In the evening, we meet with Alberto Jerez (name changed), an employee of the Spanish timber company Los Eucaliptus SA that leases land to Fernando Perdigón. Alberto is responsible of the eucalyptus plantations at the estancia “Don Alcides”. He explains that the mares were brought there mid-July of this year. It attracted his attention that they…

In the afternoon, we return to the estancia “Don Alcides” where Perdigón keeps some of his mares in large eucalyptus plantations. A pick-up truck with horse trailer is parked on the road near the farmhouse. We start a conversation with the man who is standing by the trailer and find out that he is not involved in the blood business. He is here with…

We return to the blood farm of Fernando Perdigón in the hinterland of Maldonado. On the way there, we see groups of horses grazing on forest clearings. Among the mares, there are also a few stallions. Spring is the time of the year when the mares are covered. The new extraction season is about to start and some mares already look pregnant. We note…

In the early morning, two gauchos on horseback move about 200 horses from the pastures into the holding pens of the blood farm. Another worker is observed hanging empty blood bags over a fence to dry. At 8:35, three employees start moving horses from the holding pens towards the building, using wooden sticks. They are hitting the horses repeatedly,…

At 8:00 in the morning, two gauchos on horseback arrive at the blood farm, herding 30 to 40 horses. Shortly after, two employees are observed moving the horses from the holding pens into the raceway leading to the extraction building. One of them is waving a long stick with a white flag on the end and the other a stick with a plastic bag attached.…

Today we return to the estancia “Las Marquesas” of Fernando Perdigón to conduct further observations on the pastures. Our first sight are three heavily pregnant mares crossing the road. They have yellow tags around their necks. We assume that these mares are used for breeding to ensure a supply of young mares for PMSG production.

Most horses we…

When we arrive at the slaughterhouse Sarel, we are surprised to see that the large paddocks next to the main road, which were empty on our last visit in October, are very crowded today. Altogether, there are approximately 250 horses on the slaughterhouse premises. The temperature reaches 28°C today. We note that two small shelters have been built,…

When we arrive at the collecting station of the slaughterhouse Clay, we immediately realize that the horses still have no weather protection whatsoever. The broken shelters still have not been fixed although December is one of the hottest months of the year. The horses are kept in paddocks that offer no shade at all, not even from trees. Several of…

Today we visit another rodeo, called “jineteada” in Uruguay. Again, the horses are tied to a wooden post and blindfolded until the rodeo starts. They are very frightened. One horse falls down once and another twice while tied to the post and trying to free themselves. When the rodeo starts and the blindfold is taken off, the rider kicks the horse…