On 5 and 6 May, a delegation from the LIFE Maronesa project, made up of breeders Aniceto Oliveira, Heitor Fernandes, Mário Queirós and Rafael Costa, accompanied by the project manager, completed the first of several visits organised by the project in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela, to exchange knowledge between Galician breeders, farmers and community land managers and the cattle breeders and shepherds of the Serra do Alvão. The visit programme was organised with the University of Santiago de Compostela and representing the Galician institution were academics Rosa Mosquera, Nuria Ferreiro and Diego Vázquez.
On the first day, in the morning, the LIFE Maronesa team visited the O Carballo communal property in Friol, where they were welcomed by President José Manuel Iglesias. Within its area of pine timber farming, this common land includes the management of shrub vegetation using grazing animals of indigenous breeds such as Galician horses and goats, as well as Celtic pigs. In the afternoon, we travelled to Palas de Rei to visit the A Conguada livestock farm, owned by Jose Luis Carreira, who raises Vianesa cows in an extensive model on 100% natural diet, using only pasture grass, hay and silage.
The following morning, the delegation travelled to Pan de Zarco to visit the Experimental Farm for Pyric Herbivory run by the University of SC and the COMPÁS Project. Later, in Robledo de Son, they were able to exchange impressions with fellow Rubia Galician breeder Enrique Fernandez, who shared relevant experiences in the use of virtual fences with Nofence collars. In the afternoon, the visit ended with a trip to the mountain village of Poso to visit another farm with University monitoring plots, run by David Perez Lopez, a young breeder of Rubias Galegas.
Keep an eye out for our next publications, as we’ll be sharing the Lessons Learnt report with more detailed information and some conclusions drawn from this first visit to the Galician region.
