Agrofirm Svitanok

 

Novoselidivka village, Mariinka district, Donetsk region

The enterprise processes 4 thousand hectares of land, it is engaged in plant growing, horticulture and dairy cattle breeding.

The dairy farm holds 850 heads of cattle, among which 340 milking cows. The breed is red dairy and Ukrainian black-and-white.

Cows are kept fixed. During the warm season, cows are out every day on open lots, equipped with drinkers and feeders, in winter — two hours per day for workers to be able to observe heat.

The milking herd from the 14th day of lactation till the dry off is kept in barns for 360 heads. This year cooling system was installed in barns — fans and sprinklers. The following year, they plan to reconstruct the roof — they have to install light skates and windows. The floor in the stalls is concreted and covered with a rubber band.

Cows are divided into technological groups depending on the yield: high-yielding — more than 32 kg of milk, increasing the milk yield cows — 22−32 kg, lactation (pregnant cows) — cows that produce less than 22 kg. If the cow gives 32 kg of milk before the dry off, she is fed a less nutritious diet to reduce yield.

Cows are milked twice a day in two new milk lines for 200 heads each, installed in 2017. Also they have a system of automated washing of milking equipment.

Average milk yield per cow per year is 8 thousand kg. There are cows, which gave 9.5−10 thousand kg of milk for 305 days of milking.
They produce Extra Grade milk with a fat content 3.9%, protein — 3.3−3.4%. Bacteria count is less than 100 thousand/ml, SCC — less than 200 thousand/ml.

Cows are used three lactations.

They prepare their own forages: corn silage, haylage and hay from alfalfa and holy clover. Owners purchase soybean meal, sunflower cake, AVMA and 100% feed mix for calves up to 2 months of age. From AVMA, meal, cake, corn, wheat and barley prepare a feed that is mixed with roughage to get a common mixed diet.

Feed is distributed twice a day by one feedmixer.

Newborn calf is near the mother for five hours and suckles colostrum. If there is no milk in the cow or she does not take the calf, it is feed on with defrosted colostrum. Milker additionally gives calves 3 liters of colostrum twicely. Cows in maternity pen are milked twice. If necessary, the calves are dried under an infrared lamp. Calves are born weighing 40−45 kg. Livability is 98%.

For breeding, heifers must be at least 12 months old, weighing 380 kg for Ukrainian red dairy breeds, and for Ukrainian black-and-white 400 kg, with a height of 130 cm at the withers. Heifers are inseminated on average at 13 months.

There are 25 workers at the farm.