Chiriquí Chatter

Yesterday, I had the opportunity of going over to the San Felix area of Chiriquí to see some bulls being rounded up and sold to one of the local supermarkets. The morning started early, as the departure time was 6:00 AM. Now I usually wake up at 5:30, but I have to admit to being pretty lazy until about 8:00.

The morning was crisp and the air was fresh. It was a perfect morning to make this drive. We arrived at the owner’s corral a little after 7:00. It is about 75 km from David to the San Felix ranch.

As the wranglers were loading the bulls into the trucks, I took a few photos. The photo first shows some bulls waiting their turn for the loading shoot.

Here is a more remote shot. In this photo, you can get an idea of the main corral area. This one was used to separate the bulls and move some into a smaller lot that contained the shoot/ramp that lead up to the truck bed.

Here is a photo of a couple of the wranglers.

This wrangler on the appaloosa is in front of the gate to the second lot. I wish I had gotten another photo of his horse. It was really a pretty appaloosa and the first I have seen in some time.

This is a shot of the pasture area that the cattle use for feed.

This is another shot out the window as we were heading over to the scale area.

Now we are at the scale area and the first truck is ready to unload its bulls. At the back of the truck is a ramp that leads down to the actual scales. From the scales the bulls will go into other holding areas and on the left is another ramp to reload the bulls after being weighed.

This is a shot of the exit ramp. When the bulls have been unloaded from the truck it will move to the second ramp to reload the just weighed bulls.

This is a photo of digital readout of the scales.

This is the scale area. At this point the scales’ reading is 0.0 pounds.

The process begins and they bring down 5 bulls at a time onto the scales.

Here we have a set of 5 being weighed.

Here comes the next set. If you want to see a short video clip so you can get a feel of being there, click on the photo below.

This is Don Domingo who is the rancher that is selling these bulls. I got to spend some talking with him. He was a real interesting person and like all Chiricanos, he is extremely proud of his province. He said it was the best province in the whole country. “Life is tranquil and the air is pure”. He said he had 3,500 hectares (8649 acres) and about 1,500 head of cattle running on it. I would call that a reasonable sized ranch, wouldn’t you.

I noticed that all of the animals going to market were bulls and there were no steers. In the US, I think it is more typical to castrate the bulls and only send steers to market. I was told that they didn’t like the extra fat that it put into the meat. He said he typically bought young bulls around 400-450 pounds and it would take around two years for them to get to the sale weight. In general these animals are strictly pasture raised.

Here is the reading on the scale with 5 bulls on the scale. For these five bulls, that is an average of 1261.6 pounds each. From what I saw the average was pretty consistent for all weighings. The current price for meat on the hoof is 55 cents.

This shot shows the bulls in the holding area.

Now the truck has been moved and is ready to reload.

This is the buyer. All of the bulls that were sold today are headed to Super99. There were 50 bulls sold today that will soon available for you to purchase as various cuts of meat.

This shot didn’t come out as nice as it looked when I took it. The lush green with the cottony white clouds in the background was what I wanted, but the true beauty of the day just doesn’t come through. Take my word for it. It was a beautiful day.

This is a photo of the pasture area behind the loading scales.

Now that the business transactions had been taken care of, my host for the day took me to a small town in the San Felix area. Here are a few photos of the main part of the town.

We stopped at a local restaurant and had a late breakfast of fresh fried fish and plantain.

It was now time to head back to David. Since we were right by the San Felix River, we drove over to the area that is having problems with the river changing directions.

It had been a long time since I had been to the Las Lajas beach area. I had forgotten how pretty it was. I know you are wondering about the photos, but we went out walking around the problem areas and I left the camera in the car.

There was evidence of the large amount of boulders that had been brought in to try to save the next piece of property in danger. Without a photo to show what had been, a photo of what is now, probably would not tell you anything anyway. I hope the government gets on the ball and decides to help.

On the way back to David a police speed trap stopped us. The officer claimed that we were exceeding (and had radar to prove it) a 70 kmh (42 mph) speed limit. I didn’t see any speed sign. Guess it is time to collect more money.

That brings us to the end of yesterday’s outing. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.