«My life changed when I was fourteen years old when my father told me that I had to go milk. It was six o’clock on a Sunday morning and, like many young people at that age, I was a bit hungover from the night before. He assures it between amused and proud Alberto Ruiz Sánchez. Along with his brother Innocent of him, runs a farm with 160 goats in the neighborhood of Lomo Blanco, which belongs to the nucleus of Santa Bárbara, in the municipality of Icod of the Wines. Because of that memory, Alberto and Inocencio claim to have livestock “in their blood since childhood.”
Alberto is 39 years old and his brother one more. Both pick up the witness of their parents, Inocencio and Edita, now retired, assures the youngest of their children “enjoying after a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice.” Inocencio Sr. set up the cattle farm in 1997 with about fifty goats. “Little by little the heads grew until today.” The children joined later. Inocencio in 2000 and Alberto in 2013. In 2019 they acquired ownership after the well-deserved retirement of their parents.
Alberto tells his story: “I never thought of dedicating myself to this and my father didn’t want to either. I passed a forest technician cycle and then I started working as a salesperson for a carpentry company. He put up with the 2008 crisis and the work he could until 2012. A year later he began his current stage as a rancher.
Alberto explains the production concept of the brothers: “It is a small farm and it will continue to be so, but each time with better quality products.” He asks “that people value ranching as a normal job. That my daughter sees it the same as if she were a lawyer or any other profession. No more no less”.
A sacrificial job.
Alberto underlines how sacrificed it is to maintain a livestock facility: «We work 10, 12 or 14 hours a day. In our case we have the advantage that there is no intermediary, but we market the products ourselves directly to the consumer; It’s a favorable factor.”
The day starts very early at the Lomo Blanco facility. You have to get up at five or five fifteen in the morning to prepare everything. Caring for the animals and feeding them, but also cleaning, doing other tasks and tasks on the farm and then distributing the cheeses with a refrigerated truck to customers, mostly from nearby areas. From the farm to your home. Alberto Ruiz is grateful for the “loyalty” of this clientele, which is “a key factor in keeping us going. We feel that you value our product.” he respect guarantees the strict sanitary controls that the goat herd must undergo. “Everything is in order as it could not be otherwise” he declares. Ruiz details that “we are still starting, but it is a complicated job because animals require time and dedication to be well cared for.”
As for the sacrifices, the co-owner of the Icodense farm is conclusive in his example: «My daughter is five years old and I will have woken up with her in my arms at most fifteen times» They do not work to get rich. Alberto summarizes: “My approach is to have decent land, vacations and little else.” He summarizes: “Life in the countryside is hard and sacrificed.”
Hard times.
“We have abandoned the field for many years” values the rancher from Icodense who criticizes that “most of the companions depend on large surfaces and the prices they set.” He adds: “A lot of people are having a hard time and we’re just now starting this new crisis.” His reflection points out that “we have the experience of the pandemic when one thing was said the first year and then it was another. I see very difficult times in the primary sector. He argues that gloomy scenario: «The price of cereals, which we buy in nearby barns like fodder in cooperatives, has doubled. In 2019 a bag did not reach four euros, today it is already worth 8. And rising ».
Ruiz Sánchez concludes with a certain tone of complaint: «People have to value what this work is, especially when it comes to paying a price. You ask just five cents more for the increase in costs and they are already looking at you badly ».
eternal crisis.
The livestock sector in Tenerife has been immersed in an eternal crisis for the last 15 years. The number of heads in all species is practically half that in 2005. Farms have also dropped, 50% in a decade, from almost 1,300 to about 700. Professionals withstood the pandemic that seemed like the last straw. The main problems are, first, unfair competition from foreign products. Also the high price of feed and, finally, the extra cost that the exponential rise in the electricity rate and energy in general has caused, The councilor of the Cabildo, Javier Parrilla believes that if the sector resisted during the confinement, it will also be able to do so despite to difficulties. The 2020 census, according to data from the technical service of Livestock and Fisheries of the Cabildo, establishes 668 livestock farms on the Island. With this breakdown: 102 poultry, 202 goats, 24 rabbits, 78 sheep, 66 pigs, 196 cattle and 14,000 beehives from the beekeeping cabin.
island aid.
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Javier Parrilla, recently organized a meeting of the monitoring commission on the agri-food impact of the conflict in Ukraine. In this forum of the agents of the sector announced the announcement of aids for the feeding of the cattle with a budget of 1.3 million euros. Parrilla also reported the aid by way of urgency, of 100,000 euros for the improvement of the sanitary quality of the livestock farms on the Island; and he advanced the work with the Government of the Canary Islands to start the Insular Forage Plan. The fees for the Insular Slaughterhouse have also been suspended for a year, which represents a saving of 1.1 million for the sector.
Livestock plan.
The Special Territorial Plan for the Management of Livestock Activity in Tenerife (PTEOAG) is the sectoral management document for livestock activity in Tenerife. It is structured in four documents. The Information Report is a detailed study of the situation of livestock within the insular area. The Management Report specifies the management alternatives considered and develops the model finally adopted. The Environmental Study carries out an environmental diagnosis and a study from this perspective of the fit of the proposed management model. Lastly, the Regulations point out the legal aspects.
