Automated complex

A new robotised dairy farm has been commissioned in Starye Lepel. The facility was constructed in the shortest possible time, with just over a year passing from the excavation of the foundation pit to the introduction of the first cows.

Some may argue about its feasibility, suggesting that such large sums should be directed towards other purposes. However, let us try to reason rationally, in economic terms. Today, OJSC "Lepel Dairy and Canned Goods Plant", of which "Zaazerye" is a branch, generates significant profits from the production and sale of dairy products. Naturally, the enterprise is thinking not only about the present day but also about the long-term perspective, about how to better and more reliably secure its raw materials. This project also serves as an answer to this question.

SVF "Zaazerye" has five dairy farms, including two modern robotised complexes, with the rest being modernised. On the one hand, it would have been possible to limit ourselves to some modernisation in this case as well. However, it is impossible to achieve significant results with old equipment, using old technologies.

And the tasks set for the complex's staff and all livestock breeders are significant – to increase gross milk yield, the specific yield per cow, improve quality by sending at least 70 percent of milk for sale as "extra" grade, increase marketability, reduce costs... The conditions for profitable and efficient operation can be listed at length. The new complex meets all these conditions, especially since it has been built taking into account the operational experience of the very first similar facility, erected in Yurkovshchina.

The new premises are ready to accommodate 400 head of the milking herd. Of course, filling them to 100 percent capacity is not a matter of a single day. Cows for the new complex are selected from the entire farm; the breeding work to select the best animals was started by the Deputy Director of SVF, Liliya Vyraksha, two years ago. Naturally, the main requirement is productivity; it is unprofitable to even bring a low-yielding cow into the new complex.

Within the next month or two, the work on completing the dairy herd will be finished and will reach a new level. The condition of the cows will need to be constantly monitored, with old, sick, and unproductive animals being removed in a timely manner and replaced with young stock. For this purpose, two more premises have been built nearby, where calves of different age groups will be raised.

The walls are gleaming with fresh paint, and new imported equipment is receiving the first liters of milk. According to the standards, 29 people will service the new complex, and the work collective is managed by Svetlana Layko. Incidentally, according to the old standards, at least 40 people would be required for a similar production facility.

At full capacity, with a milk commodity rate of 80 percent and above, and high-quality class, the complex should pay for itself within five to seven years. It is worth noting that a robotized complex in milk production should become not an exotic novelty, but a normal, everyday occurrence. Agriculture must increasingly adopt the most advanced practices, which is happening.

Vasily MATYRKA.