The following is from the New York Times. A link to the full article is posted at the bottom of this story.
by Andrew E. Kramer
MOSCOW — American cattlemen are finding homes on a new range — the steppes of Russia.Beef ranchers in the United States have honed the characteristics of some robust and meaty breeds of cattle such as Angus and Hereford. But because of trade restrictions, ranchers cannot always export frozen meat from the animals.
They can, though, send breeding bulls and heifers on exotic international journeys from ranches in the Midwest to places like Russia, where they are encouraged to prosper and propagate, sometimes under the watchful eye of the American ranchers themselves.
“This country has as much potential as anywhere in the world,” Darrell Stevenson, a Montana bull breeder, said here Thursday at an agricultural fair attended by an American trade delegation.
While United States business generally has been in the doldrums, cattle exporters are enjoying something of a — sorry, just this once — bull market. Drought in Texas has driven up cattle prices at the same time that a decline in the dollar’s value has aided American exports of all types.
Leading the trade delegation was Gov. Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas. Also on hand: Sam, an American Angus of Montana, lounging in his pen, chewing cud and looking muscular.
The selling of breeding bulls abroad is a side of the cattle business known broadly as genetics exports.
“They have a lot of grass and they want to turn that into protein,” Mr. Brownback said. Accompanied by Kansas ranchers who produce so-called feed stock, or purebred bulls for other cattle farmers, the governor is visiting Russia and Kazakhstan this month. “They want to find the right genetics.”
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Source: New York Times
Posted by Haylie Shipp
