Director of Belintergen LLC: "We will achieve a lot, including thanks to such a partner as Belarusbank"

 
Belintergen LLC is a Belarusian private company engaged in livestock breeding. Since 2003, its specialists have been providing valuable consultations, helping leading agricultural organizations in our country with breeding material, and promoting the development of highly productive herds in breeding farms. 
 
- We mainly breed Holsteins (more than 90% of the herd), and have begun to breed Jerseys. They are the second leading milk producer in the world, with Holsteins in first place, producing more than 90% of this type of raw material, - says Ivan Kyssa, director of Belintergen LLC and doctor of biological sciences. He is passionate about genetics and the use of biotechnology in livestock breeding. He has traveled to more than 50 countries, but is still ready to go anywhere for new knowledge. - The Jersey breed was bred from one cow, Musya, and by the way, she lived for 11 years, which is about 75 years by human standards. Today we have her great-granddaughters and great-great-granddaughters. 
The acquisition of two idle farms in the Uzda district in 2012 allowed us to actively breed pedigree heifers, heifers and bulls, but not only. An idea arose to produce milk ourselves - this is how the agribusiness model was born, where the investor is ... the cow herself . 
- All our milk is extra grade, - says Dmitry Kostevich, manager of the Yachenka dairy complex of Belintergen LLC. - We sell up to 20 tons per day. The main part goes to the processing shop, a very small part - to the production of our own cheeses, but this is still being carried out in test mode. 
The main task of the scientific and production complex is to create the most comfortable conditions for animals, so that their maintenance, feeding and milking are at their best. The appropriate service personnel are selected to perform such work. 
- Everyone here loves animals so much that they give them the cutest names, - continues Dmitry Leonidovich. - About ten years ago, near the village of Yachenka, there were some abandoned buildings - an old farm , a stable, a workshop and others that we bought at an auction from the Suvorov experimental base. Now our enterprise has a total of 1,700 heads of cattle , including 685 cows with first-calf heifers. We plan to increase the dairy herd to 1,200 heads in the near future. We built a new milking and dairy block (the old milking parlor is mothballed), feed storage facilities, haylage trenches, warehouses - in a word, everything necessary for modern cattle keeping.
Each cow at the dairy complex of the enterprise produces about 12 thousand kg of milk per year, more than 35 kg per day. More than 20 tons of milk with a fat content of 4.4% are sold for processing per day. The enterprise ranks 6th in the country and 1st in the Minsk region in terms of productivity. 
Belintergen LLC can safely be called a breeding farm for breeding dairy cattle. Here they are engaged in selection and breeding work, selection and embryo transplantation of genetically the best animals with the highest productivity. Embryos are from the best donors from different countries. They are stored frozen and are implanted into cows with low productivity. - We develop not only Holstein and Jersey breeds, but also Ayrshire, Simmental, which are rare for Belarus, there is Highland, Angus and Belgian Blue, - explains Ivan Kyssa. - Jersey is also good because it is sociable, calm, small, and the feed conversion for turning grass, haylage or silage into milk is even better than that of Holstein. The average fat content of milk reaches 6%, at the peak of lactation a cow can give 35 kg of milk per day - less than a Holstein, but the latter also has lower fat content. < The enterprise provides itself with feed. There were 677 hectares of land, this year they received another 230 hectares. Corn is grown on 450 hectares, half of which goes to silage, half to grain, and on the remaining 227 hectares - grasses and other crops.
- Our corn is a hybrid, this year it has grown over three meters, - notes Deputy Director Dmitry Berezovsky. - Without high-quality silage and flattened corn, you can't get good milk.  
The enterprise is developing using its own funds received from the sale of raw milk and breeding animals. But there is also a small portion of attracted credit funds in the common piggy bank. - The most reliable partner with whom we have been cooperating since the foundation of the enterprise is Belarusbank , - the director continues. - Still, it is harder to move forward without any support, but this way we can implement some plans, introduce scientific developments. Hence the indicators: we have 97 cows per 100 hectares - this is the highest figure in the country, 97 calves per 100 cows, which indicates a high level of work in terms of animal reproduction. We receive the highest revenue per 1 hectare of land. 

It is hard to believe, but surrogacy is also used here. The enterprise grows up transplant calves, born this way... In general, all newborns are placed for the first 60 days of their lives, as expected, in a preventorium, a kind of kindergarten. Each baby is kept separately, receives appropriate nutrition: milk, water, compound feed. When they grow up, they will be sent to the general group. 
In the next few years, Belintergen plans to reach a new level of development. So that there are 100 cows per 100 hectares, 100 calves per 100 cows. Plus even higher revenue per 1 hectare of land. 
- We will achieve this, I am sure of it, - emphasizes Ivan Kyssa. - Thanks to our young team and our partners, including Belarusbank.