More than 10,000 Canadian Charolais will be shipped to Russia by 2012.
The deal should see a group of breeding females leave early next year, said Garner Deobald, owner of Hawkeye Land and Livestock Ltd. at Hodgeville, Sask.
A Russian company, Sevagro Beef Project, is building infrastructure as part of a government supported effort to increase beef production. The Russian government is rebuilding its domestic poultry, pork and beef industries to increase meat self sufficiency rather than importing.
“Government programs want to grow their own industry within the country. They are currently importing beef from other countries,” Deobald said.
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“They have lower net numbers of beef so there is a greater push to increase.”
He said the Russians are interested in Canadian cattle because they come from a similar climate and feed regime and can adapt more easily to their new home.
Selections from this fall’s heifer crop should start during winter with the first shipment expected to leave in early summer. Deobald will continue selecting cattle from across the country for the next three years.
He was contacted almost two years ago to work with Sevagro project manager Alexei Sverdlov to investigate the Canadian industry as a supplier of livestock and genetic material such as semen.
As well, the Canadian Charolais Association will work with the new owners to build a breed registry to track pedigree and performance information.
