The Unidad Básica de Producción Cooperativa (UBPC) La Güira in the district of La Torcaza in the municipality of Contramaestre is an example of how unity in work and the search for solutions to difficulties can yield excellent results in cattle raising.
The social purpose of this Contramaestre agricultural structure is cattle raising, an activity that needs to be recovered due to the need to produce meat and milk for food.
Yurisbel Ramos Meléndez is the head of production in this mountainous UBPC and tells us why.
How many livestock producers does this structure have and what is the mass number?
“We have five cattle ranchers and the number of cattle among producers and the UBPC is 325 animals. There are 150 cows in reproduction, we have development, we have offspring. We are preparing the cattle raising base.
So far this year, how is milk production plan performing?
“The production plan is going very well, we are achieving four thousand liters of milk per month”.
To obtain this amount of liters of milk, what is the ABC of cattle raising to obtain high yields per cow?
“The first thing is to seed the animal feed productions, to keep the water on time, the good functioning of the animals which implies milking schedules, good cow management and feeding to have good results.”
“If all that is not achieved, the results of livestock farming cannot be good and we cannot develop.”
What is the milk production plan for this year in this UBPC?
“We have a plan of 18 thousand 600 liters of milk for 2022 and we concluded at the end of last June with about 4 thousand liters which were marketed to different destinations such as the ice cream factory and to a trade unit La Ideal that receives milk for children.”
One of the livestock farming activities in the municipality of Contramaestre that has deficiencies is reproduction, which is decisive.
How does the cooperative work to address the difficulties and increase the number of offspring?
“We have to improve genetics so that the cattle ranching develops, we must wean the calves on time, that is to say from six to nine months after birth and feed them well so that they gain weight in the established time.”
“When the cow is gestated it is essential to take care of her until she stops and then take much better care of the calf. Today we have 73 cows gestated and in the year there have been more than 40 births. We are making good progress.
The Cooperative Basic Production Unit La Güira de Contramaestre is one of the two agricultural structures of this type that are dedicated to the production of milk and beef in the agroindustrial company América Libre, an entity that should reach a million
200 200,000 liters of milk this year.
