MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Encouraging prospects for Argentine sheep farming

The strong recovery of the last two years and encouraging prospects for sheep farming in Argentina was highlighted by Alberto Paz, president of the Corriedale Breeders Association, the most extended breed in the country.

"There's been a great expansion of sheep farming mainly in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Argentina's total flock has increased from 12,5 million to 16 million this year", revealed Mr. Paz who has 43,000 sheep in Tierra del Fuego.

Mr. Paz who visited Buenos Aires for the recent Palermo agro-business show, said that Argentina has a long tradition of wool production but lately "we're discovering that meat, lamb is an excellent business, with a very interesting profit margin, and I believe that is where the industry should be targeting".

Argentina currently has an annual clip of 75,000 tons of which in 2004, 62,591 tons were exported generating 169 million US dollars.

"But we should insist in organic labelling because Patagonian wool, Chubut, Tierra del Fuego, Santa Cruz, is possibly the only wool in the world free of pesticides and chemical products", underlined Mr. Paz.

Regarding meat production, Mr. Paz said Argentina has excellent, organic lamb, with the flavour of the different grasslands they feed on, "but unfortunately our total production at world level is too small and this limits our marketing chances".

In the first half of this year lamb exports totalled 7,734 tons valued in 18,6 million US dollars compared to the 6,166 tons and 15,7 million US dollars for the whole of 2004.

"Sheep farmers in Argentina tend to have meat for their own consumption but don't fully realize that lamb is 10% dearer than the best beef", emphasized Mr. Paz.

However he pointed out that the recent opening of an abattoir in Pringles, province of Buenos Aires is very encouraging because "there's great potential for ovine meat expansion in the province and farmers will begin to realize where the money is".

Talking about his own experience as a farmer in Tierra del Fuego, Mr. Paz revealed that the local abattoir, a joint undertaking by three of the main estancias, has an annual turnover of 70,000 heads from a flock of half a million.

Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz province, has four abattoirs which process 200,000 head per year out of a local flock of four million sheep, with lamb mostly exported to Spain.

Finally Mr. Paz praised the qualities of Corriedale, a double purpose breed which adapts to all of Argentina's climates, Salta, Jujuy in the north; Mendoza in the Andes; Corrientes, Entre Ríos in mid Argentina, and in La Pampa, Buenos Aires and Patagonia.

"Corriedale is excellent to begin farming and to cross breed", highlighted Mr. Paz.