Congress of the Americas July 19 – July 27, 2013 ~ Bogotá and Cartagena, Colombia
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ollowing the Beef Innovations Symposium and the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Simmental Association we flew to Bogotá, Colombia. We arrived the afternoon of July 19th in time to see the last few classes of the Simmental judging at AgroExpo and to attend the opening reception of the first Congress of the Americas. This was prior to the Simmental Sale which featured 30 lots that averaged over $5,000. The Simmental sale was the highest averaging breed sale at AgroExpo 2013 which saw standing room only and also in attendance was the Agriculture Minister for Colombia - Francisco Estupiñán Heredia. The second day saw a return to the AgroExpo grounds to watch the final classes and the conclusion of the Simmental judging. There were 400 Simmental and Simbrah entered in the show and 80 head on display. It is a very busy venue as over 200,000 people attend AgroExpo. The trade show space is very large and as we toured the exhibition halls we made contact with representatives from Agriculture Canada, Semex and ABS and importers. The third day began with a short tour of the city of Bogota and its interesting sights, later returning to AgroExpo to see the judging of the Simbrah cattle. It was interesting to note that some of these exhibitors drove over 1200 miles to attend the show. Our final day in Bogota was a tour of a dairy operation, Hacienda Argovie, located just 30 kilometers from Bogota. Germán Jaramillo Ángelwho administers the Aargau Hacienda, pointed out that the estate currently is the prototype of an intensive milk farm with 450 of the 800 cows in production on its 135 hectares. The crossing of Simmentals with their Holsteins has resulted in 3 more lactations and a reduction of mastitis. The cull calves and cows are also generating more revenue. We finished the morning with a tour of the Alpina Food Store. Alpina is the third largest dairy producing company in Colombia with sales of over US$700 million and operations in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Later that afternoon we traveled to Hacienda Santa Inés. They have been using Simmental genetics for over 20 years and through e mbr yo t r a n s p l a nt and AI and currently have 150 cows in production which are the source of
by Deanne Young
the 1000 embryos they are trying to generate. They sell their bulls at 14 months of age for an average of $5000. Santa Ines has had the Grand Champion Female at the last two national fairs and AgroExpo and also premier breeder and exhibitor of for three consecutive years. The herd is operated as a dual purpose herd, recording milk data and also entering carcass competitions. Tuesday July 23 was our first day in the coastal city of Cartagena where we were given a tour of the “Walled City”. The afternoon was the first day of the technical meetings and presentations were given by the American Simmental Association – Fred Schuetze, Brazil Simmental Association - Marlo Coelho AguiarNeto (Mamado), and Germany – Dr. George Rohrmoser. The USA emphasized the use of genetic evaluation in their data base of 87, 000 active cows. The Brazilians have 3 different herd books, Full blood Simmental; Simbrah and Simbrasil which are a composite of 5/8 Simmental and the remaining portion Zebu, Gyr, Nelore, Brahma Tabapu or Guzeara for their tropical conditions; and the newest herdbook will be one for black Simmental genetics. Germany is also well advanced in its use of Genomics in their herd selection. The meetings resumed Wednesday July 24, with presentations from CSA General Manager Bruce Holmquist and CSA Project manager Sandy Russell representing the Canadian Simmental Association. Bruce reported how the Simmental breed has developed over the past 40 years in Canada and the direction we are looking to go in the future. Sandy gave a synopsis of our Genomics work to date and the work that will be accomplished to complete the projects. The final presentation of the technical sessions was given by Manuel Blanco Rincon the Director of the Colombian Association. Simmentals are very adaptive to the different weather conditions in Colombia and are recognized as a dual purpose breed, although they do have interest in increasing the beef component of the Simmental breed. Manuel explained the concept of a Simmental Federation of the Americas which would include the Simmental Associations of South America, USA, Canada and Mexico as well as some from Central America. The focus would be to work together on trade, policies and the promotion of Simmental between our countries.
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