A trip to Russia earlier this month by the Colorado Department of Agriculture helped foster business relationships with Russian cattlemen and provided opportunities for market Colorado breedstock.

Andy Maupin, with Spruce Mountain Cattle Ranch in Larkspur, Colo., traveled with Colorado, Montana and Kansas ag department officials to Moscow and to visit with Angus Genetics of Russia in the Kaluga region.

The group attended the Golden Autumn Livestock Exposition, and visited with Russian beef producers about U.S. beef genetics. They also toured area ranches to see first-hand what Russian beef production looks like.

During the Golden Autumn event, Maupin joined other U.S. Angus producers to meet with their Russian counterparts in the industry.

Maupin sees the trip as a "tremendous opportunity" to see how U.S. genetics can help Russia reach its goal of producing higher quality beef.

Like many seed stock ranches in Colorado, Spruce Mountain wants to expand their marketing efforts overseas.  They previously hosted delegations of Russian, Canadian and Mexican industry representatives toward that effort. Spruce Mountain representatives have also traveled to Canada and Mexico.

This is the second business development trip to Russia on behalf of Colorado ranchers conducted by CDA.

"I've seen the market potential grow since our first trip to Russia in 2001," says Dawn Velasquez de Perez, CDA international marketing specialist. "We hope Colorado will become partners with the Russian cattle industry through the export of live cattle, semen and embryos."

The mission was funded through the USDA Market Access Program working with U.S. Livestock Genetics Export, Inc.

For additional information, contact Velasquez de Perez at (303) 239-4123 or [email protected].