Visiting Cuba which is so close, yet so far from the United States was an amazing experience for an Animal Scientist who has worked in Europe, Africa and Asia. My first impressions were the following. There are very few cars on the well maintained roads, given the population of the country. The city of Havana was an odd mix of the old and the new with a few very modern cars, numerous very old cars, and a mix of horses, motorcycles, and some human powered taxis. Unlike other less developed countries we were not swarmed by young men trying to sell us things and assist us in every conceivable way to earn some money. Throughout the country I felt safer than I have in any other less developed country. We were less harassed, but I also felt as if there were a lot of people who are waiting for something better. In many of the cities we visited the young people displayed a lot of idleness, and from my perspective the possibility for trouble if the opportunity arose.

My primary interest was seeing farms and farmers, and especially oxen and cattle. These are my primary professional interests, and I knew going to Cuba that cattle and oxen were important animals producing power, milk, meat and fertilizer.

Our diverse group traveling under the Global Exchange license spent a few days in Havana meeting with urban agriculturists, extension people who work in Havana promoting urban gardening and a few representatives from the Ministry of Science. At the Ministry of Science I asked a few questions about oxen or animal traction. I had read a few things about the transition back to oxen, so some of the answers were no surprise.

"Animal traction was an alternative we had to utilize," said a representative of the Ministry of Science and Technology. "Oxen work well in tobacco fields not causing compaction of soils." "We recently started a program to study the continued feasibility of animal traction."

They admitted Cubans were studying other alternatives, such as biomass and methane digestion. However, in the early 1990's the nation realized they had to feed 11 million people, and animal traction provided a renewable source of energy, independent of foreign energy sources.

The representative went on, "As we move ahead, life will tell us when we can move (away) from animal traction. Technology can be applied with animal traction, alternative energy can work with traditional methods, and we need to preserve and use this technology now. Having oxen and tractors was a good thing, because all of a sudden in the late 1980's we had no more tractors. Oxen and tractors are always going to be used together."

The next day we finally made it out into the countryside. There were many interesting sights, but we had a fairly tight schedule. I had never been on an organized tour before. It was a little challenging trying to refrain from getting off the bus and going on my own agricultural adventure. If my Spanish had been better it would have nearly been impossible to not wander off into the countryside to truly see what the farmers did on a daily basis with their animals, crops and fields.

Oxen could be seen as we drove across the countryside plodding along in many of the smaller fields. Their presence was not a surprise, as this was one reason I wanted to visit Cuba. However, the speed at which they worked in the tropical heat was very slow, compared to other animals I had seen in other countries. The animals had learned to pace themselves to the heavy plowing and transport they had to do. They were certainly utilized more year round than the animals I had worked with in Africa who were only used a few weeks or months a year.

The highlight of the entire trip for me was visiting a CPA, in a rural area not far from Santa Clara. This particular CPA was founded in 1977, and there were 15-20 farmers at that time. In 1980 a second farm was formed nearby, and in 1981 the two joined together.

According to the CPA's president Raphael Santana, their focus until recently was sugarcane with some production of other crops for self consumption. In the last few years they have tried to move away from sugar, focusing instead on dairy and beef production. On this CPA they had 1050 hectares total, 700 for cattle ranching, and 350 for multiple crops. They focused their work in 3 areas, cattle production, pork and poultry production, as well as production of crops for self consumption.

When asked what they wanted, if they could have anything on the farm, the answers were barbed wire for fencing and better pasture management, improved breeds of cattle for dairy and beef production, through the use in part of artificial insemination.

According to the head economist at the CPA, it has taken two years to become profitable in the shift from sugar to livestock production. They were able to make this change by getting some assistance for transition losses from sugar. The group admitted they were exceptional at sugar production, and the full transition has taken three years.

We unfortunately did not get to see any of the dairy or beef cattle, but I asked how the cows and dairy products were handled?

The cows are milked once per day, but they run with the calves. They milk once a day at 7 am, and first distribute milk to the CPA members, the excess is sold to the dairy processor. Because there are few concentrates or supplements fed to the calves. The calves make better gains on milk which they suckle from their dam. The major disadvantage is that the production from each cow is greatly diminished by the milk the calf consumes.

A nearby processor makes yogurt, ice cream and other products. We were told that 48% of the ranchers in the area of this CPA feed supplements to cow, but they have not reached that level at this particular CPA. The primary breeds they employed were Brown Swiss, Holstein and Zebu type animals, but they admitted they would greatly benefit from artificial insemination and a greater access to better genetics. We were told disease problems were not particularly challenging, but penicillin and other antibiotics are used as needed, as well as a regular treatments for parasites.

From my limited perspective, the dairy industry has a long way to go, as most of the dairy cattle I saw in the countryside were not very productive. Many animals were staked on the side of the road, and it was obvious to me, as one who is trained to select and breed cattle for high production a lot of progress could be made with the right inputs. Furthermore, the lack of milk in the country could be more easily understood, when the milk in rural areas was seen being transported on horse carts in milk cans.

This particular CPA had started with oxen in 1977, but moved to tractors when they were able to make the transition to mechanization. Ten years ago, they switched back to a greater use of oxen in the sugarcane production, but oxen were mostly used for transporting the sugarcane. The oxen had never disappeared so there was no need to relearn the technology, and the President of the CPA, admitted, "Oxen are a part of the culture and life of the Cuban people."

Examining a few teams of oxen closely, it was obvious that training was started when the animals were large enough to work. This was evident by the flightness of the animals at this CPA and others I saw on my walkabouts near the hotels we stayed in. Training involved putting a ring in their nose and forcing the animals to work. The animal welfare people in the states would have had a field day with this. In fact, I have presented some of my work on on ox training techniques to animal welfare groups in Europe, and these Cuban ox trainers were obviously hardy men, who knew their business. In contrast in New England we have a strong history and culture of training cattle as calves. When mentioning this possibility, there was a lot of giggles, as this was not even considered. The animals wore a head yoke, which weree not well fitted to the animals, as evidenced by the wounds on their heads, the ropes which held the yoke in place around the horns, and the torn noses of some of the animals. Again, I would have liked to have spent a month truly doing a survey, but the animals I saw on two or three farms were all in a similar state of being less than comfortable in their yokes.

A team was worked for about 7-8 years, beginning when they were 3-4 years old, and continuing until they were about 11 or 12. Seeing some older animals, it was obvious that they had been worked hard. Their body condition was low, in part due to the many hours they had spent in a yoke. The cattle behaved well, and responded easily to the ropes the ox driver held in his hand while plowing or doing cart work. Most men also held a long pole used to prod and direct the animals. Interestingly, the men I observed used the term "whoa" to stop them, and had no problem stopping this hard working animals, who likely relished taking a rest any chance they had. The oxen were kept close the farm either tethered out beside the road or near plots of crops to graze, although one cooperative farm had a special corral and outdoor tie up for the animals, and a small hut for their equipment.

The ox drivers were genuinely interested in sharing ideas, and recognized the difference in our training and yoking techniques, when I shared my own photos and experiences with oxen. They wanted to immediately know if the neck yoke animals in the United States wore could pull more. When I told them a well fitted yoke of either style worked equally well, they seemed happy to hear that. I showed them pictures of head yokes from Canada and the United States, and they commented on the level of comfort they could see, and the tremendous loads the animals were pulling.

I asked inquired about how the technology spread when the transition was necessary in the early 1990's. The reply was that oxen had never disappeared from Cuba, but had become less numerous. Most people who lived in rural areas on farms still knew how to yoke, train and work the animals. So there was no need for national training programs. Although interestingly, they do have competitions, where oxen and drivers come together for some fun and sharing of ideas. They had never heard of pulling contests as we know them, but plowing competitions and other forms of display and farmer exhibitions are found in Cuba ( Starkey .

I told our hosts at the CPA, that I would like to stay for a few weeks on the farm and learn from the farmers more about their oxen. They warmly welcomed me, and said we had a lot to share. The photos I left of oxen working in the field and competing at agricultural fairs in the United States brought great smiles and much discussion. I only wish I could have spent more time on the farm to truly compare our systems of working oxen. Apparently the President of the CPA said he was going to make a display of my photos for all to see, so they could learn from our discussion and my photos.

Another highlight of the tour was a visit to a state run research farm, called INIVIT, also near Santa Clara, which was started about 1979. Its major mission has been agricultural research on crops for human consumption. Their research focused on roots and tubers, vegetables, beans, fruits and grains. Although cattle could be seen grazing under the orchards1.

One of the primary focus areas at INIVIT was genetic preservation and improvement. This farm house many natural collections of crops from all over Cuba. One of the main objectives is to produce elite seeds, and train local producers in improved agricultural techniques. They were also doing some work on pest and disease control, using primarily biological means, as well as production, harvest and post harvest techniques.

Their specialty, and they seemed particularly proud of this was in the preservation of national stocks and production of yacca, sweet potatoes, yams, taro and white potatoes. After 1990 when Cuban export markets disappeared, they too were told they had to focus on local production. They had no pesticides, chemical fertilizers or fuel for irrigation, so this institution, like the local farmers had to modify their production methods and ideas.

Cubans only had about 10% of the tractors in operation n 1990. Most crops had to be grown with oxen. There was a great shift to oxen, which in part came from a mandate from the government to select bull calves first as oxen, then for breeding, and only after this could any others be used for meat. There were 32 oxen at INIVIT, and they were staked out when not working to keep the grass mowed in between research plots.

During this period biological and organic fertilizers became an important area of research, as well as weed control strategies. Being close to farmers in the rural area, they felt that they have been better able to interact with farmers and to learn from them. Some of the farm's research comes from local farmer's indigenous knowledge, such as planting during certain phases of the moon, which is a cultural tradition.

On the farm's 200 hectares of research plots, biologists, geneticists, microbiologists, ecologists, economists, nematologists, entomologists, phytopathologists and physiologists are working together to address the needs of improved crops and crop production methods for food production. Teams of scientists work together on complex problems. For example in addressing pest control in sweet potatoes, the geneticists, sociologists, entomologists, economists and even mathematicians work as a team to address the agricultural and social challenges in making this technology work.

If I had been able to spend a month instead of a week, I am sure I could conclude with stronger statements, but even so this was a wonderful opportunity to view a country that is so close to the United States, but so different in the way it is growing its own food.

Most farmers, although using organic techniques said this was out of necessity, not necessarily conviction. There was a statement that the food was healthier and the environment better off because of this transition. The people at INIVIT emphasized the importance of biological soil health. The mixed agricultural systems they were adopting in some areas seemed to create a more wholistic approach to agricultural production, but large sugar cane, tobacco, and cattle operations were still the most common forms of production we viewed driving across the rural countryside.

Transportation was a large issue in rural areas. While there were some trucks on the roads, most rural transport was done with horses. Oxen seemed to be primarily used more like tractors in the states, for on farm heavy work close to the fields. Horses were faster and better able to work on the roads and in the hot humid climate. The horses were also very small, not much more than large ponies. Their size and presence on the roads reminded me of the early history of the United States when oxen were considered larger and more powerful than horses, because the horses were not draft animals, but light horses pulling carts, sleighs or used for riding.

From my perspective one of the most amazing things was the research being done on alternative crops, particularly yacca, taro, sweet potatoes, and other non-export crops of low commercial value. While the primary crops continue to be rice, sugarcane and potatoes. Many other countries could benefit from this alternative research on crops well suited to the tropical climate, rather than being influenced by the large international corporations pushing rice, corn and bean production.

When asked what would happen if the blockade were lifted, we were told the first change might be to revert to more chemical fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in a rapid move away from appears to be the unique sustainability of the system. This would likely increase farm income, provide more food for the masses, but would come at some expense to the environment.

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1 When asked about this, wondering if it was a formal research project, I was told they were only cattle the people working there used for milk production.