When Joao Ferreira decided he wanted to be in the purebred cattle business he researched his options and landed on Angus.
Specifically, he thought North American genetics would build the best herd on his family’s farm near Tomar, about an hour from Lisbon in Portugal.
There, his parents operate one of the main game bird farms in the country, raising partridge, pheasants and ducks.
Ferreira had a different idea about farming.
“I was studying for being a vet and I was very passionate about cattle,” he said during an interview at Canadian Western Agribition. “And our family decided to start a cattle business that would work in symbiosis with the family company.”
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They established the cattle operation in 2012, and Ferreira did indeed become a veterinarian.
“Since we were starting from zero in our family, and since I was very young, I needed to make all the right decisions,” Ferreira said. “I visited different countries so I could understand which would be the breed that would give me a better future.”
He said Angus is more than a breed; it’s a brand.
“Consumers perceive better quality on the beef when they see Angus,” he said.
His herd is 250 Angus cows based mainly on North American genetics.
“Here, you can find the finest genetics on the planet.”
He prefers to source Red Angus genetics in Canada.
“In my opinion, they would be better than the U.S. red genetics,” Ferreira said. “Our main source of Black Angus genetics would be the U.S. but we also come (to Canada) to buy lots of embryos.”
It’s expensive to import embryos and semen, but live animals would struggle with the transition.
The cattle do well on the ground in Portugal, where the weather and feeding systems are different. Winters are rainy and about -3 C at the coldest, while summer includes two or three months of 40 C or more. Harvest occurs during spring.
“It’s very hard, there’s no grass at all during summer, which is completely different from here, so we have to give them forages for a lot of time and they have to walk a lot on hot days.”
Animals are selected for sleeker rather than thicker hair, he said, and that trait seems to change quickly to suit the environment.
As a veterinarian, he can manage herd health, which keeps costs down and helps him improve the herd.
“I look at the cow as a mechanic looks at an engine,” he said.
In Regina, Ferreira was working on deals in the barns and keeping track of some online bids on his phone.
He sells most of his genetics in Portugal and Spain, where there is strong demand, but hopes to expand and sell internationally.
Producers in Portugal deal with consumer concerns about beef production and plant protein, just as North American producers do.
“We are trying to make things more sustainable so we try to advertise that,” Ferreira said.
