In the late afternoon, we arrive at the estancia “San Miguel”, which is only 7 km away from the pine forest pasture. According to our information, this is where the mares are covered in spring (September). When approaching the farm, we observe two horses on a pasture, about 200 m before the entrance. One of them is lying on the ground. When the…

At noon, we drive to the pine plantation where the blood farmer keeps a part of his mares, about 40 km away from the blood farm. We do not see any horses, but the pasture is very large and we only inspect about one-tenth of the pine plantation. We find many fresh horse droppings, what confirms that horses have been grazing here recently. On…

At 9:00 in the morning, we return to the blood farm to see if the group of 200 mares has arrived during the night, which is not the case, so we decide to look for them around the area. Driving from the blood farm to the stud farm, we observe a group of four horses on land which belongs to the blood farmer, according to the neighbour we talked…

At 14:00 we drive to the forest pastures where the blood farmer keeps mares according to his neighbour. Just a few kilometres before arriving at the place, three gauchos and a herd of about 200 horses cross our way. As we find out later, these are blood mares that are taken from a forest pasture to the blood farm. We follow them for a while and…

The owner of the blood farm also owns a stud farm where he breeds race horses and Criollos. We find him there and want to talk to him, but he is curt and sends us away, stating that he has nothing to do with the blood business.

Following this, we talk to one of the neighbours who lives in the vicinity of the blood farm. He says that the mares we…

Today we talk to a woman who works as a housekeeper at the estancia “Sarandí” of Roberto Mailhos in the Departamento Lavalleja. Her name is Valeria Cuello (name changed). Her son Leonardo (name changed) also worked there until 10 October 2016. Valeria says that Mailhos rents a lot of land for his mares in this area, but at the moment they are…

In the early afternoon, we arrive at the estancia “El Yatay” of the company Syntex in the hinterland of Treinta y Tres. After the blood extraction which takes place at the estancia “Loma Azul” in Florida, mares are brought here for recovery. Some give birth to their foals in order to ensure a steady supply of young mares for the production of…

In the evening, we meet with Alberto Jerez (name changed), an employee of the Spanish timber company Los Eucaliptus SA that leases land to Fernando Perdigón. Alberto is responsible of the eucalyptus plantations at the estancia “Don Alcides”. He explains that the mares were brought there mid-July of this year. It attracted his attention that they…

In the afternoon, we return to the estancia “Don Alcides” where Perdigón keeps some of his mares in large eucalyptus plantations. A pick-up truck with horse trailer is parked on the road near the farmhouse. We start a conversation with the man who is standing by the trailer and find out that he is not involved in the blood business. He is here with…