"But I didn't give up. This is who I am!" How did a city dweller become one of the best livestock breeders in the country?

Lyudmila Lavrashuk A searching, stern look, not a shadow of a smile on her face... "Wow, what a stern lady," the thought involuntarily crept into my HEAD. "You can't fool around with her." They say that the first impression of a person is the most accurate. But fortunately, it turned out to be deceptive. People like Lyudmila Konstantinovna, who, despite all the vicissitudes of life, retained her optimism and youthful enthusiasm, are hard to find.
Lyudmila Konstantinovna Lavrashuk has the most down-to-earth profession: she is a livestock breeder. She works as an operator at the Olekshitsy cattle breeding and fattening complex in the Berestovitsky district. Incidentally, this is the calling card of the district agricultural unitary enterprise of the same name: a complex designed for five thousand heads, one of the leaders in beef production in the country. "The MEAT and money factory", as the workers themselves call it, provides half of the agricultural enterprise's cash flow.

Without a doubt, this amazing woman has a significant share in its success. Just imagine: Lyudmila Konstatinovna has been working in one place for 31 (!) years. And she works like a champ! You can't count how many calves at the rearing stage (more on that later) have passed through her caring hands. True, she dreamed of something completely different.
Shoemaker "Oh, Smorgon - a burning town..." That same cozy and picturesque town where the Radziwills once founded the famous bear academy. You might ask, what does Smorgon have to do with it? It's the small homeland of the Lavrashuks. She grew up here in a friendly and large family: there were seven children, Lyudmila the youngest.

The parental home on Krasnoarmeyskaya now serves as a kind of dacha for the families of Lyudmila and her sisters Irina and Larisa, who live in Smorgon. As in previous years, it is well-kept and looks like a toy.
Parental home in Smorgon
Lyudmila Konstantinovna was left an orphan as a teenager. The tragedy happened when she was 13. The shock haunted her for many years. I still remember a heartbreaking picture from my childhood: mothers calling their children home from the street for dinner, and her name was the only one that no one shouted out to the entire yard.

- It was terribly hard to realize that no one would call me anymore, - Lyudmila Konstantinovna's eyes sparkled suspiciously. - I ran home so as not to hear and not to see how other children joyfully and skippingly ran home.

In order not to send the girl to a boarding school, the older sister took guardianship over her. And so they lived. Recalling this time, Lyudmila Konstantinovna says that she wanted to become independent as soon as possible in order to earn her own piece of bread. Therefore, after finishing eight years of school, she went to Grodno to study to be a hairdresser at the College of Consumer Services. Even in early childhood, she dreamed that one day she would sculpt fashionable hairstyles, and long queues would form to her, the hairdresser famous throughout Smorgon. In the meantime, she diligently practiced on dolls.
"It was terribly difficult to realize that no one would invite me anymore" Alas, in the regional center, everything somehow did not go according to plan: there were too many people wanting to master the profession of a barber. Looking at the confused, almost crying girl, the school offered her to master another, no less interesting specialty - custom tailoring and shoe repair. She agreed reluctantly, and after a while it turned out that a shoemaker was not a profession for her, but a calling. For eight years she worked in the regional consumer services center in Smorgon, or, to put it simply, in the House of Services.

- Indeed, perhaps my calling is to give people beautiful and comfortable shoes, - Lyudmila Konstantinovna smiles softly and, after a second or two of silence, adds with pride and some sadness at the same time: - It worked out very well. Even our head of the RKBO ordered from me.

I would have continued working, but ... One fine day, Sergei from the regional center of Svisloch dropped by the shoe repair and custom tailoring workshop. He, a graduate of the agricultural technical school, was assigned to the Smorgon organization. Came to hand in shoes for repair and... drowned in tender, bottomless eyes of Lyudmila.
Operator Lyudmila Lavrashuk is in charge of 180 heads
Soon the young people got married. The guy did not want to live in the parents' house of the chosen one, it was cramped there without them. At the family council they decided to start from scratch. They read in the newspaper that in Olekshitsy, Berestovitsky district, a farm needed workers. And most importantly, young specialists were provided with separate and comfortable housing. In 1990, the Lavrashuks moved to Olekshitsy. And they never regretted their decision. The young family was settled in a solid cottage, which two years later became their property. In their joy, they acquired a subsidiary farm and began to live and prosper like real villagers. They kept two cows, pigs, bred chickens.

Lyudmila Konstantinovna says that she immediately got involved in village life. For her, it was not something new and unusual. In Smorgon, the parents also kept a cow, other livestock, and the children in their large family helped with the housework from an early age. The main responsibility of the youngest was to keep the house in order.

- I loved cleaning. Sometimes I would pick wild flowers and put bouquets in all the rooms, - says Lyudmila Konstantinovna, smiling. - I still always have live plants in my house: both wild flowers and those that I grow myself. I love wild daisies and cornflowers. These are the flowers of my childhood. But they are rare these days.

It is difficult to pass by Lyudmila Konstantinovna's house without noticing the flowers that reign here from spring to late autumn. Various roses are her favorite flowers. And also marigolds, which have taken refuge along the paths and please the eye until the first frost.
Song for BelyashikLyudmila Konstantinovna Lavrashuk admits: her work is hard, not everyone can do it for many reasons. She felt this very well at the very beginning. For three years, she worked as a substitute operator, "providing" other workers with days off, because "they don't put you on a team right away, and a team is 180 people."

- What can I say, some people threw it in my face: you, a city girl, will never work here, you can't handle it. Maybe I wouldn't have stayed at the complex for long if it weren't for these conversations, - Lyudmila Konstantinovna confesses. - I told the "well-wishers" that we'll see who turns out to be right. I accepted the challenge and proved that I have willpower and spirit. It was hard, sometimes it seemed: that's it, enough. But I didn't give up. This is who I am!

Two years later, Lavrashuk's photo portrait was on the district Honor Board. Then there will be many different awards and even an Honorary Certificate of the Council of Ministers of Belarus, which she was awarded at the regional "Dazhynki" in 2019. But that first labor victory, which she achieved through overcoming herself and which further tempered her character, is especially dear. By and large, it determined the further path of this tireless woman. "I accepted the challenge and proved that I have willpower and spirit." In the morning at half past eight, a bus picks up the workers of the complex from the center of the agro-town. Just a short drive along the familiar road - and she is happily greeted by belyashiki, marseilles (who is not there!). "My calves," Lavrashuk clarifies with affection. The operator is in charge of a whole section of animals: five sections on one side, five on the other, with 18 calves in each. A lot, you must admit.

- As soon as I enter the room, all 180 pairs of eyes are immediately on me, - smiles Lyudmila Konstantinovna. - I worry about whether they are alive and well after the night. I slowly walk around everyone. They are like children. If someone is sick, I call a DOCTOR - a veterinarian. It is also necessary to thoroughly clean the feeders and drinkers so that their water is clean. No one wants to eat from a dirty plate, right? The same goes for animals.
DIRECTOR of the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Olekshitsy" Valery Pavlyukevich
HereThe calves are kept for four months for rearing, and their appetite is excellent. And here the interests of the parties coincide perfectly. They are not exactly small when they arrive at the Lavrashuk section, somewhere around a hundred kilograms or even more, but for the next fattening period they are sent as strong guys, weighing almost three hundred kilograms. Daily weight gain is the most important indicator of the complex operator's work. The higher it is, the better. Of course, this figure also affects the salary.

The basis of the calves' diet during rearing is silage, which is supplemented with various useful additives, and FLOUR . The section consumes 540 kilograms per day. Lyudmila Konstantinovna delivers flour, as well as all the other feed, to the sections on a special cart, which she calls a wagon, and distributes it in buckets. Why does manual labor prevail? This is largely due to the age of the "contingent": at this stage, an individual approach is important, so to speak. And yes, the complex is old, it is 30 years old. But despite this, now most of the work processes are mechanized. Perhaps, soon it will become easier for the operators at the rearing stage.

- For me, work has always been some kind of outlet, especially in my youth, - says Lyudmila Lavrashuk. - I loved to sing while doing my job. You start singing - and your soul becomes lighter.

- And the calves enjoy it, I bet? - he tried to joke.

- You can't even imagine how grateful they are as listeners, - the interlocutor laughs heartily.

A little later she says that "calves are amazingly smart kids": they remember their nicknames on the fly and quickly and willingly respond to them.

- You become very attached to them, - continues Lyudmila Konstantinovna. - Then they go to the second period, stand there for a whole year and are taken to the meat-packing plant . I see how the cattle trucks load, you can't hide from it. You know, I take everything to heart, even though I understand that this is production.
Agro-town Olekshitsy
In 2020, Lavrashuk began to think about retirement. The management of the RUE Olekshitsy was surprised: "Lyudmila Konstantinovna, stop it, where will you go?" Even with some inner relief, she signed a new contract. Three years later, they offered to extend it for as long as five years. Someone else might have refused, but not Lavrashuk. And not because she wanted to respect the request of the director of the enterprise Valery Pavlyukevich. Although not without this: Valery Eduardovich is a competent and authoritative manager, under him, the RUE Olekshitsy confidently holds a leading position among enterprises of the agro-industrial complex not only in the Grodno region, but also in the country. A person of labor is in the first place for the head of one of the best agricultural enterprises in Belarus. Lyudmila Konstantinovna really likes this approach: it’s great when conscientious work is appreciated, encouraged, and every attention is shown to such simple workers as she.

- And not like one of the specialists once said: like, I'm worried about the company. I couldn't help myself and answered him, - says Lavrashuk. - I say, without people there will be no company, you need to treat them well, then there will be a return.
"To remain silent means to act dishonestly towards yourself first of all" Lyudmila Konstantinovna is a straightforward person. She can easily say it to your face, and her superiors know it. Perhaps not everyone likes her honesty and frankness, but Lavrashuk sincerely admits that if she notices some injustice, she cannot keep it to herself. She has her own philosophy of life on this matter.

- To remain silent means to act dishonestly towards yourself first of all, - reasons Lyudmila Konstantinovna. - I always believed that it is better to say nothing than to lie. If you lie once, they won't believe you the next time. Therefore, it is better and easier to tell the truth. Like it or not, it is the truth.
With children and grandchildren. Photo from the family album
Having listened attentively to my reasoning about the fact that it is probably hard to do something that is literally far from the easiest thing in one place for so many years, Lyudmila Konstantinovna slightly shrugs.

“You have to love your job – that’s the whole secret,” the woman says after a short pause. “You need physical strength and strict adherence to technological discipline, but first of all – love for animals. Without that, you can’t stay here for long.”

The operators of the cattle breeding and fattening complex have good salaries and comfortable working conditions. But potential employees are not lining up. Many, especially young people, are put off by the flexible schedule.

“We work all the holidays. It’s good if at least once a month the weekend falls on a Saturday or Sunday. I’m at work all the time,” Lyudmila Konstantinovna smiles.

“Do you sing like you used to?” I ask.

“Definitely, but sometimes,” this amazing woman cheerfully clarifies.
Lively lifeEvery day begins with music. Energetic melodies sound in the kitchen while Lyudmila Konstantinovna prepares breakfast for herself and her current partner Alexander. He works as a builder on a neighboring farm. The children are already grown up. Diana graduated from the Grodno State Agrarian University and works as an economist in the regional center. Vadim is a mechanical engineer and lives abroad. He visits his mother every year, and Lyudmila Konstantinovna again looks forward to meeting her son and granddaughter Olivia.

Twelve-year-old Katya and nine-year-old Kostya often visit their grandmother - the distance from Grodno to Olekshitsy is short. They love thin pancakes, which Lyudmila Konstantinovna cooks with MILKor kefir. Grandma's potato pancakes with sour cream, babka, and cabbage rolls are incomparable. Lyudmila Konstantinovna says that she has loved national cuisine since childhood, and she does not strive for culinary delights, preferring to treat guests with healthy and wholesome dishes. Fortunately, the meat from her own farm is aromatic and tasty.
To go towards the intended goal and to be a patriot is the iron rule of Lyudmila Lavrashuk

. Her beloved cat Bonya is always there. The fluffy one weighs about eight kilograms, to which Lyudmila Konstantinovna wittily remarks that "the specialist fattens him up."

- We keep pigs, chickens, and we have lots and lots of flowers, - the woman says about her life. - In the summer, there is a vegetable garden, beds, a greenhouse. I never get bored. Probably, this is what helps. Every busy day gives me inspiration. I can't imagine myself on the couch. I will never sit at home in my life.

In her free time she likes to read. She prefers historical novels, her favorite authors are Alexandre Dumas and Vladimir Korotkevich.

According to our heroine, a modern woman should not limit herself exclusively to her family and home. And Lyudmila Konstantinovna herself is a convincing example of this: she is an active member of the public association "Belaya Rus" and the Belarusian Union of Women. She recently took part in the III Republican Forum of Rural Workers, which was held in the capital.

- It's for the heart, for inspiration. It's my spiritual energy, - says Lyudmila Konstantinovna. - But without, figuratively speaking, borscht, too, you can't. You have to be everywhere! It's difficult and hard, but I'm used to it. So that there is beauty and everything is cooked at home, so that people don't point their fingers at the yard because there is some kind of mess there. The same goes for work: I don't have a single complaint. I need everything to be perfect.
"Every busy day gives me inspiration"Lyudmila Konstantinovna has another rule of life - a very important one, which, in her opinion, should never be broken.

- Always have a goal and confidently go towards it, - says Lavrashuk. - Love your native land, your Motherland. Maybe it will sound high-flown, but you have to be a patriot. For me, this is exactly it.

Lyudmila Konstantinovna says that, without hesitation, she was among the first to sign in support of the nomination of a presidential candidate.

- I am only for our President, I do not see any other contenders for this position, - one of the best livestock breeders in the country shares her thoughts. - How he stands up for his people, for ordinary people! What a beautiful country we have! The main thing is that there is peace. I always say: "You don't look for good from good." You have to love your Motherland and prove it with your work, make your maximum contribution, that's what I think.
Members of the Grodno Region delegation at the Bolshoi Theatre for the 3rd Republican Forum of Rural Workers
Last summer, an important and memorable event took place in the life of Lyudmila Konstantinovna and the workers of the farm. The President ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO visited the RUP "Olekshitsy" of the Berestovitsky district . The head of state also visited the livestock complex where our heroine works.

- Did you ask the President any questions during the meeting? - I am interested.

- You know, there were so many people there!..

- And if such an opportunity presented itself?

- I would only say: "Thank you very much, Alexander Grigorievich, that we have you!" I would hug and kiss my President.
Figures and facts

• Belarus is the world's leading food exporter: its share in the overall structure of our exports is more than 20%, and products are supplied to 110 countries.
• The total grain harvest for 2024, including rapeseed, amounted to 10.3 million tons.
• The volume of agricultural production in the country has grown by 8.5% over five years.
• For livestock breeders, the outgoing 2024 year is a record one: it is expected that the milk yield per cow will reach 6,150 kilograms, gross milk production in all categories of farms will be 8.8 million tons, pork - over 400 thousand tons, beef - about 650 thousand tons, poultry - over 700 thousand tons.

The project was created using funds from a targeted collection for the production of national content.

| Igor GONCHARUK, "Belarusian Dumka" magazine. Photos by Nadezhda KOSTETSKAYA, Elena ALIFEROVICH ("Berastavitskaya Gazeta"), from the personal archive of Lyudmila LAVRASHUK and open sources. Read also: