Our Cattle
Our calves grow up with their mothers in open fields, ranging freely year-round, exclusively eating grass. Every animal is tracked by ear tag and registered soon after birth which ensures traceability. In our quest to continuously improve the genetics we select the best mothers and focus on the origins of the breed.
As we want to treat our animals in the best possible humane way, we consulted with Dr. Mary Temple Grandin, an experienced and respected specialist. Based on her advice we rebuilt our handling facilities. We work in compliance with the animal welfare guidelines “Bienestar Animal”.
Our ranch has a long history dating back to the early 19th century. From that early period, we know little, but original stone-built handling facilities and remains of several small stone houses still exist and document a long history.
Since 2011 we have made continuous investments in land and have grown our herd up to 4700 animals. We also produce wool with 2200 sheep on a total of 5600 ha. A few years ago, we started to produce our own vegetables, eggs, milk, and raise pigs just for the needs of the ranch to get as close to environmentally responsible self-sufficiency as possible.
In sync with nature
The Uruguayan savanna is one of the largest grassland biomes in the world. The biodiversity on our land is remarkable with a rich indigenous flora and fauna, including pampas deer, capybaras, greater rhea, pampas foxes, hares, snakes, armadillos, and many others. The most impressive however, is the large number and diversity of birds. This is favored by the presence of a creek with a significant stretch of native forest.
It is a natural environment to which our cattle are well adapted. The density of the cattle population is very low and therefore the impact on the wildlife is equally low. Each animal feeds on an area larger than two football fields. This results in a larger CO2 absorption by the growing grass and our native forest than the herd produces, so we are effectively carbon neutral.