World Agriculture Directory: the home of the world's largest agriculture database. Fastest way to find events, farms and agribusiness that suit your needs. Agriculture Event Directory

Cattlemen Hall of FameBeef cattle barons, cowboys, breeders and builders from around the world

Cattle Breeders and Breed Pioneers

Federico Vidiella: Banker, Minister and Breeder in Uruguay

A Montevideo financier who also bred imported cattle and horses and helped record their pedigrees.

Who was Federico Vidiella?

Federico Vidiella was a Montevideo businessman who lived from 1850 to 1927. A Spanish-language reference summary, listed in the sources, describes him as a banker and hacendado, a landowner and stock raiser, who founded a cabana for fine breeding stock. The same summary says he co-authored the genealogical registry of the Asociacion Rural for imported cattle and horse breeds. No full biography was available to this profile, so those points are reported and not independently confirmed here.

He should not be confused with Francisco Vidiella, the Catalan-born winemaker of the nineteenth century, who is a different person.

Was Vidiella a government minister?

A page from the Uruguayan paper La Manana names don Federico R. Vidiella as Minister of Finance under President Juan Idiarte Borda, who held office from 1894 to 1897. The page says he backed the idea of a national bank and was tasked with designing it using state resources, which the article credits as the country's main economic development instrument, despite opposition from private financial circles.

It adds that his economic ideas drew on his industrial and commercial enterprises and his knowledge of the rural world. The page does not call him a breeder, but that last point fits the cattle record the reference summary describes.

What did a registry mean for Uruguayan breeders?

A genealogical registry, or herd book, is the record that proves an animal's parentage. Without one, imported British cattle could not be sold at a premium as pure stock, and breeders had no common standard. The Asociacion Rural del Uruguay was founded in 1871, and its livestock shows began as national events in the 1880s. According to El Observador's history of the ARU shows, a register of exhibitors opened in 1883 and the association persuaded railway companies to waive return freight on breeding animals.

The first national livestock fair was held in 1883 on Avenida 18 de Julio. In 1902 a championship prize was created, and the Prado grounds opened for the show in 1913. Registries and shows worked together: pedigrees qualified animals to compete, and show results lifted the value of pedigreed stock.

What Made It Work

Vidiella's credit, as reported, rests on combining finance with livestock. He had capital, held a public role in banking and put some of it into pedigreed animals and their documentation.

The record is thin, so the lessons below are limited to what is reported.

  • He backed a national bank in public office, helping rural and industrial borrowers gain credit, per La Manana.
  • He is reported to have founded a cabana for fine breeding stock rather than raising commercial herds.
  • He is reported to have helped write the Asociacion Rural's registry for imported cattle and horse breeds, giving pedigrees a common record.
  • His business interests were industrial and commercial as well as rural, which spread risk.

Limits of the record

This profile is marked thin because the sources available gave little about his cabana, the breeds he kept or the years of his registry work. Dates for birth and death come from a single summary. Where a claim could not be confirmed, it is labeled reported.

For more on ranching in Latin America, visit the ranching pages of farm.FM, or read a farm.FM story on Uruguayan cattle breeders. For the history of the livestock shows themselves, see the full El Observador article.

Timeline

  1. 1850Federico Vidiella born
  2. 1871Asociacion Rural del Uruguay founded
  3. 1883First national livestock fair; register of exhibitors opens
  4. 1894-1897Minister of Finance under President Idiarte Borda
  5. 1902Championship prize created at Uruguayan livestock shows
  6. 1913The Prado grounds host the show for the first time
  7. 1927Vidiella dies

Frequently asked questions

Who was Federico Vidiella?

He was a Uruguayan financier and landowner, born in 1850, who served as finance minister in the 1890s and is credited with a fine-breeding cabana and helping write a livestock registry.

Was Federico Vidiella a minister?

A La Manana page names Federico R. Vidiella as Minister of Finance under President Idiarte Borda, who held office from 1894 to 1897, and credits him with designing a national bank.

What is a genealogical registry for cattle?

It is a herd book recording the parentage of pedigreed animals, so breeders can prove purebred status. Vidiella is credited with co-writing the Asociacion Rural's registry for imported breeds.

Is Federico Vidiella related to Francisco Vidiella?

The sources reviewed do not say. Francisco Vidiella was a nineteenth-century Catalan-born winemaker in Uruguay, a different person from the financier and breeder.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

More from the hall