Three brothers from Corrales del Vino (Zamora) demonstrate that you can succeed in the primary sector without prior connection to it with a formula based on a second activity, modernization and good organization as pillars.
Putting down roots in the countryside is not easy, in fact, quite the opposite, and this is confirmed by those seeking to join the sector. They say they encounter many obstacles along the way, so many that many end up throwing in the towel and giving up on the crusade, even more so if they are new to these issues and do not have the facilities, machinery or even the exploitation already underway. family inheritance Despite this, Agriculture can boast of being one of the branches of the economy that concentrates the bravest per square meter and a clear example is found in the Zamora town of Corrales del Vino, where the Esteban Fernández brothers decided almost eight years ago to jump from the scaffolding to beef farming. Emilio, José Luis and Óscar, aged 46, 43 and 40, today combine the trowel and the trowel with 1,500 heads of friesian and demonstrate that, even with those stones, it is possible to bet on the primary sector successfully. The key is, logically, to find the formula to overcome them. Download elEconomistaAgro for free
They have achieved this by reconciling both activities, seeking a balance between two worlds, construction and livestock, in theory and in practice completely disparate. In fact, for them the second could not have been without the first, since it would have been “totally impossible” for them to get into the beef without continuing to place and align bricks, reveals the youngest of the shortlist, Óscar. In this regard, he explains that The investments that must be made to enter “are very strong” and, “if you don’t come from the branch, you have much more difficulty accessing public aid.” “It is valued if your income already comes from the sector” and that is an important handicap for those who want to dedicate themselves to livestock farming without prior professional background in it.
It borders on incongruity, but this is one of the obstacles most frequently reported by those who want to land in the countryside and which, of course, the Esteban Fernández family have also had to face.
Under the umbrella of an integrator
In their case, they overcame it by taking advantage of integration, a formula in which another company provides the animals, as well as the food and veterinary care they need, and the entrepreneur or entrepreneurs, the work and the facilities. It seemed to them, says Óscar, that With this system they ran “less risks”. Thus, in 2018 they took the hand of Industrias Cárnicas Caleiro so that AgroAsejo could launch two warehouses, with capacity for 500 animals, built by him and his brothers with their own funds and public subsidies, in their own town.
Óscar, Emilio and José Luis decided to start their cattle farm because “they had to diversify.” And, as the youngest explains, in construction “there is work”, even more than they can handle, but they have a big problem: the lack of qualified labor; Furthermore, they do not see themselves growing up on rooftops, setting up scaffolding and hauling bricks in the open until retirement. Always linked to construction and enrolled in the construction company they created with their father, cattle seemed like a good option after analyzing “what was in the area”, and, although they considered pork and poultry farming, they opted for the friesians for meat “for the estimated investment and profit.”
It is clear that they were right with their calculations and hunch because, just four years after creating AgroAsejo, they already considered expanding their livestock business. Taking advantage of the aid from the Junta de Castilla y León for the construction, expansion or adaptation of cattle, sheep and goat feedlots – which, precisely, has eliminated in the recent new call the obligation to be the owner of a farm at the time of request that help -, last 2024 they completed the construction of four new warehouses that give the farm a global capacity of 1,900 animals.
Oscar estimates that some 3,000 calves came out of those six feedlots last year. Behind these figures there is hard work that the three brothers share to make the formula work. As the minor explains, it is he and another who carry out the tasks of the ships on a daily basis, taking turns on weekends to enjoy freebies, while, from Monday to Friday, when they finish the work with the Frisians, they also go to the work on which the third brother is working at that moment, to hit the trowel.
Óscar Esteban does not fail to recognize that sometimes they throw their “hands up” seeing the mess they have gotten themselves into, but he also states that they are “satisfied” with their audacity because the bovine, just as they have raised in AgroAsejo, organized, distributed and highly technical, “it is more bearable than a small-level construction company like ours.” Livestock farming is “less physical and allows me more flexibility to reconcile with my family life,” says, based on his experience, this bricklayer and rancher who, at least for the moment, does not see himself hanging up his helmet. And, he emphasizes, we still have to “relieve the loans” and face the main problem that livestock farming entails, which is that “it needs very strong investments” and does not allow “enough money and profitability” until the facilities and machinery are paid.
Greener in the immediate future
Since its creation, AgroAsejo has experienced a very important quantitative change, going from two to six warehouses and from a capacity of 500 heads to almost two thousand. But its evolution is not going to stop here. Given their volume, the Esteban Fernández brothers also want to provide their livestock business with a sustainable component and are already studying a complementary closed loop project that gives a green hue to your farm.
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