Published: June 15, 2009 07:45 pm      

Coming a long way to learn

Africans visit town to learn cattle, ranching business

A group of dignitaries from Dakkar, Senegal, in West Africa paid a visit to Athens Monday morning to take a look at how agriculture is done in East Texas.

Senator Aly Lo said the group wanted to see the livestock here and find out about artificial insemination of cattle.

“We have a lot of cattle in West Africa,” Lo said. “We would like to find a way to do business with American farmers and possibly exchange products and even send cattle that we have artificially inseminated to America.”

Also making the trip were other mayors from Senegal towns, Mr. Ali Brahim and Mr. Cali Fall and their wives. They are also interested in ways to increase their land and make it profitable for them.

“We want to learn more about farming and the way it is done in America,” Fall said. “Texas is known for its farms and ranches and cattle. They have a lot of cattle. We want to produce cattle in West Africa.”

Henderson County Extenuation Agent Rick Hirsch shared with the group that there are over 35,000 head of cattle in Henderson County, but that all ranches are not cattle ranches.

“We have some farms around here that are just farms that produce hay, or produce wheat and grain,” Hirsch said. “We do have many that are cattle ranches and work cows of all different breeds and brands.”

Hirsch took the group on a tour of several farms, including the Echo Springs Blueberry Farm between LaRue and Athens. He then took the group on to several cattle ranches to show them the different breeds and show some operations that deal with artificial insemination.

The group was scheduled to go back to the Metroplex Monday afternoon.