Central South Dakota lived up to its reputation as a leading agricultural center Thursday, March 2 when a group of eight men and women from Kazakhstan (a former USSR country bordered by Russia and China) as well as representatives of the agricultural industry from the United States visited the Tim and Karla Pazour family farm.
The group was in the middle of a two-week tour of feedlot operations in the United States with the intention of taking points from the USA and implementing them in Kazakhstan.
John George, an engineer with Agricultural Engineering Associates in Kansas, said the Kazakhstani government has invested money into developing their current beef and poultry industries.
“Their goal is to get a half million tons of beef to export annually and one million tons for poultry,” said George.
Tim Pazour spent the morning showing the group how his feedlot worked on a daily basis.
Although topics ranged from winter hardiness to feeding processes, Pazour said the biggest interest was in parasite control.
“I got the feeling it was a major problem for them. It was an issue in South Dakota 40 years ago, but modern techniques took care of it,” said Pazour.
George said the Kazakhstani method of farming is still based largely on the notion of collective farming, which widely included sheltering livestock. Those methods also depend on manual labor for feeding and care, along with ventilation problems and outdated nutrition and genetics.
Pazour said modern techniques with beef genetics have enabled farmers like him to produce a better product in a shorter wait time. His cattle grow faster than previous types and have a leaner, high protein meat type.
“We’ve really been able to increase our production in the last 40 to 50 years,” said Pazour.
With the lack of an organized beef industry in their country, George said the Kazakhstanis could start from scratch with their development. George is hoping to showcase modern technologies and management philosophies to help them evolve.
“They have a chance to go to the head of the class,” said George.
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