Africa-Press – Angola. A large-scale project aimed at raising cattle is being born in the Soqueco region, in the municipality of Cacuso, in Malanje.
The farm, called “Terras de Koló”, has a total area of 20 thousand hectares, of which 3 thousand and 200 are for tame and native pasture, having created 22 parks of 400 hectares called modules and a handling sleeve in the quite.
Currently, according to the field manager, Sebastião José Filho, there are 800 animals accounted for, 90 percent of which are of the Nelore breed, which also includes other breeds such as Gujarat, Brama, Gir and Canchim, all of Brazilian origin.
The project started with 6,000 animals, many of which perished due to adaptation problems and other local setbacks.
He mentioned that in the beginning, they did not have conditions, “today we have all the conditions. We will cover more conditions. Today we have tank-toilets to carry out management as it should be, this we did not have in the past”, he said.
He referred that for the raising of cattle, conditions are necessary such as an area for pasture, mango for the treatment of animals, vaccination, baths, “because in that region, the tick is very violent. Today we have our units and we have toilet tanks that allow us to do the job as it should be”, he said.
He said that they registered the death of some cattle in the region, because there are toxic plants in the area reserved for pasture, “that is why we are demanding clean pasture so that we do not have this type of problem. There are times that we register the death of between two and three animals, but lately we don’t have them, because now we are raising cattle on clean pasture treatment that is being done, is having its effects”, he added.
During the dry season, there is no problem in feeding the animals, as a pasture area has been created. From Brazil, a variety of grass also came “and then, we left the park with a “buxa”, adequate ration for the dry period”, he highlighted.
Slaughter and sale of animals
Sebastião Filho said that the Treasury Department intends to have between 2,000 and fifth parent stock. “It is our intention to confine here so that we can have between 5 and 6 thousand head. Our intention is to implement the slaughter policy. I believe that by the end of next year, we will already have oxen for sale here. We are organizing ourselves to at the end of the year we will have cattle here for slaughter”, he announced.
Our interlocutor recognized that it is not easy to raise cattle in the region given the lack of certain conditions.
The conditions essentially involve a Manga de Manejo to bathe the animals, comply with vaccination, pasture management, with the breeding season, among others.
To ensure the stability of the animals, Sebastião Filho assured that the farm has a water tank, a reservoir, a solar panel, a hole that sends water to the reservoir that then descends by gravity to the animals’ drinking troughs, among others.
With 90 Angolan workers, 5 expatriates, including three Brazilians, two Portuguese and one Filipino, the farm is already thinking about raising goats, which currently has 301 animals as well as 160 pigs.
“We are creating structures to increase the number of animals here. It is our intention to have cattle, goats and pigs for slaughter”, he explained.
Bet on vegetables
At the “Terras de Koló” farm, we are not only talking about raising cattle. At that moment, we are already thinking about implementing a vegetable project that will include cabbage, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and carrots.
The person responsible for production, Ricardo Mesquita, told our reporter that the work will be carried out in terms of an open field regime with irrigation.
“We also have the greenhouse part, we have to significantly increase the greenhouse part in order to be able to create the dimension that we have on the farm in terms of consumption.
The farm, in turn, has a fruit-growing area whose implementation began six years ago with citrus fruits, including lemon, orange, tangerine, bread and table bananas. “Now we are significantly increasing that area. It is still in the project, we are thinking between 20 and 50 hectares”, he said.
Ricardo Mesquita added that one hectare was reserved where the idea goes to size the area with other varieties, among them, papaya, passion fruit and silver banana.
With regard to cereals, “we are working now, we are setting up the first pivots. We are going to set up one or two more pivots in the short term to produce silage for cattle, because we are going to enter the confinement system soon, as , is the basis of food in confinement”, he explained.
Our interlocutor explained, on the other hand, that the implementation of another project related to the culture of coffee is underway. “We already have some seedlings that we are going to start this year and for next year we will end up with an area of 50 hectares.
“We also have a project that is going to be important, which is the raising of pigs. We have already made crosses with the species from here and we have already created a structure for a slightly larger pig that we are going to work with in a field system, with all the the rigor in line with the seasons, rearing, with the part of the maternity wards and then we will have the field system where we will have the pastures with seasonal grass so that they can walk freely”, he maintained.
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