Hernán Fontana’s farm, 400 agricultural and livestock hectares between Naschel and Tilisarao, some 500 meters before the start of the road that leads to Villa del Carmen and on Highway 55, is well defined by its owner: “It’s like a roller coaster ”, says this producer who is comfortably over six feet tall and manages just to get the most out of that piece of land. And he is right, because from the route the hills and lowlands can be clearly seen in a succession that reaches almost to the ravines of the Conlara River, which flows beyond into the San Felipe dam.
For those who comb gray hair, this conjunction of batches could well seem like those old magic carpets on which one could slide on a piece of burlap in the Cordoba summers back in the 70s and 80s, a constant ups and downs with different tonalities that They range from dark green to brown. A typical field of the semi-arid area of San Luis in which one must not err when planting or fertilizing, and if it is possible to use precision agriculture, because later it greatly influences the yields, which are always adjusted and very dependent on the weather.
He has 50 hectares of alfalfa and as the business has been closing well, he hopes to be able to expand to 120 in a year and a half.
To get to the house, which can be clearly seen because there is a leafy grove around it, you have to leave the highway at the height of the hermitage and go along a dirt road that this year has sunflowers on the right side, a crop that was not seen He made many campaigns in the Valle del Conlara and in San Luis in general. They are not from Hernán, but from his neighbor, he is more dedicated to putting together a forage chain that supports his cattle work, something that is still in full swing.
But since he works alone, advised of course by an agricultural engineer and a veterinarian who come by from time to time, the times are not the same as in larger establishments. Here is all the personal effort of the protagonist, who, despite the climatic punishment, is very enthusiastic about the gigantic task that he undertook when he decided to follow what his father had started many years ago.
“My father bought this field in 1986. He is a veterinarian, so meat production has always been his passion. I did not get a university degree, but I studied high school in an agrotechnic and I was always involved in rural tasks,” says Fontana, who was born 42 years ago in General Cabrera, the city of Cordoba that is the national capital of peanut production. . He was the only one who followed in the footsteps of his father Jorge, because his other three brothers did not want to have anything to do with the field.
“He dedicated himself to pigs, then these lands were rented for a few years, until I decided to start full production and then I came to San Luis, where things did not go well for me at first,” acknowledges Hernán, recalling that he started with agriculture and the numbers did not close him anywhere. “I had no experience, the weather was bad and I lost. That is why I started with the cows, which is always a more stable business”, he assures.
Before agriculture and cattle breeding, he was a basketball player until his body told him enough. “In the National League I played in Quilmes de Mar del Plata and in the National Promotion Tournament in a team from Santa Rosa, in La Pampa. But I did a good part of my career in Italy, in Calabria, Sicily and Rome”, he reviews his relationship with the orange ball.
Already installed in Naschel and overcome the first setbacks, he started with livestock, with cattle and some sheep and goats. “In the end I kept the cows and left the small cattle because I couldn’t handle everything, I was left alone in the pandemic, the few employees I had didn’t come back and the work was overwhelming,” laments Fontana, who took the job anyway. pleasure to this somewhat hermit life, in which she sees her children from time to time since Emma (12 years old) and Pedro (8) live with their mother in Río Cuarto.
A choco that bites the shoelaces hard is his everyday company, although he is very sociable, so much so that he does not miss training on pastures or animal husbandry and has a very good relationship with other producers, especially since the Government of San Luis promoted the Alfalfa Plan, something that has him very enthusiastic.
In addition, he is in a Rural Change group, in which he is particularly studying some secrets of how to obtain more dry matter and reach 70 rations per hectare with wheatgrass, the service crop that is the basis of his forage production.
The stability of alfalfa
“It is a very useful service that Alfazal provides to small producers. I have a rake and a mower, I need a baler, but their technicians come to the field to make the cuts and assemble the bales, so I can market my production without problems. They charge me with alfalfa, 50% of what they cut. And another part I sell privately to make pellets and I leave some stubble because they are new batches. For now the quality is only for the domestic market, but with more experience we will see if it reaches the percentage of protein that is needed to export”, he proposes.
He has 50 hectares of alfalfa and as the business has been closing well, he hopes to expand to 120 in a year and a half. He will take them from a portion of the field that he has rented and planted with corn: “I am going to recover 100 hectares for alfalfa, because it has good napa,” he says. He is testing a variety from Group 6 and says that it gives him good flexibility, “because he holds up if the machine is late in arriving. I tried one from Group 8 and it didn’t work.”
The particularity of Fontana is its commitment to wheatgrass to form part of the forage chain and to have food within reach in autumn and spring, which is when this pasture is best expressed. “The wheatgrass has been in a salt flat for years where it would be difficult for anything else to grow,” he says. He gives him half of what his fodder chain needs, for the other part he bets on the weeping grass that he has just broadcast on some corn stubble, when the rainwater makes a convincing appearance. “It complements perfectly with the wheatgrass, it would be ready for next summer if everything goes well,” she confidently predicts.
The other pillar of its production is the Voising system, that is, the rotation it makes so that the farm eats evenly and the pastures can recover. “I set up small plots, 0.5 and 1.5 hectares, where the larger ones stay for a maximum of three days and do not return to that plot for a minimum period of three months. There I have 60 mothers and I breed and rear with good numbers, I would tell you that they are surprising, ”she says proudly, while in the background a chorus of moos is heard in stereo. On the one hand, of the recently weaned calves, who ask for their mothers. And about 200 meters beyond those mothers, who have only been without their young for 24 hours and still miss them. “One or two more days and they forget,” reassures Hernán, who already knows the process by heart.
Those recently weaned calves are also fast learners to eat. First an alfalfa with corn and then a special supplement. “Now they can be heard mooing and it’s okay for that to happen, this reaction to stress is sought so that they react and start eating by themselves,” explains the Cordovan producer.
Some years he also fattened in a corral, but he left it because they did not give the numbers, something that is very common to hear today in the Argentine countryside because wintering is very expensive, corn too; and the sale of the fat for slaughter does not compensate those costs. “It is a huge risk, people are needed, to build an infrastructure with herdsmen and, in my case, to buy the corn, because I am not producing. It is not business”, certifies the Naschel producer.
After the rearing process, he sells the animals at the fair organized by Travaglia in La Toma or privately in the field, something that allows him to lower costs. If the year is bad due to the drought and there is a lack of pasture, the calves will come out earlier, but the commitment to wheatgrass gives him some peace of mind that he can withstand the onslaught of the weather and close the business when he considers the best time to be.
Water is a problem in the area. “I have a drilling, a well and a pump with a mill, but it is very salty, impossible for humans to drink. The animals drink it without problems, but I have to make it drinkable,” she says.
Good production rates
The positive numbers that Fontana was referring to have to do with the pregnancy and weaning rates, which are very high because it is a small producer with little financial backing. “I have been doing fixed-time artificial insemination for two years, with which I achieved a 50% pregnancy, after the review with bulls, in a three-month stationary service, allowed me to reach 85%”, he lists, and it shows that you are satisfied. The semen is from pure Angus from Ciale, specifically from the bull Caticho, although sometimes he also resorts to smaller cabins.
“I like to simplify jobs, establish routines that work well. That is why I try to have seasonality in everything, both in the forage chain and when setting sales”, he assures. Weaning is quite early, at three months, partly because the rains are slow in this area of the Conlara Valley, much drier than Tilisarao to the north. The calves leave with 110 or 120 kilos, and the cow is in good condition to look for another pregnancy. You are going to see some calves still at the foot of the mothers in the other batch, but they are the calving queue and need a little more time”, she completes.
The 60 cows were inseminated on November 15 and the bulls, one red and one black Angus, came in 15 days later and will still be in the breeding season until February. “I like the colorado better, but I like more that the cow gives me a calf per year, so the color thing becomes relative,” he jokes with a wink, while in the distance a bull sniffs to see if he can get on or not to a cow that calmly grazes the wheatgrass.
In a separate batch are the replacement heifers, which will enter service at 24 months, back in November of this year. It is striking that they have their own watering holes. “It is designed on purpose so that the manure and urine remain in the plot, as a way of replenishing nutrients,” says Fontana, who has the mothers and calves that were calving tails in a separate lot.
“Without a complete forage chain, which also covers the winter, it is difficult to maintain the cow, which must eat, feed the calf and go into heat again, it requires a lot of energy,” he acknowledges, adding that the secret is “in a good handling.”
The field has pending tasks and Fontana knows them: “We need a curtain for the wind, I have to reforest with some poplars. And also more shade if that infernal heat of early January returns, which forced me to supplement with rolls.”
And there he goes with his obligations in tow and his permanent smile, happy with the decision made to take charge of that field that meant a lot in his adolescence and to which he now puts all the effort to get ahead with no more help than his enthusiasm. unlimited.
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