Moeda Estacas is one of AIRA’s beef cattle farms, located in the municipality of As Nogais, in the province of Lugo. At the head of this semi-extensive farm is Eladio Sánchez, who started with cattle raising more than 20 years ago. Since 10 years ago, his wife Jennifer Busto also joined the activity as co-owner. In 2019 they constituted Moeda Estacas SC and in recent years they also faced the construction of new facilities for their livestock.
Eladio started with local cows, but today in his herd there are also other breeds that have been gaining space. “If it were up to me, I would have only Rubia Galega, they are animals that I like very much, but the inbreeding problems that the breed is having made me have to include other breeds. We are looking for animals that are productive in cattle breeding”, acknowledges the farmer. Today they have 55 cows, of which 20 are Rubia Galega and they also have crosses with Limousin, as well as Asturiana. They also have a Limousin steer, given the ease of calving offered by this breed, although until recently they also had a Rubia Galega steer. After facing the construction of new facilities, the intention is to continue increasing the number of animals and even double it.
The Moeda Estacas cattle ranch is semi-extensive, so they have a herd that remains outside for a good part of the year and another batch in which the cows go out to pasture at mid-morning and return to the farm at night for the steers to suckle. The fact that the cattle ranch is located in the Lucencese mountains, at an altitude of almost 900 meters, also conditions the handling of the cattle. “From April to the end of November, one of the herds remains in the pasture during the day and at night,” the farmer points out. The rest of the months, in the middle of winter, the lack of pasture and inclement weather, mean that the cows have to stay on the farm. “The terrain here is steep and soft, so while the weather is not good we cannot take the cattle to pasture,” Eladio comments.
Optimize grassland production
Achieving a better use of the slurry and having more comfortable facilities were the reasons that led this couple to build the new farm. “We were having problems storing all the slurry in the winter months, which forced us to remove the slurry when we were full and not when it would really be useful to make a good fertilizer. Having the new pits allows us to achieve a higher production of quality grass,” the farmer recalls.
In addition, having a well-sized slurry pit allows them to reduce their investment in chemical fertilizers. “This year, we reduced our investment in chemicals by having slurry available. We supplemented it by adding lime to the plots that needed it,” he explains.
At the Moeda Estacas livestock farm they manage some 42 hectares of land that they use for pasture production, as well as dry grass and grass silage. “We take care of making almost all the fodder we need on the farm ourselves, we only buy the straw,” the farmer points out.
Moeda Estacas is one of the cattle ranches that uses the Cooperative’s meat marketing service for the sale of its animals
In addition to the new facilities, they still maintain a 700 square meter shed that they use for fattening the calves, since they also have slurry pits and ample spaces that facilitate both the handling and raising of the calves. “We opt to have most of the calves in the court because that way we can guarantee that they are always in the best conditions, it is the best way to provide them with welfare all year round, without them suffering from cold, rain or heat and always having food freely available,” he points out. In addition, the livestock is in the ADS, one more measure to guarantee the sanitary safety of their animals.
Moeda Estacas is one of the farms that sells its animals through the Cooperative’s marketing service. They sell their animals under the seal of Ternera Gallega Suprema when they are around 10 months old and after being up to 7 months suckling from their mothers. Most of the calves they sell are males, since the calves that are born in the livestock are bred by them, in a commitment to their own rebreeding.
Published in the July 2022 AIRA newsletter.
