HAMILTON, Ohio — Animated conversation in a variety of languages, punctuated by frequent laughter, followed a hay wagon carrying ABS Global tour members around Pedro’s Angus. The 41producers and ABS employees on the recent tour were from Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina.

ABS Global, headquartered in DeForest, Wis., is a leader in bovine genetics, reproduction services and technologies, said Brazilian tour leader Vasco Neto, South American beef market manager for ABS. Bill and Bev Roe led the hay wagon tour of their farm.

“I bring the producers to the United States to get a better understanding of the beef production system, to show them how the genetics are made,” Neto said. “We have been visiting seedstock producers. In Argentina, Uruguay, Chili and Brazil, we import a lot of genetics from the United States and we want to understand more about their business, how they do things and to share experiences.”

Pedro’s Angus uses genetics from ABS Global. Neto wanted the producers to see progeny from ABS bulls.

“We’ve got commercial producers, people who are involved in cow-calf operation, seedstock producers and some are involved with producing bulls,” Neto said. “There is a good market, a growing markets for semen, especially in South America – not only for beef bulls but also for dairy bulls.”

ABS Global sponsors several of these tours every year and they are popular, Neto said. The tours started with maybe six people attending. Last year there were 23 and this year, 41 people were on the intensive nine-day trip. They spent every night in a different hotel, leaving early in the morning and checking into another late that night.

“One thing that impressed me is the hospitality from the people,” Neto said. “They will be waiting for you and will be quite keen to share the experience with you. And the producers not only want to take photos of the cattle, but they also want to take photos with the owners, with the breeders, with the breeder’s wife. You can see that they are happy, they are proud to be here. It has been fantastic.”

“It is always good when we have people visiting us because it helps us appreciate what we have,” Bev Roe said. “They always ask good questions, and that helps everyone to make better decisions.”

Also, the producers were able to go on tour because it is winter in South America; they will begin planting in about a month, Neto said. The weather forecast is for a normal spring.

“We will be growing more corn instead of soybeans this year,” Neto said. “It is quite a unique thing for Brazil, especially because we usually have more land growing soybeans. This year is going to be different because of what is happening in the United States. With prices going up, we may be growing more corn because we are expecting better prices.”

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