Nuffield #18 Chile
I’m writing this from Santiago airport (specifically, from the McDonald’s cafe, where I am waiting for a latte- classy) after a brilliant week in the wonderful country that is Chile. This has been probably my busiest Nuffield week in terms of visits and meeting people, so the whole trip is going to be one post.
Why Chile?
The first question to answer is probably “why Chile?” For a dairy based Nuffield Scholarship it may not seem the most obvious place to visit, especially as many people I’ve spoken to associate Chile with the Atacama desert and the Andes, and so don’t associate it with the more water reliant agricultural sectors.
Chile wasn’t on my initial list of places to visit. I wanted to visit at least one country that wasn’t a typical Nuffield destination- somewhere that wasn’t Canada, New Zealand, or Australia. While the Scandinavian countries- which don’t have a Nuffield network and generally aren’t aware of its existence- are slightly off the beaten path, my original plan had to be to travel to the Middle East. I wanted to see some of the really massive and intense dairies- which I assumed would have to be run with a very high degree of efficiency- and see how they managed sexed semen/bull calves/dairy beef. That option closed pretty quickly when I came to dead ends trying to find contacts in Jordan.
My interest in Chile was piqued while looking at my options in South America. I initially thought it would be interesting to visit Brazil and look at dairy in a tropical climate with a massive beef industry. While researching this I saw some information about Chile; specifically that they have a tradition of grass- based block calving, and the majority of their home- produced beef comes from the dairy herd.
Further Googling told me that Chile is regarded as the safest country in South America to visit. There’s no use pretending that that isn’t a significant factor in deciding where and when to travel. While male Nuffield Scholars have the option of casually visiting super dairies in Saudi Arabia or walking around Rio de Janeiro, I’m travelling alone and have to take into consideration that the world is always going to be a more dangerous place for me to travel. Funnily enough “raped and/or murdered” weren’t high on my study outcomes.
While I don’t really like the term, Chile is classed as a “first world” country- the first place in South America to be put in that position. The Chileans I met told me that Peru has now eclipsed them in terms of economic development as Chile’s growth has stalled in recent years, but it is still one of the countries in South America with the best general standard of living and best infrastructure.
It’s not necessarily a reason to visit a country for a Nuffield trip- after all, I went to Jutland in Denmark, in November- but Chile is also spectacularly beautiful. I got off my 14- hour flight to Santiago and immediately flew south to Temuco, picked up a hire car, and spent most of my time based in the southern city of Osorno, the agricultural capital of the country. This is located in the Chilean Lake District, the gateway to Chilean Patagonia. It is (unsurprisingly) home to many lakes, but also volcanoes, and temperate rainforest.
Choshuenco volcano
The tectonic activity that built the Andes- which run like a spine down South America, keeping Chile split from its massive eastern neighbour Argentina- has also given the country hot springs, volcanoes, earthquakes, and the risk of tsunamis and the other natural disasters that accompany such a geologically lively spot.
The biggest earthquake ever recorded- measuring a colossal 9.5 on the Richter scale- was in Valdivia in southern Chile in 1960.
The volcanoes really are something to see. On my first evening I drove to Huilo Huilo national park, near the town of Pangupuilli, to stay with a Cornish ex pat and his family who really kindly hosted me and arranged visits through the week. On the winding road from the Panamerican highway to the town I found myself alongside a bright blue lake, and next to it rose a perfect, conical, volcano, capped with snow. It was precisely a postcard image, and there are views like that all over southern Chile.
Salto del Puma
Dairy Farming in Chile
Dairy farming in Chile is predominantly grass based. This sets it apart from other countries in South America. Being on the western side of the Andes the country has a better climate for grass growing, at least in the Lake District (Los Lagos) and surrounding area. Further north there is an area of more intensive, housed, dairying. There you’ll find Ancali, the biggest single site robotic dairy farm in the world. Depending on who you ask they have between 90 and 100 robots.
Farms in this part of Chile were traditionally spring block calving, matching milk production to grass growth. This changed when milk companies started to need winter milk to level their production, and now the majority of farms calve 70% in the spring and 30% in the autumn. I did visit one AYRC herd too.
There is also a strong spring block calving presence. Famously, the Kiwi business Manuka Dairies has around 30 spring block calving herds, and Chilean firm Chilterra has also run farms under the same model. Investment firms have bought, run, and then sold spring calving herds, and I met some run by individual people.
In Los Lagos cattle housing is rare. Calves are often kept inside for the first few weeks of life and I did see one split block herd that had a shed for transition cow feeding and calving. Generally though, cows live out all year round. The summers are hotter and drier than the UK and the winters colder, but free draining volcanic soil makes outwintering possible.
The breeds seen are a real mixture- there are Holsteins of various bloodlines, NZ and Irish Friesians, Kiwi crosses, dual purpose breeds introduced by German settlers, and the occasional Jersey herd. Even the Holsteins graze.
On some of the farms horses are still used to move cattle around. Rodeo is the official national sport, and take place around the region.
A “German” farmer and his Chilean worker who was moving cattle to pasture on horseback
Milk contracts pay for solids, which encourages lower input methods. Seasonality payments encourage winter milk. A farmer based co-operative, originally established by German settlers (with a very Arla like model) seemed to be the most prized contract to have. In return for a capital payment farmers receive a 13th payment, there are rules stopping any one farmer from having more than a 1.5% share, and farmers are allowed to join the company only if the other farmers believe they’ll embrace the core values of co-operation. I was also told that one motivation to join was having the other farmers behind you. Further north there is major conflict (the government has declared it a state of emergency) where the indigenous people- the Mapuche- are campaigning for reparation of land. This has led to arson attacks and road- blocks, and a neighbour of one of the farms I visited was pulled from his truck, beaten, and had his vehicle burnt. I was told explicitly to avoid driving- even on the major highway- after 10pm if I drove through that area. In Los Lagos and Los Rios the situation is different, but in several places Mapuche communities have taken over farms, sometimes using violent measures. Where this has happened the co-op’s members have gone to other members’ farms to attempt to prevent the takeover. (The Chilean government also buy farms for Mapuche communities when they come on the market)
Cow Calf Contact in Chile
I hadn’t expected to find a cow calf contact farm in Chile, but when I posted on Twitter about one of my visits in Sweden a Chilean contact commented that “someone does that here too.” I immediately accosted him for contacts and found Lecheria sin Antibioticos on Instagram and sent them a message. Via Google translate we arranged a visit, and both parties were relieved that their close friend and regenerative consultant would be around and speaks fluent Spanish and English as well as his native French. Oliver was a lifeline as I can’t speak Spanish and the farmer- James- couldn’t speak English. His name wasn’t James by the way, but they told me to call him that.
The Chilean economy doesn’t support the same level of added value production that we see in wealthier countries. There’s no organic market here apart from in some enclaves of the capital, so you won’t find farmers with organic milk contracts. I did see some people selling artisanal cheese wheels on the side of the Panamerican highway, but there isn’t a demand for speciality food. However, Puerto Varas in the Lake District is a beautiful town which has attracted Santiagans through the pandemic and subsequent working from home boom. These people are wealthier than the locals and have money to spend on food. James and his wife Claire have seen an opportunity and sell cheese in a local food market. The rest of their milk is sold to Nestle on a standard contract. Some milk is bottled and sold raw, and they would like to get to the point where their sales are half to Nestle and half through their own processing.
Mixed age herd
The most unusual thing about the farm is that all animals run in one herd- with the exception of the bull at the time of visiting. There are around 100 milking cows milked through robots, and all the animals graze as one herd on a pre-planned rotational system. The grass has all been let to regenerate and grow of its own accord with no inputs, and the cows are not fed any concentrate. Access to water is the driver for cows going to the robot area, but they are free to choose whether they enter the robots or not.
In discussion with regenerative consultant and translator for the day, Oliver
Calves are weaned using nose flaps and bull calves will be removed and sold pre-weaning if there is demand for them. By using Normande bulls and AI the calves have a value for meat. The cows were producing 14 litres of milk per day in November with the majority of cows calving in the Southern Hemisphere spring (this is when they do AI with the bulls sweeping up).
The whole system is run as naturally and low input as possible, a stark contrast to its past as a high yielding Holstein herd. While the calves are weaned by nose flap the cows are dried off for a target 90 day dry period and it is done by reducing permitted robot visits. The farm uses no antibiotics and is keen for other farmers to follow their model.
The most interesting thing for me was the motivation for implementing cow calf contact. With no real market and no real opportunity to use ethical concerns to market milk, James and Claire swapped systems because they wanted to cut antibiotic and anthelmintic use and set up a holistic system that integrates soil, cow, and ecosystem health. Their on-farm sales are marketed by the antibiotic- free label and while their social media does show the calves on the cows it is not a focal point of their marketing, rather it has emerged as a natural part of running their regenerative system.
The use of robots is another interesting element as we don’t tend to associate them with grazing or low input herds. However, they offer cows freedom to be milked when they want to, and taking out the collecting yard does solve many of the infrastructure issues of cow calf contact.
Bull Calves and Dairy Beef
Dairy beef was one of my drivers for going to Chile. There is a tiny beef herd in the country and the majority of beef produced comes from the dairy herd, with the majority of beef consumed being imported.
The use of dual purpose cows makes a lot of dairy beef relatively easy, but there is work being done to help farmers choose suitable beef bulls to breed the best calves. Likewise, there is a push towards sexed semen.
The majority of the farms I spoke to said that they give away dairy bull calves or offer them as a bonus to buyers who collect their beef calves. One even said that the person who buys his mostly rears them for rodeos. Official organisations in Chile have an emphasis on encouraging good practice rearing calves and maintaining consistency of management.
I saw some great models of how to rear dairy beef and spoke to organisations about how they are helping farmers to choose genetics and implement management that will deliver the best results. I also saw some initiatives to encourage better manageement on the ground- labour is cheap and most farms have paid staff- such as splitting the profit from beef calf sales between staff as a bonus.
Jersey and crossbred calves did prove a challenge with a more limited market and they were not included in some of the genetic company trials.
