I am looking for information about the intensive animal feed industry
in Brazil and Argentina. How is the industry organized and where are
its main centers, main players. More specifically I am also looking
for regional statistics of lifestock and animal feed production and
websites of related associations.
TIPS. 
A site with regional information in Argentina
http://www.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar/0-2/informes/mensual/produccion/Produc11.htm
animal feed = piensos (es) = raçaos = balanceados

Good day Nazca,

   
   The animal feed industry in Brazil and Argentina is indeed
intensive. The link you're provided is in spanish, and the translated
page can be found at
http://babelfish.altavista.com/urltrurl?tt=url&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar%2F0-2%2Finformes%2Fmensual%2Fproduccion%2FProduc11.htm&lp=es_en&doit=done&urltext=

   Livestock production in Argentina is extensive. Year-round grazing
is the only feeding scheme as this source of food is abundant and low
cost, in economic terms. Pastures are the only source of food for
dairy cows. Milk production in Argentina clearly reflects this
situation (2500 lt./cow/year). A Profile of the balanced feed industry
and pertinent controls can be found at
http://www.iica.org.ar/Bse/9-%20Kyburg.html

   The major player in Argentina's animal feed and livestock industry
is the National Institute for Farming and Livestock Technology --
Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA).
INTA 
E.E.A. S.C. de Bariloche 
Casilla de Correo 277 
CP (8400) Bariloche 
Provincia de Río Negro 
República Argentina 
Tel: 54-0944-22731-29862-29863 
Fax: 54-0944-24991 
E-mail: ebariloc@inta.gov.ar 
Website : http://inta.gov.ar

A small description of INTA can be found at
http://cab2.cnea.gov.ar/bariloche/english/Baritec/inta.htm

   As far as statistics go, the English page was udner construction
and I was asked to e-mail sagpya@sagyp.mecon.gov.ar

   Various reports on the cattle ranch in Argentina can be found at
/urltrurl?urltext=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar%2F0-0%2Findex%2Fganaderia%2Ftext.htm&lp=es_en&doit=done&tt=url
   
   I've spent almost 2 hours on this so far. I will post the answer on
Brazil within a day.I hope it is OK with you.
   
Cheers,
aditya2k

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Clarification of Answer by aditya2k-ga on 11 Jun 2002 05:24 PDT

The second last para should read as follows :

Various reports on the cattle ranch in Argentina can be found at
http://babelfish.altavista.com/urltrurl?urltext=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar%2F0-0%2Findex%2Fganaderia%2Ftext.htm&lp=es_en&doit=done&tt=url

I forgot to put the babelfish.altavista.com

---

Clarification of Answer by aditya2k-ga on 11 Jun 2002 12:17 PDT

This question has proved to be tougher than I thought. Also,
personally, I feel it is underpriced. It should've been $100 for each
Argentina and Brazil, considering the amount of effor that has to be
put in.

The Brazillian animal feed industry does not seem to have a definite
organization, or at least its not represented on the internet. I was
able to find a couple of players, though.

The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa)
http://www.embrapa.br/english/index.htm

KeplerWeber
http://www.kepler.com.br/ingles/

A lot of the documents are not in English, and is difficult to get the
exact translation. Babelfish has shortcomings, but it allows you to
understand whats going on. So, criticizing Babelfish would be unfair.

Have a good day.

Cheers,
aditya2k

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Request for Answer Clarification by nazca-ga on 12 Jun 2002 08:45 PDT

Hi thank you for the input so far. How ever the Babelfish input
doesn´t work on my computer.

Can you give me the Spanish link and perhaps a description of how to
use the Babelfish translater?

---

Clarification of Answer by aditya2k-ga on 12 Jun 2002 22:24 PDT

Good day Nazca,


   The babelfish translator is a service proved by Altavista. Its URL
is http://babelfish.altavista.com . Once you go there, you fill find
two input boxes. The first one is if you want to translate text that
you type in. The second one is if you want to translate the URL(which
is what you're looking for). Type in the URL in that field. Followed
by that, you have a combo box (ie. a drop down list), where you select
the languages for conversion. (Spanish to English in your case).

   Any further clarification, please don't hesitate to ask. I will
clarify it as soon as possible


Cheers,
aditya2k

The Argentina part was quite good, the Brazilian part was rather
poor.It would have been interesting to have recieved also the links to
the reference mentioned in one of the article especially SAGPyA -
COncentrates working document nº8

Please, PLEASE, be very wary of using Babelfish!  Putting the web page
about Argentina through Babelfish gives some strange results.  As an
example, if you take the first table, you will be presented with data
on feed production for domestic servants!!!  This is a mistranslation
of "domesticos", which in this context refers to pets not to servants.
 The term "parrilleros" is given as "barbecuers", which means if
anything a person who barbecues or the piece of equipment on which to
barbecue.  The data are actually on feeds for broilers (chickens), as
opposed to the data given for layers in the adjoining column, for
which the original Spanish terms "ponedoras" has been retained in the
"translation".  Likewise, "equinas" has not been translated, although
it is not too difficult to figure that this means equines, ie horses
etc.

Incidentally, the table also provides information on feeds for dairy
cattle (second column, bov. leche), so this implies that there is some
supplementary feeding in addition to what they obtain from pasturage.

Babelfish might, just might, be occasionally useful for getting a
rough idea of content.  However, you cannot rely on it for accurate
translation.  If you want information from a web site in an unfamiliar
language, you really do need to turn to a human being who will be able
to translate it intelligently.

http://www.lamorim.com.br/ is quite an interesting Brazilian company. 
It produces probiotic (i.e. containing beneficial bacteria) feedstuffs
for farm and domestic animals, claiming this is both ecologically and
economically beneficial.  The web site at present is only in
Portuguese.

Another line to follow is the Brazilian soybean industry, since soya
is a major component of many feedstuffs.

Criticising Babelfish is completely fair if it provides grossly
inaccurate translations.  I personally would not base any business
decisions on information received via Babelfish, nor would I use it to
produce any critical documents in another language.