The uncomfortable questions, answered.

With one of three arrangements, defined in writing before we start:

• Fixed monthly fee, based on area, number of cattle and complexity. Predictable, and appropriate when the ranch is already running smoothly.
• Percentage of production: a share of the kilos produced or of the result of the financial year. If the ranch does not produce, we do not get paid either.
• Mixed: a low fixed amount that covers the operation plus a variable tied to performance against the agreed indicators. This is the one we recommend for ranches under recovery.

The cattle station's expenses —staff, inputs, animal health, fuel, works— belong to the owner and are accounted for with receipts. The fee is separate and is never deducted from the cash box without authorization.

With four things, all committed to by contract:

• Monthly management report: cattle movements, inventory by category, expenses by line item, income, works and staff news, with the receipts available for your accountant.
• Quarterly production report: pregnancy-check and weaning percentage over bred females, pregnancy-to-weaning loss, average daily gain in g/day, stocking rate in AU/ha and mortality, compared against the plan.
• Dated photos of every visit: paddocks, watering points, corrals and cattle.
• Free access: you enter your ranch and consult the records whenever you want. All we ask is to coordinate the logistics of the trip.

The frequency is set in the contract according to the distance and the moment in the cycle, and it is put in writing with the full name of who goes. As a reference: permanent presence of the field staff, periodic technical visits by the person responsible for the cattle station, and mandatory presence at the critical operations —breeding, pregnancy checking, branding, weaning, vaccinations and shipments—.

If in a given month the agreed frequency could not be met, it is reported. Nothing is hidden.

The first option is always to work with the people who are already there. Staff who know the ranch, the watering points and the cattle are worth more than any new org chart, and breaking up that knowledge usually costs more than it saves.

What we do review is that the employment situation is in order, that roles are clear and that there is training in low-stress cattle handling. If after that a change has to be made, it is discussed with the owner beforehand, with the reason in writing. Staff are never moved without telling you.

This is the question that matters most, so here is the full answer:

• Autonomous spending limit. The owner sets an amount. Below it, we execute and account for it with a receipt. Above it, prior written authorization is requested.
• Sales are collected in your name. The money from the cattle goes into an account of the owner or of the cattle station's company. Never into an account of ours.
• Purchases with price comparison. Relevant inputs are quoted with more than one supplier and the comparison is included in the report.
• Cash box accounted for. Every guaraní that comes in and out of the cattle station's cash box is in the monthly report, with its backup documentation.

The silent loss of head is the classic fear of the absent owner, and it is fought with method, not with trust.

• Inventory by category closed every month: breeding females, heifers, calves, steers, bulls.
• Reconciliation of movements: opening stock + births + purchases − deaths − sales − transfers = closing stock. If it does not add up, it is investigated and reported.
• Full physical count during the general cattle operations, when the whole herd passes through the race.
• Cross-checking with official documentation: transport permits and SENACSA records.
• Mortality always reported, with the presumed cause. A report in which an animal never dies is not a trustworthy report.

It depends on the starting point, the region and how much investment can be made. What we can say honestly is the horizon:

• Animal health and record keeping: visible in the first year.
• Average daily gain in fattening: responds within the same cycle, if the pasture keeps up.
• Pregnancy check and weaning: measured per reproductive cycle. Improving the breeding herd is counted in years, not months.
• Recovery of degraded pastures: multi-year and in stages.

We do not promise improvement percentages before having set foot on the ranch. After the diagnosis we do set targets per indicator, and those targets are put in writing and measured.

The contract defines the term, the grounds for termination and the notice period for both parties. And it also defines what matters most on the way out: all the information is yours. Cattle records, weighing sheets, animal health history, staff documentation and accounting backups are handed over complete and in a usable format, with no withholding over pending balances.

When we take over we leave a record of the initial state of the cattle station. When we finish, the same closing record is made. That way it is documented what we received and what we return, and it does not depend on anyone's memory.

We operate in the Chaco —Bajo Chaco, Chaco Central and Alto Chaco— and in the Eastern Region. They are different productive realities and are managed differently: the dry Chaco is not managed like the east-south, not in stocking rate, not in pasture, not in water.

If your ranch is in an area where we have no direct experience, we tell you so and we do not take the job. We would rather lose a contract than learn at your expense.

Yes, it is part of the administrative work and it is usually one of the owner's biggest headaches:

• Registration and updating of the cattle station with SENACSA.
• Official vaccination calendar, with records and certificates.
• Transport permits and documentation of movements.
• Individual identification and registration, the basis of the traceability that export markets require.
• Tax documentation in order and coordination with your accountant. Your professional signs the tax filing; we give them the complete information on time.