Starting preparations for the season earlier is the strategy chosen by agricultural producers in Ushachy this year to ensure the spring sowing campaign is carried out promptly and to the highest standard. Even the technical inspection will take place in the district not in March, as it used to be, but at the end of winter. By a decision of the district executive committee, a schedule has been approved according to which the commission will begin inspections on February 20. One of this year's innovations is that complex repairs are carried out at special sites where machinery from the entire region is concentrated. How this works in practice and what else saves time and money has been studied at the Ushachy OJSC "Ilyushinsky".
 
Together with the enterprise director, Sergey Khalimonenko, we head to the mechanical yard. Here, a mineral fertilizer spreader is being restored, and an "Amkodor" is also undergoing repair: this unit has not stood idle for a single day, so the need to put the hydraulic system in order has arisen. Energy-intensive machinery is stored under a canopy, repaired a few years ago. Sergey Anatolyevich demonstrates a freshly painted seeder and asks us to assess its age. We could not answer correctly because it looks practically brand new.

— In fact, the wear and tear on this unit is about 100 percent, — the manager reveals the details. — We sent it for major overhaul to the Vitebsk Motor Repair Plant, and as a result, we received an almost new unit. At the same time, they returned the old parts to us: we can hand them in and fulfill the scrap metal procurement plan. The economics are very favourable: buying a new one costs 160 thousand rubles, while a major overhaul is about 120 thousand.

In addition to the motor repair plant, the farm also cooperates with OJSC "Zapadno-Dvin MSM" and "AMKODOR-Vitebsk", sending for repair, among other things, machinery with wear exceeding 80 percent. Andrey Pyatnitsa, the chief engineer of "Ilyushinsky", adds that since the farm submitted its applications among the first in the region, the major overhaul of their MTZ-3522 has already been completed. Imported engines, which currently cost about 28 thousand rubles, are being replaced here with a YMZ analogue costing 12 thousand — it is more reliable and cost-effective. The enterprise has also sent two engines from decommissioned KZS-1218 harvesters to the plant; they will be repaired and re-equipped for installation on an energy-intensive tractor. Such a service has appeared not so long ago and has interested agricultural producers in many agricultural organizations in the region.

— Timely repairs will allow us to start field work within optimal deadlines, — notes the young specialist. — At the beginning of the season, we usually organize