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Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 84,397
Marty Offline OP
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Here's some excerpts from a recent discussion...

From Lan Sluder...
Reading a classic book on beef cattle, Storey's Guide to Raising Beef
Cattle by Heather Smith Thomas. She points to seven hybrid beef
breeds that should be able to tolerate heat and other conditions in
Belize:

Beefmaster (Brahman-Shorthorn-Hereford cross)
Braford (Brahman-Hereford cross)
Brahmasin (Brahman-Limousin cross)
Brangus (Brahman-Angus cross)
Charbray (Brahman-Charolais cross)
Gelbray (Brahman-Gelbvieh cross)
Santa Gertrudis (Brahman-Shorthorn cross)

I know Gallon Jug has some kind of Angus cross, and also some Hereford
cross, but not sure exactly what they've bred. Santa Gertrudis I
believe are somewhat common in Mexico ranching.

Of course expansion of beef production in Central America and Mexico
is controversial -- ganaderizacion I think the Mexicans call it.
======================
From Beth Roberson, BelizeAgReport.com

hello my friend. in the tropics most folks have some type of bos inducus, which is 'humped cattle', as opposed to bos taurus, ie angus, hereford, etc. which are nonhumped... (among other differences...).
we personally have NELORE breed, which is a bos indicus breed, origin in india, then the brazilians imported about a 100 yrs ago and now they have the best nelore in the world, in fact, 60% of the cattle in brazil are nelore. they are also popular in southern mexico. but, although we and some farmers in sp lkt and blue creek have nelore, MOST of the bos indicus here are brahman or one of the other types - indu brasil, sardo negro, etc. brahman is probably the most popular breed. of course, most commercial farmers have crosses, and would use purebred bulls on them. running w farm in cayo (the bedrans) have worked and achieved a fine cross of black angus on nelore, which they are aging and tastes great.

there is some articificial breeding done (a.i.) and sometimes people use exotic breeds (here, exotic means angus, simental, hereford, charolais, brown swiss x is popular in central america overall. they use here a multipurpose brown swiss, more boxy, not the milk type of animal that a northamerican will associate when you say brown swiss to him). most of the a.i. done here is for dairy breeds.

reading the above from sluder's info. i believe don barry had an afinity for hereford, not angus. it is the bedrans that have black angus x. in mexico, they prefer the red angus to x, as small fraction of degree cooler the red skin is in the tropical sun, than the black angus. never seen much santa gertrudis in southern mexico, which is only part i am familiar with. we used to go to shows only sou. mex. (chet, merida (x'matkuil, tizimin)villa hermosa, tabasco. in belize, frank norris (former owner of lands now run by tiger run farm (running w) had santa gertrudis, as did svea dietrich ward and jerry mcdermott. dont know anyone now with those in belize, but maybe up north??

hope this is helpful... ask him to look up nelore on internet. is slightly smaller boned than brahman, less waste, you can't eat those bones... cleaner lines, the mexicans pay a premium for this breed at the slaughter houses, and , that is what beef cattle are about. my husband would be delighted to show you his small but fine herd when you come west again marty.

dry for right this minute. looks and feels like we won't get brunt of rains. if peten avoids deluge, then i think lower cayo river valley - ie bullet tree area of the oct 08 floods, will not be repeated. those were in great part due to the rains in guate that drained through belize.

Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 242
M
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From reading the last Ag Reports i got the impression that cattle prices were too low to profitably raise them due to the supply/demand situation. Expanding the demand by exporting beef cattle to Mexico or Guatemala on a large scale didn't materialize either.

What exactly is the role of the Ministry of Ag/Fish and BAHA? They don't seem to be a part of the solution here.

Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,054
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Report from Charlie Trew: "Last night (Sunday) in New York, Foreign Minister Elrington reiterated that Mexico wants to buy all the Belize beef they can get their hands on and Belize is hoping to cash in on that. He also said that Guatemala is very interested in making a big agricultural buy in the near future."


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