In Camagüey, San José Ranch: a sure refuge

By: Raysa Mestril Gutiérrez

To pass over the cover of the Ranch San José, in the municipality of Sibanicú, yumbils of all the colors and herdsmen of good grass, welcome next to real turkeys, iguanas, doves, quails, and until the antelope Carola that reaffirm the arrival to a sure refuge.

Immediately Eduardo Garaboa Álvarez`s hand, Lalito for all, extends and explains to him that have arrived to a place dedicated to the protection of the flora and the fauna, where reproduces the genetic bottom of horses and multiplies the asnar, to obtain mules.

When arriving to the blocks, Lalito teaches proud as each montero assists its patio of mares, each one of a different color, pride of the Ranch, the same as its sires Patibarcins, Creole Quarter Horse and Arabic, those in charge of a good reproduction to obtain animals of pure race.

The Ranch San José specializes in the breeding of the race Patibarcin, intelligent, energetic and special horse for the work of the cattle raising, of those that count with more than 50 animals, among them 20 mares for the reproduction, but also have other racial equine,among them more than 200 mestize mares, dedicated to breeding.

As politics to maintain the genetic bottom, in this type of ranches, keep the females and the males send them to other dependences.

As for the livestock asnar, Lalito explains that the demands of the Plan Turquino in the mountains of the country is high, for it, in the Ranch San José assumed the obtaining of mules, starting from the crossing of the mare and the donkey, to be animal resistant for the work in those places. Today they count with more than 500 donkeys, and are considered the unit of bigger quantity of these copies.

During our visit, 50 mares were pregnant and continue the reproduction to fulfill the order that were made Lalito and their near 200 workers live proud of their ranch, where also have bovine livestock, ram, rabbits and already prepared conditions to recapture the breeding of birds, the one that a lot were affected when the hurricane Ike.

And because their mission is the one of improving the breeding of horses genetically, all, print its biggest efforts in the attention to those animals, it not stops in a future very distant, when it is spoken of the Race Patibarcin, it is known that its best copies left the Ranch San José, in the municipality of Sibanicú, because that it is sure refuge for the Flora protection and the Cuban Fauna.