
Agricultural News
Angus Association President John Pfeiffer Shares Experience Attending the World Angus Secretariat
Thu, 25 Apr 2019 10:52:16 CDT
Oklahoma angus producer John Pfeiffer took over as president of the American Angus Association this past fall. Since then, he has had the opportunity to travel quite a bit, tending to business on behalf of the association. In a recent conversation with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays, Pfeiffer highlighted one of his most recent trips in South America where in the capital city of Uruguay, Montevideo, he attended the World Angus Secretariat, a biennial event established in 1969 to facilitate the sharing of information between the various Angus Societies/Associations of the world. According to Pfeiffer, he had the chance to visit with angus breeders from 17 different countries around the world and was immersed in the South American approach to agriculture.
"It was a great experience. It was my first time in South America to see how they do agriculture different than we do and the way in which they raise beef," Pfeiffer said. "I guess the neat thing about it for me was to see a country whose whole economy is based upon agriculture and how well they appreciate agriculture and how thoughtful they are about having ag in their community and country."
Drawing from the conversations he had with other attendees, the US shares many of the same challenges and goals as foreign stakeholders in the breed. Pfeiffer reports that one issue the Uruguayans are tackling right now, is how to increase the carcass weight of their cattle. At present, he says their cattle have carcass weights of about 400 to 500 lbs. and to harvest those cattle is very costly. According to Pfeiffer, all of Uruguay's cattle are grass fed and he says the industry there realizes that in order to advance their herd, they will have to start feeding more grain.
Genetically, though, Pfeiffer says the US and South American angus herds are actually very similar. According to him, many of the same bulls used here in the US are also very popular in South America as well which he found very impressive and indicative of the level of consistency and control the breed has managed to cultivate on an international scale.
Listen to Pfeiffer share his full experience in South America, plus an update on this year's Certified Angus Beef sales progress, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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