Bet on genetics, economics and creativity

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As an agricultural producer, having called on genetics, robots and a special strategy to help him, he has achieved that the most noble cheese makers of Belarus come to him for MILK.

Improving the gene pool - step by step

Cheese makers dream of such milk, which is provided by the dairy herd of OOO "SNB-Agro" in Logoysk region. Protein in milk from cows of two MTK farms is 3.2-3.4 g / l at a rate of 3.2, with a consistently high fat content of 4.3-4.4 g. it is not in vain that one of the cool plants in the city of Turov buys it. Every day he sends a milk truck to the MTK "Kalachi" - count, across the country, 630 kilometers round trip! And everything is fine with the productivity of the dairy herd at SNB-Agro LLC. At the end of 2022, at SNB-Agro LLC, it amounted to about 8.8 thousand kg per cow.

How did a relatively small team (89 employees) manage to achieve such success on poor (25 points) lands, on which it is necessary to launch a machine to collect stones - the "legacy" of the glacier - twice a year?

- We are constantly updating the herd's gene pool, - Alexei Smolyakov, DIRECTOR of SNB-Agro LLC, named one of the most important reasons for success in animal husbandry. – It is based on the Belarusian Black-and-White Hallsteinized breed, which we have greatly strengthened by purchasing annually the sperm of North American dairy bulls from JLLC "Bel-Simeks".

Now the farm is solving breeding problems with the support of Belplemzhivobedineniye and Alta Genetics, the largest importer of sperm products. At the same time, the purchased sperm - sexed semen - (i.e., divided by sex), which allows you to get up to 90% of heifers and only 10% - bulls. This is very beneficial for the growth of the dairy herd.

- The easiest and fastest way to improve the gene pool is, of course, the purchase of heifers (cows that are about to give birth), but, given the sanctions and the price of one individual, which reaches $ 2.5 thousand, the company decided to wait until better times , - the director tells about another way to improve the genetics of the cattle herd. – In 2022, heifers were purchased from one of the Belarusian farms, where milk yields are under 12 thousand kg per year. We kept the livestock balance by selling our heifers to neighbors whose milk yields are lower than ours. Such an exchange is beneficial.

Worked a plus

Local livestock breeders do not dream of milking the treasured for many 10 thousand per year per cow.

- The economically justified productivity of our current dairy herd is 8.5-8.8 thousand kg per year, - said Alexei Smolyakov, director of SNB-Agro LLC. – Two years ago, in 2020, we reached 9.380 kg. However, due to the high consumption of concentrates in compound feeds, the cost of a liter of milk has increased too much: compound feeds occupy about 60% of it. Now we spent less on the production of a kilogram of milk by reducing the consumption of concentrates, reducing productivity, and increasing profitability. By the way, this step turned out to be more beneficial for the HEALTH of the cows.

The genetics of the herd will change - they will become higher milk yield.

Alexey Smolyakov, director of SNB-Agro LLC, knows everything about how automation positively affects the efficiency of a dairy herd. At one time, he was a technical consultant on feeding and milking programs for the herd management system of a well-known Swedish company, in practice he studied the leadership experience of the influence of selection on dairy production in the Leningrad Region.

SNB-Agro LLC knows how to work efficiently and diligently. This is eloquently evidenced by the following indicator of his economic activity. The net profit of the enterprise for 2022 amounted to 2.5 million rubles.

The outgoing year was successful for the staff of SNB-Agro LLC: both sectors - crop production and animal husbandry - worked in plus! The land responded to the care of local farmers with a generous grain harvest for poor soils: 50 c/ha. The harvest of rapeseed was also a record - more than 43 centners per hectare, under which about 160 hectares were sown. The company supplied 100 tons of rapeseed oil seeds under the state order. Another 500 tons were sold at a commercial price, having agreed with the buyer of oilseeds that he would supply SNB-Agro LLC with rapeseed cake until June, which is an important component for cattle feed. And the total number of livestock of two MTK and a fattener is rather big, about three thousand heads.

Maize perfectly supplemented the diet of cattle, with which about 600 hectares of OOO fields were sown in 2022. Almost 500 hectares were used for silage and more than 100 for grain.

– Silage, like haylage, is our fodder security. To increase its reliability, two trenches for silage were built! - says Alexey Anatolyevich. - As a result, the farm has almost a year and a half of its supply.

To increase the yield of fields and the quality of the produced fodder, the enterprise actively uses animal husbandry waste, including liquid. For this, two storage facilities with a capacity of 7.5 thousand tons each were built, where from sowing to harvesting in the summer there is a preparation of liquid organic matter, for the EXPORT of which to the fields a special barrel of a Polish manufacturer was purchased.

The result of the development of a strong high-quality fodder base was the annual growth in livestock productivity. For example, in 2022, the daily weight gain of cattle on average at the farm amounted to 817 grams, at the commodity complex where fattening bulls stand, it was 1.1 kilograms per day.

"Blue mestizos" as an experiment

High-quality feed is an important component of successful economic activity not only in dairy farming, but also in MEAT farming. However, it is not the only one. SNB-Agro LLC also called in genetics to help.

– Not so long ago, the company bought the sperm of the Belgian blue meat breed as an experiment. Cows of the Belarusian Black-and-White breed, which were low-yielding in milk, were covered with sperm from the Belgian blue, - the director of SNB-Agro LLC shares information about the successful experiment. - Mestizos turned out to be a pronounced meat breed, already at birth they weighed more than ordinary calves. With grain fattening, such bulls can give much greater gains than the black-and-white Belarusian breed!

We drove to the MTC "Kalachi" and saw these amazing animals.

– “Belgian-Belarusian” calves turned out to be pronounced meat, with sides “drenched” in meat cloth, capable, like Aberdeen Angus, whose sperm was purchased earlier by the enterprise, to gain up to two kilograms per day with grain fattening, - says the deputy director of the LLC on production and specifies: - Such calves are a good prospect for meat production.

Strom, Tiger and Horschr

In order to harvest the entire crop of cereals, legumes, rapeseed and other crops, to prepare haylage and silage within the time recommended by science, SNB-Agro LLC equipped the machine and tractor fleet with modern models with a train of appropriate trailers. In the park of the economy, for example, there are three energy-saturated domestic tractors "MTZ-3022", powerful John Deere and "Kirovets", from tractor equipment of medium power - "MTZ-1221".

The arsenal of trailed equipment includes soil-cultivating Strom (Czech Republic), Tiger, Horsch Tiger, Horsch universal seeding kit (all from Germany) and others.

In 2020, the company purchased a German Krone forage harvester at its own expense, which was a good addition to the existing two domestic-made grain harvesters. In order to improve the quality of fodder harvesting, which directly depends on the ripening time, the company uses third-party forage harvesting equipment during the season.

High technologies are also used at both Kalachi and Kremenets dairy farms, where cows are milked 24/7, that is, 24 hours, seven days a week, by 10 robots, which are "helped" by traditional milking in Kremenets.

We visited one of them and, of course, were surprised how well the robots cope with the cows lining up in line. Without a driver, only at the call of the heart and stomach, they go to be milked themselves.

Kalachi - for specialists

The staff of LLC "SNB-Agro" is relatively small, the average age of employees is 40 years. With the main specialists in the LLC - order: full staff. The management of the enterprise is working to attract graduates of colleges and universities, as well as machine operators and specialists from other regions. Not so long ago, the brothers Shavlyuga, Sergey and Alexander, came to the agro-town of Kalachi, where the central estate of the farm is located, from the Sharkovshchina district, and their families, along with their wives and children. There was work for the heads of families and their halves. The children went to the school of the agricultural town.

What kind of kalachi lure specialists to Kalachi?

- Salary! Our machine operators during the season - cleaning and fodder - earn 2.8-3.3 thousand rubles clean on their hands, - the employer calls the main trump card and admits: - And yet there is no influx of young people to the village, after graduating from universities and colleges they don’t go into the profession. In particular, we lack machine operators.

And young people have someone to learn from and someone to look up to. Among those who have been serving agriculture for many years are machine operator Vladimir Burkovich (over 40 years), foreman - Irina Presnyakova, manager of the MTC.

By the way, SNB-Agro LLC provides rental housing for workers. Those who live in manor-type houses have the right to buy them out after 10 years of work on the farm. Some families live in a capitally renovated six-apartment building. All housing is heated using individual electric boilers. Those who need an apartment may be able to purchase it in the satellite town of Logoysk. The company's management is negotiating with VTB Bank to support the company in acquiring several apartments for the farm workers at the construction stage. Still, Logoisk has a more convenient and attractive infrastructure where people can relax with their families in their free time. 30 kilometers to Kalachi now is not a distance. Moreover, the enterprise is already transporting people from Logoisk to its structural divisions.

SNB-Agro LLC also takes care of the health of employees. For two years now, they have been served under a medical insurance program that provides for various types of diagnostics, including MRI and CT scans, the purchase of medications, and dental services.

For the staff of LLC "SNB-Agro" further improvement of working and living conditions is provided. The project for the reconstruction of the mechanical yard is already ready, at the final stage - the project for the reconstruction of the administrative building, which is now equipped on the principles of minimalism. After the renovation, a canteen will be opened here on the first floor, so that the workers do not have a question where to have lunch.

Thanks to VTB Bank

The robots of the world's leading company - the manufacturer of equipment for the automation of milking processes DeLaval - are not cheap. The sponsor (founder) of the enterprise, VTB Bank, which once included SlavNefteBank (the abbreviation SNB is part of the name of LLC SNB-Agro), helped to purchase them for OOO SNB-Agro.

– With the help of VTB Bank, until 2019, almost all livestock facilities of our enterprise were built and reconstructed - dairy farms, a new closed-type livestock complex for fattening cattle was built on the site of the old one, and robotic equipment was purchased. For four years, SNB-Agro LLC has been operating without sponsorship. VTB Bank provides the company only with control, supervisory and advisory assistance, - says the director of SNB-Agro LLC. - In 2020, the Bank supported the enterprise with a financially interest-free loan for 2 million rubles - for the construction of a grain drying complex.

By managing prudently and profitably, the agricultural producer has ensured his own economic stability, which means he is able to pay his bills!

Tamara MARKINA, enterprises and Ramil NASIBULIN