ANGUS cattle may have taken the world by storm but in Uruguay, Hereford cattle remain the most popular beef breed.
World Hereford Council secretary general Jose Bonica, who was at the Herefords Australia National Show & Sale at Wodonga last week, says whiteface cattle account for 65 per cent of the country's 10.8 million beef cattle.
"Most of our production is grass and Herefords are very good at turning pasture into a very good product and doing it efficiently," he said.
"They also have a very good temperament."
The third-generation Hereford breeder from Treinta y Tres, near the Brazilian border, also attributed the cattle's strong market share to "passionate" breeders, a strong breed society, and embracing technology.
In 1994, estimated progeny difference figures were released and were very quickly adopted by stud and commercial breeders as a breeding tool. About 90pc of the more than 200 Hereford studs now use them.
Mr Bonica said the breeders also had also established good communication with their consumers.
"To be successful you need good animals but you also need industry to have the ability to tell the final consumer how good those Hereford animals are," he said.
"There is a strong belief that a farmer's job doesn't stop inside his farm."
The local population has a healthy appetite for beef, with national consumption per capita more than 60 kilograms a person each year, but their growth market is now export, accounting for 70pc of total production.
The last outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the South American country was in 2001 but they have now been declared free of the disease because of a stringent routine where all calves are vaccinated twice and mature cattle once a year.
This has seen them push into more than 100 export markets, many in direct competition with Australia, including Europe and the United States.
"In the past couple of months we have exported to Korea so the only country we don't export to is Japan," Mr Bonica said.
"Our beef export success is teamwork - not just the breeders and the abattoirs but also our national beef agency."
*Full report in Stock Journal, May 16 issue, 2013.
