Director of OJSC "Motherland of Yakub Kolas": "Our milk is in particular demand among both Belarusians and Russians"

Topic news How in the Stolbtsy region they are implementing a strategy for increasing the volume of agricultural products
OJSC "Motherland of Yakub Kolas" - a farm unlike any other. Its sonorous name, which combines the iconic word “motherland” with the code name of a folk singer for every Belarusian, greatly motivates the team to go half a step ahead of others. 7 Days correspondents visited a leading agricultural enterprise to find out what plans the local farmers have for the future harvest.
M - motivation
- Of course, we cannot help but be inspired by the fact that it was our small homeland that gave the world such a talent as Yakub Kolas. Many villages located on farm lands are associated with the name of the poet. The memorial complex “Nikolaevshchina”, which unites four estates: Akinchitsy, Smolnya, Lastok, Albut, also inspires us to be patriots of our Motherland,” notes the director of JSC “Homeland of Yakub Kolas” Yuriy Tarasevich and clarifies: “I would also like to note that we managed to gather a creative, a responsible and professional team that has become a cohesive team in recent years. After all, 90% of the success of an enterprise depends precisely on the personnel who work here, as well as a well-learned formula: treat people the way you would like them to treat you. That is, an employee does not have the right to let down his comrades - his team, his team.

Speaking about the credo of the farm, the manager emphasizes that it was thanks to the President of Belarus that the quality standards of USSR dairy products have been preserved to this day.

– Our milk is in particular demand among the population of both our country and our neighbors – Russians. Taking into account this fact, OJSC “Motherland of Yakub Kolas” continues to follow the path of development of the agricultural sector of Belarus,” he notes. “We are working responsibly to increase the volume of milk production and improve its quality.

First of all, the economy places an important emphasis on the operation of dairy farms and complexes. The total number of cattle in JSC Rodina Yakub Kolas is about 4.3 thousand, including 1.583 thousand dairy herds. All livestock are kept at two complexes - MTC "Shakhnovshchina" and "Pogoreloye", as well as three dairy farms. Here they milk 24 liters of milk per day per cow. 
Produced milk daily in the amount of 25 tons is sent to the Slutsk cheese-making plant and Minsk dairy plant No. 1. The enterprise plans not only to increase milk yield and weight gain, but also to increase the number of livestock. For example, at the Shakhnovshchina MTC the construction of the third building of the dairy complex is underway. 

– In 2024This year they intend to overcome the 8,000 mark - to produce an average of 8,000 kilograms of milk from each cow. In the near future, we will increase the figure to 10 thousand kilograms of milk per year per cow,” says Yuri Tarasevich and explains: “The plans are serious, but feasible!

It all starts with... the garage.

So where is the main link that, following the advice of the classic, the farm needs to grab hold of in order to realize its growth plans?
– It all starts with the garage. Serviceable equipment that goes to the fields on time, timely sowing and care of the fields, harvesting in a technologically short time will ensure a high final result of our activities! – the director of OJSC “Motherland of Yakub Kolas” is confident.
That is, the success of livestock breeders - veterinarians, livestock specialists, machine milking operators and other workers of farms and complexes - directly depends on the contribution of machine operators, the availability of modern tractors, combines, and the necessary trailed equipment. The farm already has 4 energy-rich tractors, and the fifth one is about to arrive.
– Our machine and tractor fleet is constantly replenished! The update is going according to plan. Today, for example, specialists went to pick up a new trailed unit - an organic fertilizer spreader,” says the manager, as we walk through the park, where the equipment recently underwent final training before going out on the harvesting field. There are five combines on the readiness line, including three domestic Polesye ones.
– Good technique, it doesn’t let you down! – engineer Evgeniy Prot assesses the potential of Belarusian combine harvesters, walking along the lined-up equipment. Machine operator Gennady Yansky, who has been working on the land for several years, also agrees with him.
The bet is on winter crops.
The first on the list where combine harvesters will go is land with winter barley. We were lucky enough to visit the farm just before the busy season, so we couldn’t help but ask about the prospects for the current harvest and what crops they relied on this time.
“We expect a better harvest than last year,” Yuri Tarasevich immediately emphasizes and explains that in the central region, advantage is always given to winter crops. – Our farm is no exception. Firstly, winter crops make better use of early spring moisture. Secondly, in the spring there is no tension and searching for the best time to sow.

The farm has 400 hectares allocated for winter wheat. Winter barley occupies 250 hectares, winter triticale - 350 hectares, rapeseed - 250 hectares. According to the interlocutor, the overwintering of rapeseed and grains went relatively well in the local fields.
– In the spring, a total of 920 hectares of corn, 250 hectares of sugar beets and 100 hectares of spring barley were sown. The remaining farmland is under perennial grasses. This year we plan to cover last year’s volumes of silage and hay production. Thus, upon completion of the first mowing, the farm already has +3.5 feed units compared to the same period in 2023,” states Yuri Tarasevich.
The queen of the fields - “mineral bowls with zinc”
The chief agronomist of the farm, Andrei Fartotsky, is also convinced that this year it will be possible to stock up green feed for cattle - silage, haylage and hay, and he offers us a short excursion. We board a well-worn Niva and head off to the cornfield, which is turning green with all its might. Here, tractor drivers Nikolai Lankevich and Nikolai Levkovets feed the queen of the fields with zinc, a very useful mineral for plants.
– You won’t believe it, but in May we had no rain for 25 days. Clouds were moving around us, but not a drop fell on the fields! I am glad that there was enough moisture in June. The situation in the fields has changed radically,” says our guide, taxiing to the side of the corn field, where two Belarusians can be seen from afar. One, coupled with a fertilizer application unit, generously watered the splayed corn, and the other stood ready with a 200-liter barrel to replenish the water reserves for the nutrient solution.

With the arrival of the chief agronomist, the machine operators will take a short break to report to Andrey Sergeevich how the fertilizing of the crops is being completed.
– I want to say that last year, despite the drought, we prepared 454 centners of corn silage and 90 tons of corn grain. This time we are counting on higher yields,” says the chief agronomist, and draws our attention to the fact that there are light sandy and rocky soils, and corn loves this kind of soil and, with proper care, gives good returns. This year, farmers intend to exceed last year's figures for the procurement of corn silage and grain.

Having inspected the corn fields, together with the chief agronomist we set off to the distant tract of Prinemanya - there the final mowing of floodplain grasses is taking place. Heroes of the day - machine operators Having traveled more than 30 kilometers of Neman spruce forests, decorated with young oaks, having overcome a dozen water obstacles, we make a stop near a meadow of incredible beauty. Through the grass, which will definitely be up to our waists, it’s as if tractors driven by Vladimir Kalevich and Alik Krivoshey are floating. Behind them lie mown meadow grass like a huge pillow. Next, Vladimir Pevts’ tractor rakes it into a neat windrow with a wide, 9-meter rake. While the equipment makes another pass through the tall grass, we admire the forbs.



– The place is truly a sight to behold! – says Andrey Fartotsky. – And this is not surprising: after all, we are in the floodplain meadows of Prinemanye. The herbs here are natural - those that nature gave us. We have about 1.5 thousand hectares of floodplain, in some places improved. We sow another 700 hectares with perennials. During the first mowing, we managed to prepare about 9 thousand haylage and 150 tons of hay. This year we expect to lay 18 thousand tons of haylage and 400 tons of hay, no less!
While Andrei Sergeevich is standing at the edge of the meadow, machine operators come to him for five minutes.
“The mood is working, the equipment that came out to complete the first mowing is working properly - it doesn’t let us down,” Vladimir Singer reports for everyone in a cheerful voice.

Having listened, the chief agronomist does not detain them. It’s understandable: a summer day feeds the year!

In the spring-summer season, like at no other time, machine operators are the heroes of the day in the countryside. They plow, sow, care for crops, harvest grain and corn, and sugar beets. Therefore, it is not surprising that with the average salary in the household being about 2 thousand rubles, for machine operators it is a thousand more. In May it amounted to 4.5 thousand rubles.

By the way, this is not the first “green stuff”. So, in April, machine operators harvested 760 tons of milk rape, sowing the fields with a new spring crop and receiving two harvests a year from some lands!
We go further - to the fields next to the Shakhnovshchina farm. Hay is being baled here and cows are grazing at the same time. Giving cows the opportunity to trample on fresh grass, farmers take care of the complete, balanced nutrition of the cattle herd and its health . In addition, the menu of each group of animals always contains feed prescribed by zootechnical requirements.
By the way, the farm cares not only about weight gain and milk yield. It is very important that the workers are also well-fed. That’s why the company has its own canteen, whose cooks serve lunch to nearby units. For those who work in distant lands, lunches are brought directly there. Dancing and fishing - everyone! Having visited JSC "Motherland of Yakub Kolas", we could not help but pay attention to the balance of interests of the agricultural enterprise and its employees, which is achieved exclusively by competent management. “The fact that the two main industries - crop production and livestock production - work like clockwork is a great merit of the enterprise’s specialists, who have good theoretical and practical training,” notes Yuri Tarasevich, who has no less knowledge and experience behind him. Yuri Nikolaevich, after graduating from the Maryinogorsk Technical School and the Grodno Agrarian University, also retrained at BSTU and graduated from the Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus





. In addition, the manager went through serious labor and management school. He began his professional career in the Slutsk region, continued in Nesvizh, and then in Stolbtsovsky. Having extensive experience and unique knowledge, the director of the OJSC works to replenish the personnel potential of the enterprise, relying, in particular, on targeted training of specialists. So, in 2023, two such workers were trained. This year, the farm sent two more students to study as livestock specialists and accountants. In addition, the agricultural enterprise sent an application to the region for four more graduates: an engineer, two veterinarians and an accountant.

Young specialists, as well as representatives of other professions important to the economy, are greeted warmly and cordially, provided with housing and a good salary. In recent years, several Ukrainian families have found their second home in these places. Those who arrived for permanent residence work on the farm as machine operators, livestock breeders, and one of them is a welder.

The staff of OJSC "Motherland of Yakub Kolas" not only works hard, but also relaxes. For example, for those who want to learn to dance, the company pays for the services of a choreographer. Fortunately, you don’t have to go far for this: the administration of the farm is located in the same building as the House of Culture, where various cultural events take place. The social package, in addition to various payments, also provides gifts for Agricultural Workers' Day, New Year , March 8 and February 23 , Easter, anniversaries and birthdays. Those who like to sit with a fishing rod are invited to Lake Sudniki, which is stocked with fish at the expense of the enterprise. Found herecarp , crucian carp, pike, silver carp, grass carp. Recently, one of the local fishermen caught a carp weighing 8 kilos.

After spending just a day in the company of villagers - farm workers, we were convinced that in the homeland of Yakub Kolas there really are good, sincere people who are devoted to work. The poet would be proud of his fellow countrymen.

Today, the average daily milk yield per cow on the farm is 24 liters of milk. By the end of 2024, the team plans to overcome the 8,000 mark - to receive an average of 8,000 kilograms of milk from each cow.

 “We expect a better harvest than last year!” – emphasizes Yuri Tarasevich.

Tamara MARKINA, photo Tatiana MATUSEVICH