About this project
Show list of needs
Material
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Minimum | Optimum |
|---|---|---|
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4 GRAZING CATTLE (1 to 3 years old)
Slaughtered at a minimum age of 4 years
|
€ 7.500 | |
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● 6 SUCKLER COWS
Grazing-fed cows
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€ 6.000 |
Task
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Minimum | Optimum |
|---|---|---|
|
Goteo's service and transaction fees.
These will be the costs arising from the crowdfunding process that we will pay to Goteo and also some financial costs related to the crowdfunding process.
|
€ 500 | |
| Total | € 8.000 | € 14.000 |
General information
Description
Our project deals with the breeding and fattening of agroecological cattle using autochthonous breeds, fed exclusively with products from the pasturage called dehesa (grass, browsing, and acorns), obtaining meat of excellent quality, both organoleptic and environmental, the latter aspect being very necessary for the transformation of livestock from an agent of climate change to a tool against global warming.
Acorn-fed Iberian Ox is a concept that brings together three ideal features of food production: nutritional quality, the defence of nature, and the fight against rural depopulation:
- The OX is an animal that provides the best quality of beef known, and the project permits lengthening and improving the life of this species.
- The IBERIAN characteristic demonstrates the importance of using autochthonous or naturalised breeds extraordinarily well adapted to the environments of the Iberian southwest. It also provides an identity sign that guarantees the traceability of its origin. Emblematic breeds due to their rusticity and their extraordinary ability to survive in difficult environments are the object of our interest: varieties such as Black-spotted Berrenda, or Black Iberian Avileña…
- The ACORN is the main product of the ancient holm oak fields (the dehesas of Extremadura), agro-system landscapes whose survival is at risk, especially vulnerable to climate change. The acorn represents nature’s magic; it is produced on very poor land, but it concentrates a huge amount of energy in the form of oleic acid. The storage of this substance in muscle tissues has made Iberian pigs raised in these fields world famous. The quality of the meat from the animals that feed on acorns is unbeatable.
Buey Ibérico de Bellota combines the best management of cattle, the best choice of low-impact breeds and the best organoleptic quality, all taking into account a receding environment.
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
Objectives
- Raise the profile of the agro-environmental importance of the Extremaduran dehesa
- Demonstrate that beef production under appropriate conditions and criteria provides a product of verifiable environmental viability.
- Make visible that the consumption of lactating or early-aged animals is wrong from an energetic, ethical and economic point of view.
- Enable long-lived species intended for human consumption, such as cattle, to develop their energy efficiency to the maximum, extending their life cycle as much as possible.
- Introduce top-quality raw materials on the market to reduce the consumption of conventional meat foods with enormous and unviable social, metabolic, energy and environmental costs.
- Offer a decent meat production alternative with extensification criteria, in which the human factor is central.
- Apply humanistic criteria in the process of animal development.
Why this is important
Motivation and Goal of the Project
Global meat production is largely based on intensive models that separate animals from their natural environment. This method repeats the industrial pattern of materialistic and commercial use of raw materials. In this way, meat becomes an object of buying-selling, rather than the provision of food.
Our interest with this project is to return the sensible production of food to the community, in which the main engine is not to obtain profits at all costs, but rather the closing of cycles, animal welfare, the dignity of the agrarian profession, the protection of agro-systems such as the dehesa and the right to fair, non-elitist food, thus implying that quality food is a universal right.
We choose to raise oxen because these animals take ten years or more to yield.. This delay implies that the animal leaves its phase of consuming animal protein and becomes a net consumer of cellulose, a food that cannot be processed by humans. We thus find an intelligent natural way to transform a material that is unusable for us.
Energy efficiency is proportional to carbon fixation as the animal ages:
- In this way, a 10-year-old ox equals in meat the 10 calves that a cow can produce in that period.
- Carbon emissions could be reduced by significant percentages, which implies an alliance with strategies to combat and adapt to climate change, since it allows suckler cows to be reduced by 90%, which implies a net reduction of greenhouse gases.
- In addition to sacrificing only one life as opposed to ten, the steer will have consumed 10 times less animal protein and no more cellulose.
On the other hand, the ox is not subjected to the stressful and crowded conditions of a feedlot and would enjoy the freedom of living in the countryside.
Buey Ibérico de Bellota is made up of three families who share a common way of life; living on agro-ecological farms in the middle of the countryside, where we raise cows, goats, sheep, grow vegetables and fruit, sell our products directly to responsible consumers who are concerned about animal welfare and sustainability, food sovereignty, environmental education, ecotourism, etc.
The families in this project are Carmen, Mario and Andrés from El Rincón de los Cerezos; Gloria, Alberto and Juan from Huecos del Arroyo; and Gema, Pepe, Catalina and Pepa from Las Lucías, all in the province of Cáceres.
Social commitment
Agrorural development
● Demonstrate that beef production under appropriate conditions and criteria provides a product of verifiable environmental viability.
● Make visible that the consumption of lactating or early-aged animals is wrong from an energetic, ethical and economic point of view
● Raise the profile of the agro-environmental importance of the Extremaduran dehesa
Sustainable Development Goals
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Responsible Production and Consumption
Responsible Production and Consumption
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Climate Action
Climate change is a global challenge that affects everyone, everywhere.
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Life On Land
Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
