Tour hosts genetic connection

A South American farmer has a personal connection to one of his tour stops — an Angus stud in North Otago.

Uruguay farmer Julio Taborda was part of a group on a two-week tour, which included a stop at Fossil Creek Angus at Five Forks, near Oamaru this month.

Mr Taborda completed at Diploma in Agricultural Science at Lincoln University in 1985.

Now he and his wife Marcia run large-scale farms near the Uruguay and Brazilian border.

The New Zealand genetics the couple had introduced to their breeding cow herd include Fossil Creek Angus.

Mr Taborda praised Rose Sanderson and her late husband Neil for travelling to South America many times to do embryo transfer work in cattle including Fossil Creek bloodlines.

The tour group was mostly large-scale beef farmers and included veterinarians, a zoo technician, agronomists, an agricultural scholarship student, soy bean and corn farmers.

Brazil hosts the World Angus Forum in May next year.