Copiso promotes ‘contact’ between its beef producer members and the Dehesa Grande marketing company and cooperative, acting as a bridge and intermediary. At an informative meeting with forty livestock farmers held on February 10, the manager of Dehesa Grande, Octavio Gonzalo, presented his cooperative specializing in beef, its activities, and its business model. The purpose of the meeting was to spark the interest of Copiso’s members in evaluating the start of a possible commercial relationship with the Salamanca-based entity.
Copiso’s general manager, Pascual López, had previously explained that “our cattle production base is not sufficient to consider creating our own commercial structure in this sector. That is why it is better to join forces or collaborate with others,” he concluded.
Copiso currently produces feed for around 5,000 calves and 7,000 cows. Soria accounts for less than 2% of the number of cows and calves in Castile and León. At the end of 2025, there were 11,687 cows and 3,400 calves in the province, “far from the 300,000 and 60,000 in Salamanca; the 120,000 and 33,000 in Ávila; or the 40,000 and 41,000 cows in Segovia or Burgos. The lack of pasture land, because the soil is mainly suitable for cultivation or because of the abundance of wooded areas and pine forests, hinders the development of the cattle sector in Soria, notes Pascual López.
However, he does value the importance of Copiso’s 160 or so cattle producer members, “who represent a significant part of the social weight,” highlighting the recent incorporation of young farmers. Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that both are members of Urcacyl, the advisability of promoting contact between Copiso members and Dehesa Grande has been assessed. “Time will tell the scope of this relationship. Our intention has been to provide our cattle farmers with a leading, solvent, expanding, and completely trustworthy marketing cooperative. This may encourage the creation of more calf feedlots,” says the CEO of Copiso, in a province with a tradition of grazing calves. That is, calves that remain in the mountains with the cow until they are weaned and then sold for feedlots.
With more than 25 years of experience, Dehesa Grande—a second-degree cooperative—has more than 600 members belonging to five first-degree cooperatives in the provinces of Salamanca and Zamora. The Salamanca-based entity has two companies, the slaughterhouse and the marketing company (which buys from members and non-members). Dehesa Grande’s meat customers include prestigious hotel groups and hypermarket chains. It has a network of franchises and butcher shops throughout Spain and its own online store. Its turnover is around 80 million, with the marketing and/or slaughter of 40,000 beef carcasses and 9,000 live calves in 2024.