A farmer from Buryatia plans to become a breeder of cattle

This year, the Ministry of Agriculture of Buryatia allocated 101.5 million rubles for state support of family farms, 11 farmers became participants in the program. Among them is 46-year-old Galsan Radnaev, a native of the village of Zagustay, Kizhinginsky district. At the time of the grant application, the man was already a strong owner and raised his native village with real deeds.

Galsan learned to manage the household from an early age. Parents and relatives of our hero worked for a long time on collective farms and state farms. As an adult, he began to engage in construction and transportation. And in 2011, the man decided to return to his roots and took up his own household.

“I was born in the countryside. Now I live in the Zagustay ulus, and I work even further - in the Kulkison ulus. We have no industry here, no enterprises, therefore, apart from agriculture, there is nothing else to do. Moreover, people used to run their own household, so this is a kind of tradition. Now some have begun to plow and sow more, but I think that cattle breeding is an ideal option,” says the farmer.

Starting something new is never easy. Becoming a farmer, Galsan faced his own difficulties. One of them was forage harvesting, because then the man did not yet have good equipment. The organization of parking lots also added difficulties to the farmer, since they had to be made away from the villages. But Galsan coped with all the problems and gradually developed his farm, choosing the path of beef cattle breeding.

“Compared to dairy and beef cattle breeding, it is easier and easier to engage. With MILK, there are more costs, and in MEAT equipment and separate rooms are not particularly needed. Moreover, the main goal of any farm is profitability. Therefore, if you want to achieve results faster, beef cattle breeding is the closest way,” he says.

Initially, the farmer had 100 heads of cattle. Among them were the Kazakh white-headed, Simmental and several heads of the Kalmyk breed. But this year, Galsan applied for a Family Farm grant to develop beef farming. The total cost of the business project amounted to almost 22 million rubles.

The grantee has not yet mastered all the state support funds, nevertheless, the intermediate results speak for themselves: the farmer has already agreed with Pobeda LLC in the Bichursky district to supply 300 heads of Kalmyk cattle. According to him, having devoted most of his life to agriculture, right now he is ready to take responsibility for a large economy.

The farmer prepares the feed for the cows himself. Now the farm has 150 hectares of hayfields, 200 hectares of sown areas and a fleet of agricultural machinery, which he has been collecting for many years, buying in parts. Then the man is going to increase the sowing, sow perennial and annual grasses.

“Young animals need to be fed well. And then you don’t understand what will grow. You can not save on feed, it is advisable to give vitamin supplements. Good animal care is the basis of future profits,” says the farmer.
Now Galsan sells products in cafes, in the markets of Ulan-Ude, and even makes deliveries to the production, which produces meat products.

Until we get back on our feet. Now we are buying 300 heads, we plan to become a good pedigree reproducer of the Kalmyk breed of cows in the region. For this, it is necessary, first of all, to increase the breeding stock. Of course, I would like to have a livestock of 1500 - 2000 heads, to launch my own meat processing shop.

But before that, you need to grow up. Now the task is to take good care of the existing herd, to complete the herds, to work out the sowing season well in the spring. My family helps me in this, 6 people are employed on the farm, I want to hire three more. Well, if you conduct breeding work, you need a professional livestock specialist. This is exactly what I'm doing right now. I hope that in 3-4 years we will become breeding reproducers,” the farmer shares.