The Angus Youth COALAR Brazil Australia Exchange was an amazing experience and certainly one I will never forget. During my time in Brazil I was able to learn more about the world's largest beef exporter and had many experiences that made me more aware of its culture. This report will hopefully provide an insight into my time in Brazil as well as cover some of the more interesting and enjoyable experiences I had.
I left Australia on the 4 th of January with very little knowledge of Brazil except that it had a lot of cattle, beaches and dangerous cities. From Melbourne I flew to Auckland and from there was the long flight to L.A. After 10 hours on the plane I was very keen to stretch my legs but we were informed that due to massive storms we would have to remain seated for an extra 5 hours. This meant that I would miss my connecting flight to Washington D.C from where I would finally fly to Rio De Janeiro , Brazil . Luckily the airline understood my problem and put me up in a hotel for the night so I could catch the next day's flight.
The next day I went to the airport and was again told that due to the weather my flight was delayed until conditions improved. I sat in the terminal for almost 10 hours and finally got on the plane around mid-night. The flight arrived in Washington D.C at 2am local time and again due to the delays in L.A I had missed the connection to Brazil . I had been put on a flight for 10pm the following evening. When I arrived in Washington I soon discovered that all the airline desks were closed and that it was up to me to organise a hotel and transfers in the middle of the night in a completely foreign city. From the phone box I called the EcoLodge and by the tone of the voice at the other end I'm pretty sure 2am wasn't a good time to call. I caught a taxi into the city, arrived at 3am and checked in. Realising that I had a day in Washington , I booked a day tour that left at 7am. That day we covered pretty much everything, the White house, Capitol Hill, Arlington Cemetery and many other notable monuments and building. I met a German guy on the tour and once it finished he and I spent the rest of the day together before I caught the train to the airport. Running on very little sleep and with my body clock completely out of whack, I pretty much collapsed as soon as I sat on the plane and woke up just as we arrived in Rio .
Rio de Janeiro is a magnificent city. It is wedged between beautiful white sand beaches and huge mountains of rainforest. Rio is also known to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world because of its high level of street crime, drug trafficking and violence. There is a huge class divide in Brazil and it is nowhere more obvious than in Rio where the very rich live alongside the very poor. Before I left Australia I was told to never leave the hotel with anything but cash in my pocket, to not act or dress like a tourist and to only walk the streets during the day. I took these precautions and luckily I didn't have any trouble.
Originally I was to spend 3 days in Rio, however because of the trouble I had in the US I only had one night before had to fly to Porto Alegre to meet my hosts. I had been eating aeroplane food for 3 days so I decided to go out for a decent meal and then catch up on some sleep. I decided I would return to Rio at the end of the trip to see it properly. The next morning I went to the Airport and flew to Porto Alegre which is in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. I had read earlier that Rio Grande do Sul is one of the wealthiest and safest states in Brazil and that it is a well known producer of high quality beef. At the airport I was met by Ayrto Svan, a retired pilot who owned 1500ha 500km west of Porto Alegre near the town of Bage . He and his wife, Juliana took me out for lunch and I stayed at their apartment in the city before we drove to the farm the next day. The drive took us right across the state which in appearance is very simular to Victoria . Aryoto told me that farmers in Rio Grande do Sul often follow the example of farmers in southern Australia due to the fact that we share the same latitude and have simular weather.
We arrived at the farm at about 9pm in the evening and I was taken to the main house to meet the manager, Diego and his wife Elaine. Ayrto was driving back the next day and so this would be my home for the next 4 weeks. Interestingly neither Diego nor Elaine spoke a word of English so I knew from the start that it was going to be a very interesting few weeks. However despite the language barrier they were very kind to me and always made me feel at home. The next day Ayrto and Diego drove me around the farm and I was introduced to the other workers. The farm had seven full time employees including three stockmen, a builder, a chef, a tractor driver and a labourer. While I was there the farm also employed contractors to build a new worker's quarters and some others to build fences. Again none of the workers spoke any English and so I knew that as soon as Ayrto left I would need to get by with sign language and the few Portuguese words I knew.
The stockmen were in charge of the farm's 1000 cows and the 30 horses. Each day they woke at 6am and caught and saddled their horses. They would then ride out to the mob of cows that were at that time being inseminated and they would muster them into one large mob. They would then sit for a few hours waiting to see which cows mounted (an indication that they were in heat). The stockmen would cut out the cows that mounted and drive them to the yards for insemination. After the AI work was done the stockmen would go back to the cows to see if any new calves had been born. If so they would work in teams of two to lasso the calves and would then jump off the horses to castrate and tag them. By this time it would be nearly 11am and the stockmen would go back to the base for lunch. After lunch they would go to bed for siesta until 2.30pm. When they woke up they would do other jobs such as crushing corn for the calf creep-feeders, vaccinating cattle for foot and mouth disease, breaking-in horses or they would assist the other farm employees with their duties.
The builder was in charge of all the constructions on the farm and also worked as a general maintenance man. While I was there Ayrto had him build a tick dipping unit for the cattle yards, assist the contractors with the workers quarters and also to plan the construction of a new machinery shed. Building supplies are very expensive in Brazil and so the builder was also in charge of managing the farm's eucalypt plantation and harvesting the timber when it was needed. He would use the saw mill to cut the logs into boards and posts and would then submerge them in water (i.e. in the dam) for 6 months after which time he would dip the timber in sump oil and dry it in the sun. This process waterproofed the timber and prevented it from cracking. The timber was then used for constructing buildings, fences and feeders.
The two machinery operators managed all the tractors and vehicles on the farm. They were in charge of sowing pastures and crops, spreading fertiliser, slashing and spraying. They were also in charge of all maintenance and repairs. The farm owned a 100 hp open air New Holland tractor, a New Holland front-end loader and various other equipment and vehicles. While I was on the farm the two men were undertaking a major project to clear land and sow eucalypts. They used the front-end loader to scrape and level the land and would then use a deep ripper to create a space where the trees could be planted.
The cook provided all the meals to the workers, washed their clothes and cleaned the living areas. He would get up at 5.30am to make sure breakfast was ready after which he would do other chores until it was time to prepare lunch and then dinner. Breakfast was at 6.30am and usually consisted of bread and honey and coffee. Lunch was at 11.30am and was a large meal of meat either as a roast, stew or casserole. Afternoon tea at 3.30pm was served just after the workers had woken up from siesta. Dinner was any time from 9pm onwards and was usually very simular to Lunch but a bit lighter. The cook also had to assist the stockmen when animals were slaughtered for meat.
While I was on the farm the contractors were building a new worker's quarters and others were building new fences. I didn't get to know them personally as they lived in a hut away from the main building and cooked their own meals. Interestingly, the contractors that were building the fence did everything by hand, even digging the post holes and cutting and drilling the fence droppers. The fence posts were either made from the timber from the farm or granite from a nearby mine. The hut was being built from mud-bricks.
During my time at the farm I worked with all the workers and so I gained an overview of the different roles. Most of the time I worked with the stockmen and as a requirement I had to learn to ride a horse. It took a while to get used to but I'm happy to say I never fell off. Using thelasso proved a battle and I flicked myself in the head more than once.
Whilst at Ayrtos's farm I also visited Santa Maria which is a very famous Hereford stud in southern Brazil . The farm ran 12,000 Hereford cattle and sold stud bulls and females and also supplied the local export abattoir with fattened 18 month old steers. The property was around 15,000ha and amazingly had 75 workers that ranged from stockmen to maids to animal nutritionists.
I lived with Diego and Elaine for the first 3 weeks until Elaine's aunty came to stay and I moved to the workers quarters. Living at the house was much more luxurious then at the workers quarters but I'm glad I got the opportunity to experience both. As I mentioned before neither Diego nor Elaine could speak a word of English and so the first week was a bit hard, living with strangers and not really communicating. After a week we discovered that Diego's computer had a translation program and so we brought into the lounge room and used it to talk.
After I left the farm I stayed with Ayrto for a week at his apartment in Porto Alegre . I spent a few days looking around Porto Alegre and then spent a day with the Angus Society of Brazil . The Brazilian Angus society has an office in the CBD and operates very similarly to Angus Australia. I was taken to several supermarkets and shown how some are beginning to sell branded Angus products. We returned to the office in the afternoon and I was shown a few videos and given a general overview of the Brazilian beef industry. I was asked a lot about our production and grading systems and also what attributes they should look for in the Brazilian candidate that would be sent to Australia .
Following the day with the society, I met with Felipe Morra and the Scazilli family who would be my hosts for my final week. The Scazilli's are a very famous beef producing family owning several large properties throughout Rio Grande do Sul, running over 10,000 head. Felipe is a son-in-law of the family and owns Ponderosa Angus, which is a stud in Sao Paulo . Felipe manages the family's properties and luckily for me he spoke fluent English. I travelled with Felipe, his wife and her family around the properties and learnt a lot during that week. Felipe was very clever and the fact that he spoke fluent English meant that he could explain a lot of what I had seen but not understood.
Felipe taught me a lot about how they use summer crops to support pasture, how they manage their rotations and how they use Nelore and Angus in their cross breeding program. He also explained to me about how they sell their bulls on television and how large companies pay them money to place advertisements on the sale ring. He also said that apart from the sale he hosts a field day where bulls are sold in three different categories at three fixed prices and you can pay using a VISA card.
After my time with Felipe and the Scazilli family I returned to Porto Alegre and stayed with their nephew, Marcello. Marcello was a terrific guy and he made it his mission to show me the Brazilian nightlife. It was interesting to learn that in Brazil it is rare to go to a party before midnight and once there, people usually stay till sunrise. The etiquette is to buy one large bottle of beer and share it with your drinking partner. I found it really interesting that you can buy beer pretty much everywhere, from corner stores to petrol stations and street stalls. Around 4pm people go to places called Lancherias where they drink beer and eat toasted sandwiches. Also everything was really cheap. Marcello's friend took me to the soccer one night and we were in the area with the hooligans. Very, very interesting experience and it is obvious to see how passionate Brazilians are about their soccer.
Marcello also taught me about “Mate” (pronounced Mah tee) which is the tradition drink of Rio Grande do Sul. Mate is a type of tea but it is drunk out of a cup made from the bulb of a plant and is sucked up through a straw. During my time in Rio Grande do Sul I couldn't believe how large a part it has in its culture. Everyone from young children in the cities to old men on the farm drank mate and it is almost exclusively confined to this one state. It was explained to me as a sign of hospitably, simular to how we would offer each other a cup of coffee or a beer. Of course I couldn't leave Rio Grande do Sul without bringing some home and when the Brazilian candidate visited my farm in Australia he couldn't believe I had some to offer.
It was now the end of February and time to leave Rio Grande do Sul. I flew back to Rio de Janeiro and booked into a hostel in Ipanema for eight days. My bed cost me $20 a night and I was seriously 300 meters from the beach. As this was the holiday component of the trip I took it as an opportunity to relax and see the sights. That week I made a lot of good mates in the hostel and together we toured the city during the day and went out at night. A few of the highlights from the week included hang gliding over the city, doing a tour through the city's notorious slums (favela,) the street parties in the Lapa district, the restaurants where you pay by the kilo, going to a soccer final and the beautiful beaches. One of the nightclubs we went to was actually a museum during the day and at night they just rope off the exhibits and open up the bar. The day we went to see the Cristo Statue and the Sugar Loaf was really cloudy and unfortunately we didn't see the whole thing, but despite this it was still very impressive.
On my last day in Brazil I went to the beach and rented a deck chair for $1.50, bought a beer off a man for 50 cents and sat back and reflected on what had been an awesome trip. I had spent two months in Brazil and it will always have lasting impact on me. In those two months I met people and had experiences that are way too numerous to write in this report. As an Agricultural Science student and Angus enthusiast I was so fortunate to have been given this opportunity. I learnt so much and had an amazing amount of fun. I cannot begin to thank all the people who helped organise and facilitate this trip but I know that I will do all that I can to give back to the program that gave me so much.
