In JSC "Ladasna", grass has been mown on 428 hectares. Of the 369 hectares of fodder, it has already been collected and stored.
The soil is so saturated with moisture that agricultural machinery leaves deep ruts in places as it moves across the fields. Despite the aforementioned difficulties, three MTZ-82 tractors with rotary mowers go out to the fields almost daily. Dmitry Kazachonok is engaged in collecting and chopping green mass on a KVK-800 combine.
The chopped mass is usually transported to the trenches by MAZ trucks and tractors. However, on the day of the correspondent's visit, the MAZ truck and the combine dared not go out to the field – the drivers were concerned that the machinery might get stuck.
Silage is being compacted in the trenches around the clock. In the morning, at six o'clock, tractor driver Igor Leichenko starts the work, compacting the mass layer by layer with his "Amkador". And from nine in the evening, Ivan Bacharov comes to replace him on an MTZ-3022.
The farm provides two hot meals a day for everyone working in the field. Lunches from the "Virazh" cafe are delivered to the fields, to the silage trenches by a vehicle from "Lepelraygaz" – the employers of "Ladasna".
After a brief conversation in the dispatch office, I headed to the field to talk to the participants of the green harvest on site. Two MTZ tractors with mowers were cutting circles in the field beyond Morozova Slobodka. After a regular pass, they stopped, and we introduced ourselves. Alexander Layushko usually works on an "Amkador", but his main machinery was currently under repair, so the mechanic was asked to provide a substitute. On the MTZ with a "Disco-2650" mower, he lays the grass evenly. But his older colleague, Ivan Grak, has a different unit attached to his tractor – a KDN-2.7 mower manufactured by "Lidselmash".
Vasily MATYRKO, photos by the author
In the photo: Valentina Kiselyova and Igor Leichenko