"Livestock must be managed with knowledge, reason, and arguments. Also, with initiatives to find solutions to the problems and limitations of material resources, so that the longed-for recovery of the activity can be achieved."
Las Tunas, Cuba.- These words, from the member of the Central Committee and first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Las Tunas, Manuel Pérez Gallego, refer to what must be done in the territory to transform the current circumstances to increase the birth rate and decrease cattle mortality.
This is the only way to stop the decrease of the mass, a dangerous phenomenon present in the eight municipalities and whose most visible consequences are in the non-fulfillment of the milk and meat production plans, corresponding to the year 2022.
These issues were discussed at the most recent meeting of the Provincial Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), which analyzed the cracks in the local strategy, which has not been implemented either in the municipalities or in the production bases and, therefore, does not yield the necessary results.
Besides, some difficulties afflict tenants -both in the private and state sectors-, plus the lack of support for producers and the lack of demands and actions on the part of the managers of the agricultural sector.
In Las Tunas, technological indiscipline has been detected and they report a marked deterioration of the genetic pool, insufficient control of the mass, difficulties with artificial insemination, and lack of quality stallions for direct mating, which reduces the average gestation rate of the females.
In addition, there are many cases of poor herd management, due to the scarce availability of water and animal feed, and the poor use of the land given in usufruct, since in some areas, instead of pastures and fodder, marabou and other woody plants grow.
Solving these and other difficulties is not a matter of a year or two. However, in Pérez Gallego's opinion, it is urgent to do so and it can be achieved if a better link is established between those responsible for the activity and the breeders and if the management of the Socialist State Enterprise is strengthened.
In the territory of Las Tunas, more than 80 percent of the cattle are in the hands of the private and cooperative sector, but the strategy contemplates the recovery of the state units, among them 64 dairy farms of the Dairy Basin, in the main municipality.
It is also intended to maintain the increase of areas to the owners with more than 10 cows and to advance in the opening of wells, the optimal state of the windmills, and the transfer of the animals to places with the availability of water and food.
Most of the deaths that occurred during the last calendar year were due to poor nutrition and lack of water, but the herds were hardly moved to other areas and the stabling of calves and pregnant or milking cows was insufficient.
There were also failures in the counting and registration of cattle and the system checks that the livestock control authorities should carry out on the 13,952 cattle owners. Cattle theft and slaughter were other enormous obstacles to livestock development.
For this year 2023, the challenges are enormous, especially when an intense drought is expected for several months, and because right now there are serious delays with the contracting of milk and beef, a direct consequence of the inefficient management of the agencies involved in its realization.
