CHAPTER III
STOCK-RAISING
The transformation of the; old “estancia”—The principal stock-raising establishments: description, extent, number of heads of cattle and favorite breeds—The great “estancias” of the South and Patagonia.
Approximate area of the soil devoted to cattle and sheep; general estimate of the numbers of cattle and sheep—Results of the census of 1908—The capital represented by Argentine stock-raising.
Having spoken of agriculture and its future, we must mention another industry, which is the second source of national wealth—the pastoral industry.
As a result of the rapid rise in the value of land, and the multiplication and selection of animals, the old form of Argentine stock-raising is undergoing, at the present time, a profound modification throughout the country. The traditional ranch or estancia, on which the animals browsed at will on vast prairies enclosed by wire fences, exposed to all the variations of the weather and all the vicissitudes of the temperature, feeding only on the grass of their pastures. This old type of estancia is gradually disappearing; is undergoing a transformation into carefully-managed farms, on which artificial prairies are constructed; farms with lucerne fields of 12,000, 25,000 or 50,000 acres, surfaces difficult for a European to conceive.[53]
[53] A field of 12,000 acres would be, for instance, 4 miles wide and over 41⁄2 miles long; one of 25,000 acres, 6 miles wide and 61⁄2 miles long; one of 50,000 acres, 7 miles wide and 11 miles long.—[Trans.]
The science of pedigree herds and the culture of carefully-enclosed pastures have created, says a distinguished writer, the true pastoral industry, in which stables and barns and sheds take the place of the ancient “corral.”[54] The wealthy owner drives from the railway station to his estancia
in a carriage; the old rustic ranch-house is transformed into a true country-house, sometimes a veritable château, with a park and gardens. There are estancias within a hundred leagues of Buenos Ayres which we remember as desert country in the power of the Indians, where now traps and carriages of English type are seen crossing the plains, where folk dine in evening dress in luxurious homes. The European stock-breeders have driven back the Gaucho to the great estates on the borders of the desert.
[54] Cf. Costumbres y Creencias populares de las Provincias Argentines: A lecture by M. P. Groussac at the World’s Congress at Chicago, June the 4th, 1893; published in La Nacion of the 23rd of October 1893.
Nothing would be more difficult—and for our part we renounce the task—than to say which are the first stock-raising establishments of the Republic; whether by reason of their extent, the numbers and the breed of their animals, or the magnificent dwellings of their owners. Establishments of this type are to be counted by hundreds, by thousands.
Nevertheless—though exposed to the danger of falling into inevitable errors or omissions, for lack of precise information—we must not forget to mention the Estancia San Juan, founded by Señor Leonard Pereyra, at a distance of 25 miles from Buenos Ayres, and a mile and a half from the La Plata, and consisting of over 40 square miles of meadows in full luxuriance. Then there is the Estancia San Jacinto, belonging to Señor Hugel T. de Alvear, an establishment reputed as one of the foremost in the country, which embraces an area of 244 square miles, or about one-third the area of the county of Surrey. Of this enormous area some 64 square miles are under lucerne, and support 100,000 Durham cattle, 100,000 Lincoln sheep, and 10,000 horses.
The Estancia la Gloria of Santamarina & Sons, situated at Laprida, in the Province of Buenos Ayres, comprises 145 square miles, and supports 20,000 cattle and 60,000 sheep.
Another establishment, which might be taken as a model, is the Estancia San Martin, the property of Señor Vincent L. Casares; which is situated at Cañuelas, and covers an area of some 30 square miles. The specialities of this establishment are the breeding of draught-horses—Morgans, Hackneys, Shires and Clydesdales; the breeding of cattle—Durhams, Holsteins and Swiss—of which the finest individuals are kept for breeding, and the second-grade animals fattened for export; the keeping and selling of bulls of the three
varieties named for general breeding purposes; and finally the breeding of pedigree rams of the Lincoln and Negrete breeds, and also of pure cross-breeds and of pure-blooded Yorkshire pigs. The horses from this estancia have a merited fame throughout the Argentine, and are even beginning to be known abroad.
A portion also of this estancia is an establishment known as La Martona, which alone supplies three-quarters of the milk consumed in Buenos Ayres, and which also manufactures butter for home consumption and for export.
Another of the great stock-raising establishments of the Republic is the Señor Carlos Casares’ Estancia Huetel, about 150 miles from Buenos Ayres, on the Southern Railway. It occupies an area of some 240 square miles, all enclosed by wire fencing, and divided into forty-two stock-raising establishments, with fifty-seven shepherds’ houses and five managers’ houses. This establishment contains about 62,000 Durham cattle, 87,000 Lincoln sheep, with pedigree rams, imported or born on the estancia, and 4200 Clydesdale horses, draught-horses and saddle-horses. About 11,000 acres are sown with lucerne, and 5000 with maize, wheat, oats and linseed. There are fifty-six or more imported bulls, and notably one of the finest of his race, the celebrated Aguinaldo, winner of the first prize awarded by the Agricultural Society.
The park of this estancia draws the attention of visitors; it is 500 acres in extent, and contains some 520,000 forest trees, 870,000 shrubs, and 35,000 young trees. The total number of trees on the estate is over 2 millions.
There is a school on the estate, all the expenses of which are paid by the proprietor.
The Estancia San Jacinto, owned by Señor Saturnin J. Unzue, also merits a special description. It is a few hours distant from Buenos Ayres, and covers an area of some 55 square miles. It supports 10,000 cattle and 30,000 sheep. On this estancia the Durhams have been brought to a great pitch of perfection. The stud is famous for its saddle-horses, and contains 140 pedigree animals, imported or born in the country.
Las Palmas, belonging to Colonel Alfred T. Urquiza, would figure as a model establishment in any country in the
world. In the Province of Buenos Ayres, in which it is situated, it would be difficult to find a pedigree stock-raising establishment so well organised, and so well adapted to its purpose. The estate consists of some 4000 acres, overlooking the majestic Parana de las Palmas, with its green islands, which reach as far as the Rio de la Plata. Here about 3000 beasts are annually fattened for export. The cattle are shorthorns, and the horses Hackneys.
Yet another establishment, which must be reckoned one of the best in the Argentine, is the Cabaña San Gregorio, belonging to Señor Gregorio Villafañe; an Argentine who in strict justice ought to be mentioned as one of the first breeders in the country, on account of the intelligent efforts and pecuniary expenditure devoted by him to improving the breeds of cattle, sheep, and horses, during many years of personal labour.
Señor Villafañe’s establishment is not of very great extent, its area being only 18,000 acres, but is notable for the great number of its pedigree cattle and the purity of type to be observed in his sheep. He devotes himself chiefly to breeding Durham and Hereford bulls, Lincoln rams, Hackney and Clydesdale stallions, collie dogs, fox-terriers, Brahma fowls, Catalans, Dorkings, and Plymouth Rocks.
We must also mention the Estancia San Pascual del Moro, the property of Señors Adolfo and Rufino Luro. It is famous for its stud of race-horses, from which issued, in 1904, the great winner of the season, Old Man.
This long list of breeding establishments would still be incomplete indeed, did we fail to make special mention of the Estancia Chapadmatal of Señor M.-A. Martinez de Hoz, who has made the greatest efforts to raise his establishment to the level of the best European models.
“Equal to the best in Europe,” was the judgment of a competent and impartial observer, Colonel Holdich, who, in his last book, entitled Los Paises del Fallo del Rey, bestows upon it this well-merited praise:—
“A well-known estancia, that of Señor Michel-Alfred Martinez de Hoz, near the Mar del Plata, surprised me by the singular character of its surroundings. The soil, with its irregularities, had the look of an English park. Little
hills and knolls, one after another, stretched away, covered with their golden harvest, with soft undulations, to the precipitous borders of the sea; instead of the eternal barbed-wire fence, living hedges were already springing up, dividing the fields and the pastures. On the highest hillocks rose stacks of oats, carried up from the fields in the high-wheeled wagons characteristic of the country-side; and there the stacks were being rapidly built by hand-labour. It was a beautiful rustic scene.
“Lower to the right, on the softer soil by the banks of a stream, which descended babbling to the sea, through beds of rushes and buttercups, was a pasture; here, standing in the branches of the bank, were the Shire horses; they formed animated groups, and placidly watched our movements; they were the most magnificent examples to be found out of Lincolnshire. Further down still, on drier soil, was a troop of mares, of an English-Creole cross, with their foals. These animals were for draught, and the excellence of their breeding is proved by the registers of the Argentine Rural Society, which record the prizes awarded to the Estancia Chapadmatal.
“In a higher part of the estate, in a quarter reached through long avenues of poplars, which lead thither from the house, and where the ground is covered with forests of eucalyptus or willows, are the bulls and cows. The Argentine stock-breeder does not consider expense when it is a matter of importing good English cattle for breeding purposes. The chief estancia has a series of breeding bulls, which are led before the visitor, each by his special keeper, with the same pomp and ceremony as the stallions which precede them in the brilliant review. It is not only near the capital and the principal centres of population that we find these model estancias, which afford their owners every European comfort. They are to be found also in the extreme south of the country, in the solitudes of Patagonia, near the 50th degree of south latitude.”[55]
[55] Cf. Annales de la Sociedad Rural Argentina, No. 4, 30th April 1902, p. 159.
“From the River Coyle, from Puerto Gallegos and Magellan Straits, to a point near Last Hope,” says an Argentine traveller, Mr George J. M’Lean, who visited these
regions a few years ago, “the country is fairly peopled, and one comes across estancias, such as El Condor, the property of Messrs Wood & Waldron, an establishment of 337,500 acres, with a wire-fenced enclosure containing 160,000 sheep, equipped with forty steam shearers, with hydraulic presses, and sheep-dips warmed by steam calorifier. It is a common thing to find estancias, many of which are fenced with wire, feeding 40,000, 60,000 or 70,000 sheep. The most important are united by telephone, by which means they communicate not only with each other, but with Puerto Gallegos or Punta Arenas. I have spoken down these over a distance of 300 miles. In the Chilian portion of Tierra del Fuego, there is a telephone connecting Cape Dungeness with Punta Arenas, and also to the channels of Last Hope.”
In the Territory of Santa Cruz is the Estancia San Julian, belonging to the San Julian Sheep Company. This “estancia” has an area of 296,000 acres—462·5 square miles—and contains 70,000 sheep, with an annual yield of 90 per cent. of lambs, or 63,000.
In the same Territory is another very prominent estancia, the property of the Patagonian Sheep and Farming Company Limited. This embraces an area of 471,000 acres—734 square miles—the area of a medium-sized English county.
Finally, in the same Territory is a vast property of 700,000 acres—1060 square miles—belonging to the Bank of Antwerp.
In the Territory of Chubut, which for some years has been a favourite locality for European capital and European immigrants, and which contains a large French colony, there is a very important estancia belonging to the Lochiel Sheep Farming Company Limited, which covers an area of 327,000 acres, and contains 35,000 sheep.
Another foreign company established in the southern part of the Argentine, “The Argentine Southern Land Company,” possesses 1,518,000 acres of land, of which 859,000 are in the Territory of Rio Negro, and 659,000 in that of Chubut. This company was established in 1899, with a capital of £230,000, later reduced, on account of business misfortunes, to £140,000, which is the present capital. On this company’s
lands are 45,000 cattle, 40,000 sheep, and 4300 horses.
In all these establishments, and in many others which we are unable to cite, as it is difficult to obtain precise information concerning them, we find that, thanks to the intelligent efforts of their owners in seeking to import the best breeds of the most famous European breeding establishments, there are now many stallions, bulls, and rams of the purest blood and of great value, which are either imported or selected; and through these the general stock of the country has reached a very high quality of race.
All stock-breeders, even the smallest, are aware to-day of the great advantages to be obtained by crossing selected animals with sires of pure blood, and the result has been a great advance in the stock-raising industry. The statistics of importation show that in nine years, from 1899 to 1907, plus eleven months of 1908, there have entered the country from England, where the Argentine breeder usually seeks his stud animals, 10,040 bulls and cows, and 35,094 sheep. These two figures alone show the importance which the Argentine breeder attaches to the improvement of the breed of his flocks and herds. The prices paid for these animals are sometimes extravagant; in one case £3520 was paid for a bull; but land-owners willingly pay such sums in the certainty that such sires will bring them considerable profits.
The area at the disposal of the Argentine stock-raiser is still practically unlimited. We need only remember that of the 750 millions of acres which roughly represent the area of the Argentine soil, one-half, or some 375 millions of acres, are adapted to stock-raising.
Of this enormous area some 185 millions might be sown at once with cereals and fodder, notably in the coast Provinces, in Córdoba, and the Pampa, and there remains as much more for stock-raising, without taking into account the millions of animals that might be nourished by intensive culture in the cultivated zone. This extension would allow of the existence of 40 million cattle and 200 million sheep.
Results of the Census of Stock taken in 1908
What is the amount of stock at present in the Argentine Republic? We are in a position to answer this question, one of the present writers, Señor A. B. Martinez, having been appointed Director of the last agricultural and pastoral census, which was taken during the first fortnight of May 1908, according to a law passed by Congress. The work which sums up the results of this important undertaking is in three volumes, and is at present in the press; thanks to which fortunate circumstance we are able to anticipate its publication, and to give our readers the benefit of this investigation.
The census of agriculture and stock-raising, undertaken over the entire territory of the Republic, has revealed the existence in Argentine territory of 29,116,625 cattle, 7,531,376 horses, 465,037 mules, 285,000 asses, 67,211,754 sheep, 3,945,086 goats and 1,403,591 swine.
If we compare these results with those of the two previous censuses, that of 1888 and that of 1895, we obtain the following table:—
| Census. | Cattle. | Horses. | Sheep. | Swine. |
| 1888 | 21,963,930 | 4,262,917 | 66,701,097 | 403,203 |
| 1895 | 21,701,326 | 4,445,859 | 74,379,562 | 652,766 |
| 1908 | 29,116,625 | 7,531,376 | 67,211,754 | 1,403,591 |
We see from these figures that in twenty years, between 1888 and 1908, the number of cattle has increased by 7,152,695 head; and in thirteen years, between 1895 and 1908, by 7,415,099 head. The number of horses has increased by 3,268,459 between 1888 and 1908, and by 3,085,517 between 1895 and 1908. Sheep have increased by 510,657 between 1888 and 1908, but decreased by 7,167,808 between 1895 and 1908. Swine, far from numerous if we compare their numbers with these obtained from other countries, present a continual increase: 1,000,388 between 1888 and 1908, and 750,825 between 1895 and 1908.
The decrease of 700,000 in the numbers of sheep in thirteen years is in keeping with what has been observed in the principal wool-producing countries. Authorities assure us
that of the 400 millions of sheep which existed in various parts of the world in 1873, there remain to-day barely 300 millions. In Germany, for instance, to go by the Journal des Économistes, the number of sheep has dropped from 19 millions to 7 millions in a space of twenty-five years.
The causes of this constant diminution are numerous. First of all we will take the development of agriculture, which has expelled the sheep. According to an eminent collaborator in the census, “The sheep has to walk, must walk far and wide, must walk always, in order to eat sufficiently—unless he does so, his food will be too costly; he is essentially a vagabond, and he consequently requires a great space and continual supervision.”[56] For these reasons the European small farmer prefers, if he can, to keep one or two cows in his cow-shed and suppress the sheep entirely.
[56] Probably the sheep would pay better if kept more as cattle are kept. The theory of long marches only applies to enormous flocks, so thick upon the ground that they must walk miles a day, eating all the time. If the whole herd of sheep on a large sheep-farm were divided into many small flocks, and the farm into, say, ten times as many pastures, each flock might be turned for two days into each pasture, so that it would have three weeks’ growth on it before the flock returned: or, if large enough to feed the sheep twenty days, it would have twenty weeks in which to recover—time to grow a crop of leguminous fodder, after which a splendid crop, or series of crops, of cereals could be grown upon it. Under such a system the sheep would wander less, fatten quickly and be more tender. English sheep-farming is on an infinitesimal scale, but the profits from a small flock changed from pasture to pasture are often very considerable.—[Trans.]
Sheep-breeding really gives encouraging results in regions where the area of the soil and the prairies is out of all proportion to the number of labourers available for its culture. Land given up to sheep cannot support the high rents paid by the producers of cereals; this is the principal cause of the decline of sheep-farming all the world over.[57]
[57] Other causes are: the invention of mixtures of cotton and wool; the use of silk and mercerised cotton; and the production of cellular or netted cotton and linen underclothing, which is healthier and cheaper than wool, and equally warm; also the improvement of wool-bearing breeds, through which fewer sheep will produce the same quantity of wool. The export of cheap beef from America is another active factor.—[Trans.]
The following table gives the total number of beasts of various kinds, classed according to purity of breed:—
| Species. | Pure. | Cross-bred. | Native. | Total. |
| Cattle | 984,897 | 13,060,446 | 13,071,282 | 29,116,625 |
| Horses | 49,000 | 1,693,037 | 5,788,739 | 7,331,376 |
| Mules | — | — | 465,037 | 465,037 |
| Asses | — | — | 285,088 | 285,088 |
| Sheep | 1,179,482 | 55,448,749 | 10,583,523 | 67,311,754 |
| Goats | 3,321 | 129,800 | 3,816,965 | 3,945,086 |
| Swine | 34,462 | 589,126 | 780,003 | 1,403,591 |
In the matter of cross-breeding the Argentine has made astonishing progress, the proof of which is to be found in the comparison of the figures for 1895 with those of 1908. It is enough, for our purpose, to mention that in 1895, in the Province of Buenos Ayres, out of 100 cattle, 6 per cent. were of pure blood: 49·2 per cent. were cross-bred, and 50·2 per cent. were of native breeds; and that thirteen years later these figures were transformed into 6·2 per cent. of pure blood, 85·1 per cent. of cross-bred cattle, and 8·7 per cent. of native breeds. This improvement in the Province of Buenos Ayres is repeated in the other more productive Provinces, and in the case of other species of animals.
We have stated that the number of cattle in the Argentine Republic is over 29 millions; this number may be analysed, according to sex, age, etc., in the following manner:—
Year 1908.
| Male calves | 3,820,443 |
| Heifers | 3,511,412 |
| Bulls | 886,450 |
| Bullocks | 4,687,027 |
| Cows for breeding | 12,825,904 |
| Milch cows | 2,163,900 |
| Oxen | 1,221,489 |
| ————— | |
| 29,116,025 | |
| ————— |
It now remains to consider the value of the animals registered as existing in the Republic in the year of census 1908.
In 1895 this value was estimated at 1,136,780,411 piastres (paper), which with the exchange at 300 per cent. was equivalent to 378,926,803 piastres (or dollars) in gold, or £75,785,360, 12s., while the latest census gives a value of 1,481,282,245
piastres in paper, which with exchange at 2·27, is equivalent to 651,764,187 piastres in gold, or £130,352,835.
If now we analyse these figures, dividing them among the various species of animals, as given by the censuses of 1895 and that of 1908, we obtain the following table:—
| Species. | 1895. | 1903. |
| Cattle | £44,568,493 | £82,604,353·4 |
| Horses | 5,099,281·4 | 18,112,761·4 |
| Mules | 666,159·6 | 1,985,374·6 |
| Asses | 131,914 | 251,235 |
| Sheep | 24,525,101 | 25,287,598·6 |
| Goats | 389,139 | 732,322 |
| Swine | 405,272 | 1,379,192 |
| —————— | —————— | |
| £75,785,360 | £130,352,837 |
We see from this that, in spite of the moderate valuation of the stock in 1908, its value had increased, in thirteen years, by nearly £54,600,000.
Knowing the numbers and the value of the live stock of the Argentine Republic, a last question arises of the highest interest. What place does the Argentine hold among those nations in which stock-raising has reached its highest development?
To answer these questions, we have resorted to the most authoritative publications available, with the result that we are enabled to draw up the following table:—
| Species. | ||||
| States. | Cattle. | Horses. | Sheep. | Swine. |
| The Argentine Republic | 29,116,625 | 7,531,376 | 67,833,112 | 1,403,501 |
| The United States | 69,438,758 | 21,216,888 | 61,837,112 | 64,694,222 |
| Canada | 5,376,451 | 1,577,493 | 2,510,239 | 2,353,828 |
| Australia | 9,349,409 | 1,765,186 | 83,687,653 | 813,569 |
| Cape Colony | 2,000,000 | 300,000 | 11,800,000 | 400,000 |
| India, Burmah, E. Indies, etc. | 91,700,000 | 1,300,000 | 18,000,000 | — |
| European Russia | 39,000,000 | 22,600,000 | 42,900,000 | 11,200,000 |
| Germany | 20,600,000 | 4,300,000 | 7,700,000 | 22,100,000 |
| France | 14,000,000 | 3,200,000 | 17,500,000 | 700,000 |
| Austria | 9,500,000 | 1,600,000 | 2,000,000 | 4,700,000 |
| Great Britain | 7,000,000 | 1,600,000 | 25,400,000 | 2,700,000 |
This table shows us that, in the matter of cattle, the Argentine Republic holds the third rank; it is also in the third rank in the matter of horses; in the second rank in the
matter of sheep; and in the matter of swine she holds one of the lowest ranks.
If we compare the Argentine with the United States in particular, the contrast is striking; while in North America the value of all bestial reaches the colossal sum of £664,800,000, in Argentina it amounts only to £130,400,000, distributed as follows:—
| Numbers. | Values. | |||
| Species. | United | Argentine | United | Argentine |
| States. | Republic. | States. | Republic. | |
| Cattle | 69,438,758 | 29,116,625 | £315,660,088 | £82,604,353 |
| Horses | 21,216,888 | 7,531,376 | 218,601,571 | 18,112,761 |
| Sheep | 61,837,112 | 67,211,754 | 35,571,250 | 25,287,598 |
| Asses | 111,450 | 285,088 | 1,412,307 | 251,235 |
| Mules | 3,445,029 | 465,037 | 43,239,035 | 1,985,374 |
| Swine | 64,094,222 | 1,403,581 | 49,657,202 | 1,379,192 |
| Goats | 1,949,005 | 3,945,086 | 707,865 | 732,322 |
Consequently the Argentine is far from achieving the wonderful results obtained by the great northern Republic of America;[58] for that matter, she could not compare with the States, having only 6,000,000 inhabitants to the latter’s 86,000,000; and her wealth is equivalent only to a small fraction of the colossal wealth of the States. Yet an examination of the above figures is encouraging, for in view of the progress accomplished before the previous census, the Argentine may justly regard her flocks and herds with pride, and continue to increase them, thanks to her climate, the fertility of her soil, and the energy of her inhabitants.
[58] It must be remembered that of two beasts of equal purity of breed, and in perfect condition, the Argentine would be reckoned as being of the lower value. The reason of this is economic and very simple. The Argentine bullock is affected by competition and pays tribute to the breeder, the railway company, the refrigerating company, the shipping line, the European buyer or salesman, and the retail salesman. Consequently it is worth less in the Argentine than in the States, where the selling-price is artificially inflated, and where the value of a beast to the breeder, since he has only to pay freight and the profit of a large company, which is sometimes the breeder and the railway company too, is naturally far greater. It must not therefore be supposed that because the Argentine horse or bullock is cited as of lower value, that it is inferior. Its value is lower, just as good land in the Argentine is cheaper than in New York State.—[Trans.]