The mega farm of 270,000 cows of Baladna in Adrar in Algeria Enter an operational phase with the signing Monday in Algiers by Baladna of $ 500 million in contracts with Algerian and foreign suppliers.
The United States Embassy in Algiers announces on this occasion that “American dairy cows are on its way to Algeria”. An announcement which follows several years of Algerian-American cooperation in bovine genetics.
American high-tech cows and techniques for the Baladna farm in Algeria
This announcement comes when the Qatari group of dairy products Baladna signed this Monday, July 28, in Algiers, in the amount of $ 500 million with Algerian and foreign suppliers. The United States Ambassador to Algiers, Elizabeth Moore Aubin, was present and spoke with Youcef Cheurfa the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. It was at the end of this meeting that the American Embassy in Algiers announced the arrival of American cows. These “do not come alone! “Indicates the American diplomatic representation which adds that” American innovations such as the advanced irrigation systems of Valmont help to lay the foundations of a modern and autonomous dairy sector. »»
The embassy welcomes these various agreements and affirms that “it is the beginning of a new chapter of agricultural cooperation between the US and Algeria”.
There are two ways to bring American dairy cows to Algeria. The first consists of a maritime transport, although in 2017, in the case of the Baladna dairy in Qatar, the first cows arrived by an air bridge.
Thirty-six days after the breakdown of economic relations between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, Baladna imported 165 Holstein cows from Hungary.
Subsequently, Qatar will import cows from different countries to reach a livestock of 10,000 heads today by also betting on births from the first imported cows.
A second possibility consists of importing from the United States of seeds of bulls and frozen embryos used by local carriers.
Thanks to Irish and American experts, the Baladna dairy produced today in Qatar all of the country’s milk needs. The animals are fed from fodder including Luzerne hay cultivated in particular in Sudan as well as corn and soybean meats from the American continent.
Dairy cows: three years of partnership between the United States and Algeria
The partnership between the United States and Algeria in animal genetics dates from 2023. At the time, specialists from the two countries had met in Algiers. These were veterinarians, geneticists and specialists in artificial insemination and embryo transfer from the two countries. In this area, Algeria has a solid base with the National Center for Artificial Insemination and Genetic Improvement (CNIAAG) of Algiers.
The meeting had been organized by the United States Embassy in Algeria and was personally followed by Elizabeth Moore Aubin. This partnership materialized in April 2024 by the birth of a young calf at the agricultural complex of the Boussouf group in Mila. This birth had illustrated the supply to Algerian breeders of American bull seeds selected in the United States.
Like the Soummam dairy, the Hodna dairy of the Boussouf group holds a livestock comprising several thousand dairy cows.
On this occasion, the American ambassador said that: “The decision was made to sell the first genetic products. I am very impressed with this Algerian-American partnership in milk production ”.
As for Valmont, after the takeover in 2021 in Valley, a company specializing in the field of agricultural irrigation, it benefits from know-how in terms of design, manufacture and supply of irrigation systems, in particular concerning the central pivot system.