What makes the Mexican beef cattle industry tick?

Press, 26 October 1984, Page 24

What makes the Mexican beef cattle industry tick?

A North Canterbury bull' beef farmer, Mr Rod McKenzie, of Motunau recently spent a week in Mexico learning about cattle rearing in that country and giving advice on growth implanting.

On his return he said the highlights included trying fo find out why cattle were kept in the yards during the day and let out at night, speaking to a conference conducted in Spanish, seeing the ruins of the Mayan civilization and coping with the Mexican habit of taking time over everything. After giving a scientific paper to the American Society of Animal Science on his latest work with implants in fattening bulls, he was invited to Mexico by a company, who wanted him to be the first speaker at a large conference for beef producers. He spoke on bull beef production systems around the world with special emphasis on New Zealand.

With the exception of a day in Mexico City, the rest of the week was spent down in the south east of Mexico

on the Yucatan Peninsula. He was part of a small group that included the officials of Comzebu (World Confederation of Zebu breeders). He saw a number of. the top ranches where Zebu cattle were being • bred.

Mexico is much hotter, more humid and generally has poorer growing conditions than New Zealand. The most nnumerous breed is the Zebu which have a number of different types sub-breeds. The most popular type in Mexico is the Indu-brazil which has very big twisting ears. Next comes the American Brahman, particularly strong in Northern Mexico. The Gyr has a large backwards curved hom and is more fertile than the others. The next breed by number. and greatly increasing in popularity is the Nullore, usually light in colour with smaller ears and short horns. Official statistics say there is 30 million cattle in Mexico, but it is some time

since it was checked and it is thought the current figure is near 20 million. On all the ranches visited, breeding and selection programmes were very different from the normal New Zealand scene. While all had scales, only half used them, often preferring to use visual assessment. The size of the hump, shape of the ears, horns and pizzle depth seemed to be the major topics of discussion and selection factors. A recent United States Department of Agriculture study showed no difference in heat tolerance when the dewlap, hump and ears were surgically removed. The Zebu cattle have skins that sweat more efficiently, thus giving them an advantage in hot tropical areas. A low basal metabolic rate also assists them.

Questioning through an interpreter, Mr McKenzie was able to establish that there was very little culling in these top herds, with most bulls being taken to a local show and sold afterwards by auction for prices of SNZSOOO to $20,000. Considerable emphasis was put on blood lines. Considerable scope seems to' exist for extension of objectively based selection and breeding programmes. A common stud ranch on the Yucatan Peninsula carries 500 to 1000 breeding animals (both stud and commercial) with the undeveloped land (covered in bush) costing $l5O to $2OO a ha and when it is developed $2OO to $3OO a ha. The owner nearly always lives in the nearest big town where he has good educational opportunities for his children and electricity. He would commute to his ranch two or three times a week.

A smart house is usually kept on the ranch for hospitality to visitors. This typically involved a viewing of all the top animals, trained to lead from a young age, then a large dinner from 2 to 4 pm. Turkey and roast pork were the main dishes

for the meal. Stockmen, who all lived on the ranch with their families, numbered about three for 100 animals. Because of ticks and horn fly, all cattle had to be dipped every one to six weeks depending on the area and degree of problem. Drenching seemed to be done only occasionally if at all, because of the extensive nature of the grazing.

In the Yucatan area of Mexico, many male calves are left entirely on fattening farms. This is not necessarily by design, but rather the fact they just didn’t get around to castrating them. While the Zebu cattle can be quite flighty if not handled carefully, they mature sexually much later then other breeds. There could be as much as 100 kg difference for the same level of sexual development. “This behavioural problems as we know it in New Zealand were generally much less,” he said. Pastures were usually sown down by hand after a burn-off in May before the rainy season. The most common grasses seemed to be guinea grass (panacum maximum) and African star.

The latter one was fast’ growing but fibrous and usually low in quality. A sort of rotational grazing was often employed with these grasses but the Government Research Station was just sorting out the best programme.

Occasionally a type of Sudax was grown and a zero option was used, with the material being cut and fed directly to the animals in pens.

Brush type weeds never seemed to be totally controlled and quickly come back into the pasture. Overgrazing increased the weed problem further. Some farmers sprayed the pastures with Tordon by cropduster plane when they were 60cm high. Reburning and resowing the whole pasture usually occurred every two to four years. Mr . McKenzie was most mystified by the practice of bringing the cattle in each

day during the daylight hours. “The reasons for this, I was told included the necessity to keep them out of the heat (though there seemed to be no shade in the yards), prevention of over-grazing, the need to check cows for Al (some ranchers had continuous calving) and the need to give them water during the day,” he said. “This was probably the most valid reason, although a number of pastures did have water in them.” With the very limited weighing, animal performance was difficult to ascertain. Some stud breeders were able .to get good, growth rates (o.Bkg a day) by supplementary feeding. General growth rates in fattening were normally 0.3 to o.skg a day. Bulls were killed for local consumption about the 450 kg liveweight mark. Fertility seemed to be a problem with one calf every 20 months being common. There was hardly any selection pressure for fertility, and this obviously affected this performance trait, said Mr McKenzie.