and spring
, two times necessary to accumulate moisture reserve in the grassland. In
2024
, January was very
hot and windy , it rained about
70 mm
in some fields and in others nothing
." The problem is that months preceded it with scarcer rainfall than in current years with maximum and minimum temperatures higher than normal and the humidity deficit accumulated very pronounced.
Bellies
are being sold
, which is the capital of the producers. There are small producers who have had to
abandon the activity
because their cows died and others had to be sold at a very low price.
Throughout 2023, producers used tools to maintain their herd such as:
Early weaning
,
sale of shelter cows
,
grass feeding
,
balanced
feed , molasses, salts, etc. Nothing was enough to maintain the state of the farm and they only became defunded and anyway they had to sell their bellies, that is,
get rid of their capital," Rosana Erviti concluded.