The current 900 purebred breeding cows and the sale and replacement heifers are managed in two breeding seasons.

Bull calves are branded at the end of the calving season, during which the information of that moment is registered and calves are temporarily identified with collars. I delegated this activity to my son, Juan.
My daughter Soledad is in charge of anything related to the registration with the Sociedad Rural Argentina (Argentine Rural Society), which, due to the amount of calves born every year, is a difficult task that she performs very efficiently.
Gathering information, which is reported to both breeding systems (Breedplan and ERA), continues to be my task since I believe it is part of the passion for what I do. It is a way of knowing in depth the characteristics of each animal I am shaping. I think this is a task I will never delegate.

Autumn calving

During the fall, we manage about 300 breeding cows which are bred between May and June and calve in February and March; weaning takes place in September/October. Their products are sold in the autumn auctions, 26/28 months after having been born. This foundation stock is replaced with spring heifers born after September 15, which are deliberately left for breeding when 18/19 months old as from April 15. In addition, we reserve the best breeding cows that remained empty after the summer breeding, mostly at 1st or 2nd calving, as a result of a too restricted nutritional management. The fall breeding works very well, better than the spring breeding, since breeding cows reach the time of mating in a 5 or 6 body condition, which they lose during the winter but does not represent a decrease to get bred in more than 90% of the cases during the 60-day breeding.

Spring calving

The spring season is made with the rest of the foundation stock, about 600 breeding cows, plus the sale and replacement heifers. Breeding takes place during November, December and January, so calving occurs in August, September and October. There is a greater nutritional restriction during the winter since the mature breeding cows bred are kept within the marshland area of the river without any nutritional supplement. Sometimes, some breeding cows reach the breeding season in a 4 body condition, so usually their calving interval is longer or they cannot get bred. Heifers born during the fall (18 months) are serviced during this season, from early November, as well as those born in August and until September 15 of the previous year (14 to 15 months).

Cows are used until they are 12 years old, if they are of genetic interest. Today, due to the fast genetic progress, discarding occurs before.

CSM 6884 Píndaro, 50 heifers for his first service

Artificial insemination (AI) is implemented only in heifers and some cows that were not bred during the winter breeding; insemination is performed during 30/40 days by duly trained personnel of the stock farm. In general, synchronization is made with prostaglandin, but the FTAI is applied neither to these breeding cows nor to cows with calves. A booster is made with bulls, immediately after the AI, and I distinguish paternity by manual gestation diagnosis 35 days after the AI is finished. Usually, the booster is carried out with the same bull whose semen was used, since currently there is very little incorporation of foreign genetic material.

Breeding heifers of spring 2008 with CSM 5956 Quiñe

The natural service is performed in batches of 30 to 70 breeding cows according to the receptivity of the pens to which they are sent and the interest of using a bull. To create batches, we take into account the age (for nutritional management) and mainly the Pampa Index, but also the EBVs of the breeding cows, according to the genetic profile of the bull that will be assigned without too precision in that regard.
During the daily round, the detected services are recorded and then I verify them by rectal palpation in order to inform the conception date and to know the gestation term.
After 70 days of the service, I carry out the first palpation to know the progress of the gestation and then state possible conception dates or confirm the breeding dates already informed, which helps to subsequently arrange the calving batches. The final palpation coincides with the weaning.

Marshland area flooded as a result of the overflow from the Río Areco river

The area available for breeding cows is the marshland area of the Río Areco river, which remains overflowed for 10 days twice or three times a year due to fall and spring rains or to the overflow of the Paraná river. There are reed beds in the lower part and natural Lotus tenuis grows in the best parts during the summer, mixed with other grass usually found in that ecosystem. There are salt areas, so the lack of copper is evident. Fasiolasis is endemic due to permanent water flows, which represents a great restraint to production and a significant cost. Grass in marshlands only grows 6 months a year between September 20 and March 20. I explain this to point out the difficulty and the nutritional and health limitation suffered by mature breeding cows. They are considered to be mature when they are bred twice; from that moment on, they will always live in that environment.

Mature cow

From weaning, rebreeding is managed on agricultural land with grasslands of alfalfa, white clover, fescue and orchardgrass, always using cutting-edge varieties. They are sown with no till during February, after corn is cut for silage, and have a four-year cycle alternated with the three-year cultivation of corn, soybeans and wheat.
Farming tasks are performed according to the husbandry activity and on a percentage basis, in association with Pablo Roller.
Corn is mainly sowed to obtain silage and grain, while the income from soybeans and wheat funds the cultivation of corn and the planting of grasslands.

Wheat, corn and soybeans

This year we began to sow feed barley instead of wheat due to the trade barriers imposed on this cereal. The feed barley is intended for silage in order to reduce the corn area and, thus, ensure that we obtain such an essential input.
The four-year rotation is implemented after each farming cycle to obtain better quality grasslands, from which we also make hay rolls with the spring-summer surplus to be used during the winter.
Of course, we do streamlined rotational grazing profusely using reels and strings, which is facilitated by the pens with electric wire fencing. In that regard, I would like to thank my nephew Enrique D. Beccar Varela for updating my knowledge about the planting and streamlined management of grasslands, in addition to all the farming strategy.

Heifer calves in grassland managed with pasture rotation	Bull calves in grassland. In the back, tedded fodder