Cattle to Kazakhstan -- Indianola cowboy helps country rebuild beef industry

Friday, October 15, 2010
Michael Slattery of rural Indianola is in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, helping to rebuild its livestock industry with the hardiness of North Dakota beef and the expertise of American livestock production specialists. Slattery is a 2003 graduate of Southwest High School; he attended McCook Community College and studied livestock production at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis. Slattery works for Global Beef Consultants LLC of Bismarck, North Dakota, which shipped -- via UPS -- 170 pregnant Hereford and angus cows and heifers from Fargo, North Dakota, to Kazakhstan on Oct. 12. (Emily Slattery/Courtesy Photo)

BISMARCK, North Dakota -- An Indianola, Nebraska, cowboy flew to the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan Tuesday with 170 head of pregnant cows and heifers.

The shipment, accompanied by Michael Slattery of rural Indianola, a veterinarian and a North Dakota cowboy, was the first of a dozen or more whose payload is destined to help Kazakhstan rebuild its beef industry following the sale or slaughter of most of its herds after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Michael Slattery, the 23-year-old son of Drs. Mike and Gale Slattery DVM of rural Indianola, will manage one of two new 2,500-head animal breeding facilities that will be stocked with pregnant registered Hereford and angus cows and heifers that are being flown UPS from North Dakota.

Kazakhstan's inventory of beef cattle has fallen from 35 million head at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to about 2 million today. The oil-rich country, the ninth largest in the world, is now spending billions of dollars to rebuild its agriculture industry and beef production. A deal between Bismarck-based Global Beef Consultants LLC and the Kazakh government means that 2,040 head of cattle will be shipped on 12 flights by Dec. 15.

Michael Slattery works for Global Beef Consultants.

David Yerubayev, chairman of the Kazakh government-supported KazBeef Ltd., told the Bismarck Tribune and the Associated Press that the $50 million project includes construction of two 2,500-head breeding facilities and a feedlot. Over the next several years, Kazakhstan could buy as many as 50,000 cows from North Dakota, Mike Seifert, chairman of Global Beef, said.

The first shipment of cattle, loaded in crates into the belly of a Kalitta Air 747 operated by UPS, left Fargo, North Dakota, Tuesday, Oct. 12, and arrived in the Kazakh capital of Astana, in north-central Kazakhstan, after a 22-hour flight.

Ronna Branch, a UPS spokesperson in the company's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, said the cows and heifers were flown because it is quicker and less stressful than by train or ship, and because Kazakhstan is landlocked.

The cows and heifers weighed about 80 tons, and were accompanied by a veterinarian, a cowboy from North Dakota and Slattery.

Gale Slattery, Michael's mom, said Thursday afternoon that Michael called to say he had made it to Kazakhstan. He will be there with the project for at least one year, Gale said.

In Kazakhstan, Michael will manage a herd, set up a beef production program and hire and train Kazakh workers. Gale said Michael called it a "work in progress," as they're still in the process of building pens and fences.

Yerubayev said Kazakhstan ag officials -- who visited North Dakota in January -- chose North Dakota cattle because the winters in north Kazakhstan are similar to cold, cold, winter conditions in North Dakota.

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said that North Dakota cattle typically have thicker coats and more marbling and fatty tissue because of the environment in which they're raised.

Bill Price, president of Global Beef Consultants, told the Crookston, North Dakota Times that cattle for the Kazakhstan project will come from ranches throughout central and western North Dakota. "We have the northern genetics that everybody is after," Price said. "That's our selling point."

Shane Goettle, commissioner of the state Department of Commerce, told the Fargo-Moorhead Inforum before the flight that the herd may arrive jet-lagged after the 22-hour trip, but should adjust quickly in a familiar climate.

"When they step out, they might not know the difference," he said. "Hopefully, they're going to feel at home."

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: