Day of the Gaucho Waning in Argentina

Day of the Gaucho Waning in Argentina
Cattle Being Moved Off Plains and Into U.S.-Style Feedlots


By Juan ForeroWashington Post Foreign Service Thursday, September 10, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/09/AR2009090903211.html


MAGDALENA, Argentina -- Cattle once ruled the seemingly endless grasslands here, delivering decades of prosperity for Argentina and producing a brand familiar to the world -- natural, grass-fed beef.

But a quiet revolution has arrived on the famously fertile pampa, a swath of plains bigger than Texas.
Instead of roaming freely and eating to their hearts' content, a growing number of Argentine cattle are spending a third of their lives in U.S.-style feedlots. There, crammed in muddy corrals, they are pumped with antibiotics and fed mounds of protein-rich grain, which fattens them up fast but hardly conjures up the romantic image of the Argentine cowboy, the iconic gaucho, lassoing cattle on the high plains.
It is an image ranch hand Tomás Leclercq cherishes. The strapping, ruddy-faced 58-year-old has been working with cattle since boyhood. Like any Argentine, Leclercq knows his beef -- he likes it grilled on a spit, a tad red, tender as butter. The reason Argentina's meat is so lean and juicy, he contends, is that cattle here have traditionally rambled across miles of plains, chomping grass until winding up as succulent steaks

"There's a big difference between grass-fed beef and feedlot beef," said Leclercq, who manages about 250 head of cattle for a Buenos Aires businessman and eats meat daily. "Beef raised on the plains is better, but there is less and less of it because the land is going for agriculture, so the feedlots are multiplying."
Indeed, all over the pampa, ranchland that was home to Angus and Hereford cows has in recent years been replaced by fields of soybeans, corn and wheat as commodity prices skyrocketed by more than 300 percent. This year, a third of the 15 million animals expected to go to slaughter will fatten up in the now-ubiquitous feedlots, three times as many as in 2001.
The Argentine government established export restrictions and price controls to keep beef prices artificially low, and a currency devaluation made exporters of cash crops more competitive. Agricultural subsidies also helped make corn feed affordable for cattlemen, allowing them to move their animals off the land. The combination of factors resulted in many farmers switching from cattle to crops over the past decade.
At the same time, Argentina, though a powerhouse in agriculture, has slipped from the dominant position it had long enjoyed in the international beef market. Once the No. 1 meat exporter, Argentina today is seventh. The vast majority of the meat it produces is consumed domestically; most of the rest is exported to Europe, elsewhere in South America and, to a lesser extent, the United States.
It's all enough to make an old gaucho grieve for the past -- but there are no laments in Rodrigo Troncoso's fashionable offices in Buenos Aires.
General manager of the Argentine Feedlot Chamber, Troncoso has a master's degree in agribusiness and travels to other major cattle-producing countries, including the United States, to study their latest techniques. Troncoso said he expects that more than 60 percent of Argentina's cattle will pass through feedlots in five years.
"I'm not a romantic," he said, referring to those who pine for the old days in cattle country. "Argentina sold this image to the world to position itself -- that was the '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s. But the reality is all the rest of the world went the other way."
From Australia to the United States, the world's top cattle producers have been penning up cattle for years. Troncoso said that if Argentina wants to take advantage of the world's growing appetite for meat, then it, too, must become a more efficient producer of beef.

Critics call the process unnatural, saying all mass-produced meat tastes the same.
"Of course, the taste is very different," said Claudio Schonfeld, a member of the Argentine Angus Association, considered among the most traditional of all the cattlemen's groups. "There's a lack of cholesterol in the meat because the cow that feeds on grass has to roam great distances to eat."
Feedlot beef tastes more like pork, said Luis Alberto Nieva, standing near a side of beef slowly roasting over a wood-burning fire outside his friend Leclercq's house. "Grass is the best feed for animals," Nieva said. "Corral meat tastes different. They give them many things to eat, and you don't know what they're giving them."
Few disagree as vehemently as Troncoso. He said that grass-fed beef will always have a market but that grain-fed meat looks more appealing and has a juicy, rich taste. "Who is to say what's natural and what's not natural?" Troncoso said. "What's natural is for a cow to grow, to reproduce and to die."
That's exactly what happens to the cattle at the Santa Maria feedlot here in Magdalena. Heifers and small bulls seven or eight months old are trucked in weighing about 400 pounds each, after having grazed on grass. Three months later, at 600 pounds but still young and tender, they are ready to be served up with a side of fries and a glass of the local Malbec. The remarkable growth is due to a high-energy, high-protein diet of wheat, corn and soy.
"This is a factory to produce meat," explained Sebastián Saparrat, the administrator, noting that 20,000 head of cattle are produced annually at Santa Maria.
Walking on a dirt road lined with pens, Saparrat recalled how he "felt bad" when he started working at Santa Maria nine years ago and saw cattle in corrals. But he said he has come to appreciate the efficiency of it all -- how 7,000 animals take up scarcely 12 acres. To grass-feed that many animals, he said, would require 13,000 acres.
"Today, it's impossible really to fatten up 7,000 cows in one place on grass," he said.
The cattle from Santa Maria, and many of those produced across this stretch of pampa, are then shipped off to the sprawling, 108-year-old Liniers cattle auction in a Buenos Aires barrio called Mataderos, "slaughterhouses" in Spanish. As many as 12,000 animals come through daily. Men representing local butchers stand on catwalks above the pens, buying animals that are slaughtered hours later. Increasingly the cattle come from feedlots, the buyers said.
Edgardo Zaldibar, 49, has worked at Liniers since he was 16, helping round up cattle on horseback. His father, 72, has worked in the market for 60 years, and his grandfather worked there, too. Zaldibar called himself a man of tradition but said he has no problem with the new trend -- he eats beef every day and likes the feedlot variety.
"This is modernity, I suppose," he said, taking a break from herding. "But I don't think that this is bad -- it's modernity, and you have to adapt yourself."

Forty years ago, men from Earth began for the first time to leave our home planet and journey to the moon.

From 1968 to 1972, NASA's Apollo astronauts tested out new spacecraft and journeyed to uncharted destinations.

It all started on May 25, 1961, when President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of sending astronauts to the moon before the end of the decade. Coming just three weeks after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space, Kennedy's bold challenge set the nation on a journey unlike any before in human history.

Eight years of hard work by thousands of Americans came to fruition on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module and took "one small step" in the Sea of Tranquility, calling it "a giant leap for mankind."

Six of the missions -- Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 -- went on to land on the moon, studying soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields and solar wind. Apollos 7 and 9 tested spacecraft in Earth orbit; Apollo 10 orbited the moon as the dress rehearsal for the first landing. An oxygen tank explosion forced Apollo 13 to scrub its landing, but the "can-do" problem solving of the crew and mission control turned the mission into a "successful failure."

Apollo 11 Moon Landing

First Moon Landing 1969

First Man Who Arrives at the Moon

June 2009

• Library News
  

• New Books
  
• Fiction


• Non-Fiction
  
• Suggested Readings
  
• Psychology: Children and Adolescence
  
• Listen and Learn English online
  
  
• Studying in the US: Writing College Papers


• Charlie Parker,1920-1955


• Short Story: 'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar
  Allan Poe

Library News

New Books
Fiction

Austen, Jane. Persuasion. -- New York : Oxford University Press,
1998. xlvi, 255 p. Read a review

Blackwood, Algernon. Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre. -- New
York : Book-of-the-Month Club, c1993. 400 p.Read a review

Crichton, Michael. Next [audiobook] : a Novel ; Performed by Dylan
Baker. -- Unabridged, mp3-cd ed. -- New York : Harper Collins, 2006. 2
sound discs (12 hr.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. Read a review

Dante Alighieri. The Inferno of Dante : a New Verse Translation
/ by Robert Pinsky ; illustrated by Michael Mazur. -- 1st ed. -- New York
: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994. xxiv, 427 p. Read a review

Grisham, John. The Broker [audiobook] : a Novel ; Read by Dennis
Boutsikaris. -- [Abridged ed.]. -- New York : Random House Audio, 2005.
5 sound discs (6 hr.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Read a review

Kristen Couse, Ed. Heart : Stories of Learning to Love Again.
-- New York : Marlowe & Co. and Balliett & Fitzgerald, 2001. viii, 296
p.

Read a review

NOTE: if you want to read the full list of new books, please,
write to ref1@bcl.edu.ar and we'll
send it to you.

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Non-Fiction

Diefendorf, Elizabeth, ed. The New York Public Library's Books of
the Century. -- New York : Oxford University Press, 1996. 229 p.Read a review

Grout, Pam. The 100 Best Vacations to Enrich your Life. -- Washington,
D.C. : National Geographic, c2007. 288 p. Read a review

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. -- Boston : Little, Brown and company,
1942. xiv, 497 p. Read a review

Leveen, Steve. The Little Guide to Your Well-read Life : How to Get
More Books in Your Life and More Life From Your Books. -- Delray Beach,
Fla. : Levenger Press, c2005. ix, 123 p.Read a review

Lewis, Daniel K. The History of Argentina. -- 1st Palgrave Macmillan
ed. -- New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. xvii, 214 p. Read a review

Oesterle, Dale A. Mergers and Acquisitions in a Nutshell. -- St
Paul, Minn. : West Group, 2001. xxxi, 299 p. -- (West nutshell series).
Read a review

NOTE: if you're interested in a book that the library doesn't
have, please, write to ref1@bcl.edu.ar
and make your suggestion. We'll keep it in mind and if the chance comes,
we'll buy it.

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Suggested Readings

This section shows interesting books that the library already has and that you may not know.

Psychology: Children and Adolescents

Brazelton, T. Berry. The Irreducible Needs of Children: What Every
Child Must Have to Grow, Learn and Flourish. -- Cambridge : Perseus
Books, 2000. 205 p.Read a review

De Villiers, Peter A. Early Language. -- Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard
University Press, c1979. 160 p. -- (The developing child). Read a review

Jessor, Richard. Beyond Adolescence: Problem Behavior and Young Adult
Development. -- Cambridge [England] : Cambridge University Press,
1991. xv, 312 p. Read a review

Sharron, Howard. Changing Children's Minds: Feuerstein's Revolution
in the Teaching of Intelligence. -- London : Souvenir Press (E & A),
1987. 336 p. Read a review

Stone, L. Joseph. Childhood and Adolescence: a Psychology of the Growing
Person. -- 5th ed. -- New York : Random House, c1984. xv, 638 p.

Sugarman, Susan. Piaget's Construction of the Child's Reality.
-- Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1987. vi, 258 p.Read a review

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Listen and Learn English Online

The Special English Web site is an excellent tool to practice and improve
your American English. Read along and listen to the audio report. At the
same time you will learn new information about a variety of subjects from
issues in the news to American history. Read more about the program.

Studying in the US: Writing College Papers

Academic writing in America means getting to the point quickly, stating
ideas clearly and supporting them with evidence. Read
and listen.

Charlie Parker,1920-1955

His Music Influenced Jazz During his Lifetime
and Even Today.Read and listen.

Short Story: 'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe

"True! Nervous -- very, very nervous I had been and am! But why
will you say that I am mad?" Read
and listen.

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We hope you've enjoyed this new issue of the Newsletter. Please, make any comments about it or the library. And don´t miss our blogs

Lincoln Center Library - ICANA
Address: 672 Maipú St - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Phone: +54 11 5382-1536
Hours: Mo-We: 10 am to 8 pm. Thu & Fri: 10 am to 6 pm.
Website: http://www.bcl.edu.ar/

General questions and renewals: informes@bcl.edu.ar
Reference: ref1@bcl.edu.ar

*Bringing people and information together for
a better life*

May 2009

• Library News
  New Online Catalog
  Database for English Teachers and Librarians





• New Books
  Fiction
  Non-Fiction
  
  
  
• Suggested Readings
  Musicians



"Autumn in New England"




• Listen and Learn English online
• Obama Pledges Major Investment in Scientific
  Research
  Foreign Student Series: Becoming a Fulbrighter
  The Line of Least Resistance, by Edith Wharton
  

Back to top »

Library News

New Online Catalog

We've got a brand new catalog! Although we believe it'll be easier to
use than the previous one, we'll need some feedback from you to
really know what could be right and wrong with it. So, please feel free
to do so! You can access through our website
or click in this link http://www.bcl.edu.ar/openbiblio/opac

Database for English Teachers and Libriarians

In this resource you can search articles on ESL and Library
Science that we look for and evaluate among many others on the internet.
What's more you can download them in your PC for free! Please,
visit our website or click on the
following link: http://www.bcl.edu.ar/spip

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New Books

Fiction

Barr, Nevada. Blind Descent: an Anna Pigeon Mystery. -- New York
: Avon Books, c1998. 372 p.

Dahl, Roald. Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories.

-- Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1985. 249 p.
Read a review




Hamilton, Jane. A Map of the World. -- 1st Anchor Books ed. --
New York : Anchor Books, 1995. 389 p.
Read a review

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. -- London
: David Campbell, 1995. 416 p.
Read a review

Return to the Twilight Zone / edited by Carol Serling. -- New
York : MJF Books, 1994. 336 p.
Read a review

Tyler, Anne. Back When We Were Grownups : a Novel. -- New York
: Ballantine Books, 2002. 273 p.
Read a review

NOTE: if you want to read the full list of new books, please, write to ref1@bcl.edu.ar and we'll send it to you.
Back to top »

Non-Fiction

The Dalai Lama. Ethics for the New Millennium. -- New York : Riverhead
Books, 1999. xiv, 237 p.

Read a review

Flannery, Tim. The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate
and What it Means for Life on Earth. -- 1st Grove Press ed. -- New
York : Grove Press, 2006. xiii, 359 p.
Read a review

Haugen, Peter. World History for Dummies. -- Foster City, CA :
Idg Books Worldwide, c2001. xxiv, 382

Read a review

Wilson, Jason. Buenos Aires: a Cultural and Literary Companion.
-- Oxford : Signal, 1999. xii, 249 p.
Read a review

Mühlberger, Richard. The Bible in Art: the New Testament. -- New
York : Portland House, 1990. 176 p.

Woodward, Bob. Bush at War. -- London : Pocket Books, 2003. 282 p
Read a review

NOTE: if you're interested in a book that the library doesn't have, please, write to ref1@bcl.edu.ar and make your suggestion. We'll keep it in mind and if the chance comes, we'll buy it.

Back to top »

Suggested Readings

This section shows interesting books that the library already has and
that you may not know.

Musicians

Collier, James Lincoln. Louis Armstrong : an American Success Story.
-- New York : Macmillan Pub. Co., c1985. 165 p.
Read a review

Craft, Robert. Stravinsky: Chronicle of a Friendship, 1948-1971.
-- 1st ed. -- New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1972,. xvi, 424, xvi p.
Read a review

Dylan, Bob. Classic Dylan: a Collection of all the Music from Four
Landmark Dylan albums : Arranged for Piano/vocal with Guitar Frames and
Full Lyrics. -- New York : Amsco Publications, c1991. 1 score (172 p.).
Read a review

Ewen, David. George Gershwin: un viaje a lo sublime. -- Madrid
: Mondadori, 1988. 555 p.

Hasse, John Edward. Beyond Category: the Life and Genius of Duke Ellington.
-- New York : Simon & Schuster, c1993. 479 p.
Read a review

Wooldridge, David. From the Steeples and Mountains: a Study of Charles
Ives. -- [1st ed.]. -- New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1974. x, 342 p.
Read a review

Back to top »

Listen and Learn English Online

The Special English Web site is an excellent tool to practice and improve
your American English. Read along and listen to the audio report. At the
same time you will learn new information about a variety of subjects from
issues in the news to American history.

Read more about the program.

Obama Pledges Major Investment in Scientific Research

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged a major investment in science
and technology, and announced what he called "the largest commitment to
scientific research and innovation in American history. Read and listen.

Foreign Student Series: Becoming a Fulbrighter

In part 21, we discuss the Fulbright Program, which offers opportunities
for students, scholars and teachers to come to the U.S. Read and listen.

The Line of Least Resistance, by Edith Wharton

Mister Mindon sat alone at the table in the garden.
He ate a small piece of meat and drank some mineral water.Read and listen.

Back to top »


We hope you've enjoyed this new issue of the
Newsletter. Please, make any comments about it or the library. And don´t miss our blogs

Lincoln Center Library - ICANA
Address: 672 Maipú St - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Phone: +54 11 5382-1536
Hours: Mo-We: 10 am to 8 pm. Thu & Fri: 10 am to 6 pm.
Website: http://www.bcl.edu.ar/
General questions and renewals: informes@bcl.edu.a
Reference: ref1@bcl.edu.ar

*Bringing people and information together for a better life*