Hundreds of people have enjoyed this weekend the seventeenth edition of the San Isidro Labrador Insular Livestock Fair. A fair that this year also wanted to show its support for the camel sector and the sustainable tourist activity it carries out in the Timanfaya National Park.
The mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, underlines “the commitment, generational change, and business vision of the Yaiza and Lanzarote livestock farms”, also highlighting “our unanimous support for the camel sector which, at this fair, has been able to show some specimens, as in other editions, but also with an information tent from ACALAN, the Association of Camel Herders of Lanzarote, where the collective could explain the characteristics and value of the animal in the history of the Island and how they are cared for in the Vallito de Uga, in line with the awareness campaign being advanced by the association chaired by Francisco Mesa”.
For her part, the councilor for the Primary Sector of Yaiza, Silvia Santana, points out "the interest of families from Lanzarote in teaching boys and girls the importance of livestock farming in the consumption of milk, cheese, and other foods, and also the interest of schools in participating in the fair. On Friday, we invited all the educational centers in Yaiza for a guided tour and the schoolchildren learned and enjoyed themselves a lot".
The fair offered cheese tasting courses for minors and adults and a myriad of fun and recreational activities and enhancement of traditions that made the visit more enjoyable.
Uga also awarded the best specimens and lots of livestock under strictly technical criteria. The best horse specimen went to the rancher Andrés Carmelo Guillén; best donkey specimen exhibited, Leandro de León; best ram specimen, Ubay Betancort; best buck, Explotación Rubicón; lot of ewes, Rafael López; lot of heifers, María Jesús Tavío; lot of dairy goats, Noemí Quesada; best goat specimen, Gonzalo Cedrés; and best Canarian camel animal, a specimen from Francisco Mesa.
The fair's veterinary guide, Davinia Sosa, explains that “when awarding a prize, the breed and the morphological characteristics that should define that breed are always taken into account. That it meets the racial characteristics, avoiding crosses that could be detrimental”. Óscar Noda and Silvia Santana presided over the awards ceremony on Saturday, accompanied by councilwomen and councilmen of the Corporation.
The fair demonstrated Lanzarote's dedication to the countryside, the innovation efforts being made by farmers, the business organization led by new generations, and the results of unity exemplified by the Camel Herders Association itself or the Lanzarote Artisan Cheesemakers Association (AQUAL), also present at the fair with a variety of quality products.
The Yaiza City Council thanks the participation of workers from the primary sector, the public's response, and the outstanding work of the municipal areas of Primary Sector and Mobile Park, as well as the preventive services of the Local Police of Yaiza, Civil Protection Yaiza, and the work of all the people and entities that made possible four intense days of the fair. Uga leaves the fair and is already finalizing its patron saint festivities of San Isidro Labrador for the first fortnight of May.