美国牛仔帮助俄罗斯建立高质量菜牛种群

    This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
    这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

    Twenty years ago, when the Soviet Union collapsed, so did beef production in Russia. Breeding and management programs for beef cattle fell apart. Today, Russia imports much of its beef. Cattle are raised mostly for dairy.
    苏联20年前解体时,俄罗斯的牛肉生产也随之瓦解,菜牛(又译肉用牛、食用牛)的饲养和管理项目分崩离析。今天,俄罗斯大部分牛肉依靠进口,国内主要饲养奶牛。

    Instead of beef, Russians have expanded poultry and pork operations. These are faster and less costly to start. But there is some new investment in beef production. And one of those involved is an American rancher and cowboy named Darrell Stevenson.
    俄罗斯人扩大了家禽和猪肉生产以替代牛肉。这类生产起步更快,成本更低。但菜牛生产也有新的投资,一位名为达雷尔·史蒂文森(Darrell Stevenson)的美国农场主兼牛仔就是其中的投资者之一。

    He sees plenty of room for growth -- Russia's beef herd is less than one percent the size of the American herd.
    他看到了巨大的发展空间 -- 俄罗斯菜牛种群规模尚不足美国的1%。

    DARRELL STEVENSON (0:20): "Tremendous opportunity in this country in terms of the vast resources. Tremendous amount of available ground, whether it is tilled or not."
    史蒂文森:“这个国家拥有丰富的资源,蕴含了巨大的发展机会。有着大量的可利用土地,无论耕种与否。”

    In late two thousand ten, Darrell Stevenson began sending cows, bulls, horses and equipment to Russia. He sent more than fourteen hundred animals. About a third of them traveled by ship. The others came by plane.
    2010年底,史蒂文森开始向俄罗斯运送母牛、公牛、马以及设备。他运送了超过1400头牲畜,其中近1/3使用航运,其它使用空运。

    Mr. Stevenson has two Russian partners in what they call the Stevenson-Sputnik Ranch. The ranch is located on almost six thousand hectares of land in Voronezh in the black earth area of southern Russia.
    在Stevenson-Sputnik农场,史蒂文森先生还有2名俄罗斯合伙人。该农场位于俄罗斯南部沃罗涅日的黑土区,占地近6000公顷。

    The Angus and Hereford cattle came from ranches in his home state of Montana. The imported cows have given birth to their first calves.
    这些安格斯牛和海福特牛都来自他家乡蒙大拿州的农场。这些进口的母牛已经产下了第一批牛犊。

    DARRELL STEVENSON (0:09): "We are helping establish a local beef herd, a regional beef herd, and eventually a national beef herd."
    史蒂文森:“我们正在帮助建立本地化、区域化乃至全国化的牛种群。”

    Ekaterina Zimina grew up in St. Petersburg and trained as a veterinarian. She worked last year on Darrell Stevenson's ranch in Montana to learn American methods. She says Russians have a lot of experience with dairy cows in barns, but not with beef cattle on open rangeland.
    叶卡捷琳娜·兹米娜(Ekaterina Zimina)在圣彼得堡长大,并接受了兽医培训。她去年到史蒂文森位于蒙大拿州的农场去学习美国养殖经验。她表示,俄罗斯人在圈养奶牛方面经验丰富,但没有在开放牧场养殖菜牛的经验。

    EKATERINA ZIMINA: "Because it is really, really hard to find good enough people in Russia that can work with beef cattle, because Russia is world-known as dairy country. We have lots of dairy herds, dairy cows. But managing dairy and beef cows is a totally different thing."
    兹米娜:“在俄罗斯寻找合格的菜牛饲养者非常非常之困难,因为俄罗斯是全球闻名的乳业大国。我们有许多的奶牛种群和奶牛,但管理奶牛和菜牛是完全不同的事情。”

    Darrell Stevenson is not the only American involved in projects to build a high-quality beef herd in Russia. Reaching that goal will take time -- and a lot more cows. But Ms. Zimina says the ranch in Voronezh can help show Russians about life on the range.
    史蒂文森不是唯一参与俄罗斯建设高质量菜牛种群工程的美国人。实现这一目标尚需时日,也需要更多的母牛。但兹米娜表示,沃罗涅日的牧场可以向俄罗斯人展示牧场生活。

    EKATERINA ZIMINA: "We together can show these people that this is not something from the movie, that cowboys really exist, and it is a really hard job and that is possible to do this even in Russia."
    兹米娜:“我们可以向世人证明,这不是电影里的东西,牛仔真实存在。这是一项非常艰难的工作,但即使在俄罗斯也可以做这些。”