Argentina should try to emulate cattle improvements - leatherbiz: Lead Leatherbiz

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Argentina should try to emulate cattle improvements

25/08/2011
The president of an Argentinean animal genetics company has called on the country to emulate the US in improving the efficiency of its cattle industry. Argentina’s herd size and slaughter statistics have fallen (from 13 million head in recent years to around 11.7 million in 2010), as has the country’s famously high per capita beef consumption (from 68.7 kilos in 2009 to an estimated 62.4 kilos last year).

However, Arturo Vierheler, president of Entre Ríos-based Argenetics, has said lessons from the US can help Argentina build its numbers back up.

He wrote in a newspaper article that a presentation from a researcher at Washington State University, professor Jude Capper, had given him hope. Between 1997 and 2007, she said, the US increased its beef production by 131% while reducing its herd size by 30%.

Over the same period, farmers in the US reduced the amount of water used to raise cattle by 14%, their land-use by 34% and methane emissions by 20% and their overall carbon footprint by 18%.

“Our whole industry needs to start working together immediately to become more efficient and more sustainable,” said Mr Vierheler.

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