Next to the Miño river, on its way through the municipality of Taboada in Lugo, is the family livestock farm Cadahías de San Julián SC, one of AIRA’s partner farms focused on dairy cattle. The brothers Andrés and Santiago Gómez Cadahía manage this cattle ranch with which their parents had already started in the parish of Ínsua San Julián.
They have about 160 cows in production, with intensive management, and another 40 dry cows and heifers close to calving that go out to pasture every day. “In the months of July and August this area is very dry and they have almost no pasture, but we still take them to the pasture because it is good for them to prevent problems, especially leg problems,” explains Andrés.
The herd is completed with about 70 rebreeding heifers. They bet on their own rebreeding with Galician bulls, coming from Xenética Fontao, such as Gigaball, GioP or San Xurxo, as well as Canadian animals, such as Bombero and Zebra. “We always bet on good bulls, as this is the way to improve the herd, even if it takes time, we can see the results”, argues the farmer.
“We always go for good bulls, as it is the way to keep improving the herd
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Since Andres and Santiago have been managing the farm they have focused on the Friesian breed. “Sometimes diversifying and having different breeds in the herd, as my parents had before, doesn’t get you anywhere. We have set ourselves some objectives and decided to go for this breed to achieve them,” they explain.
In Cadahías de San Julián they milk twice a day and have an average of 37 liters per cow per day, with qualities of 3.8% fat and 3.3% protein. The milk is marketed through the Cooperative. “The worst problem in the sector is that we cannot pass on cost increases, unlike what happens in other areas. We are aware that the Cooperative is making efforts in this direction, but the industry continues to look the other way,” says the farmer.
They have a herd of Friesian cows, with about 160 cows in production and where they are betting on their own rebreeding
They work with a milking parlor and for the moment they rule out the incorporation of milking robots. “For the cows we have in production, we would have to install three robots and that would be a big investment,” says Andrés. They have been introducing other automation systems for farm management, such as a feed feeder or a suckling machine for rebreeding, which is one of the latest improvements.
In the day-to-day running of the farm, Andrés is in charge of managing the animals, while the work on the land usually falls to Santiago. “We have the work organized in this way, although in times of heavier workload we collaborate where needed,” they say. In addition to the two brothers, the livestock farm has employees to help with the day-to-day tasks.
Cattle feeding
The feeding of the cows in production is done with the mixer wagon that they acquired new from the Cooperative, after working for years with a second-hand one and given that the farm is located outside the Cooperative’s routes. “We bought the carts from AIRA because they work with a very good brand and have a great response capacity when you have an eventuality. In a machine that is working every day you can’t afford it to fail and if it happens you have to know that you have a service that offers you solutions in the shortest possible time”, comments the farmer.
At the Cadahías farm in San Julián, they also use the Cooperative for issues such as corn harvesting. “A good part of the work in the fields is done by us, but there are tasks in which we always opt for the Cooperative,” they explain. The cattle ranch manages a land base of about 70 hectares, of which 30 are dedicated to corn. “We have rented some farms in Monterroso, since there we achieve better productions than in this area and it compensates us”, he indicates. Occasionally they also buy corn to supply the needs of their livestock.
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I think that the important work that we farmers do to maintain the countryside should be recognized
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In Cadahías livestock farming they claim how exciting it is to work in the countryside and the day to day with their animals, but they recognize that this is still a sector that is undervalued, unlike what happens in other countries. “The countryside continues to be undervalued, and without producers the rural sector would not be sustained. The closure of livestock farms is a serious problem for many rural areas. I believe that the important work that farmers do to maintain the countryside should be recognized,” concludes Andrés Cadahía.
Published in the December 2021 AIRA newsletter.
