LLC "SNB-Agro": Scientific approach, technology and economic calculation

This farm in the Logoisk region is different from others. First of all, creative approaches to achieving your goals. We have been to this unique agricultural enterprise before. And now, having gone to the agricultural town of Kalachi, we are convinced that SNB-Agro LLC is all right! MILK tankers still travel to the local MTC from Turov itself, so that they can then make the best cheeses in the country from the protein-rich milk of SNB-Agro cows! Here everyone still cares about updating the gene pool of the dairy herd. They use sexed sperm, which produces 90% of newborn heifers and only 10% of bulls. Milk is still milked by robots. And although the fields near Kalachi are not very fertile, the farm operates stably and profitably. The herds are provided with feed. The government order is being fulfilled.

What was the past year like for the team, which could not be knocked out of the saddle even by such a severe summer drought, which happens in our area once every 50 years? The HEAD of the enterprise said:

“The year turned out to be difficult and abnormal. He especially tested the strength of our crop production,” admitted Alexey Smolyakov, DIRECTOR of SNB-Agro LLC. - At first, due to the drought, there were difficulties with the procurement of feed, but the reserves of past years allow us to look confidently into the future and not worry about the feed supply.

By the way, despite the fact that we didn’t get enough grain - we threshed only half of what we collected last year, the enterprise still took second place in the region in terms of grain volume! The yield of wheat, barley, and triticale turned out to be higher than last year: 56 c/ha (in 2022 - 50 c/ha).

A good harvest of rapeseed was obtained - 37 centners per hectare, however, each hectare yielded slightly less oilseeds than last year: in 2022, more than 43 centners were harvested per hectare.

At the same time, the farm fulfilled the state order, within the framework of which 400 tons of food wheat, 50 tons of barley and 140 tons of rapeseed were supplied.

Most of the rapeseed has already been sold, and the farm is now slowly taking back the processed oilseed cake.

“In this way we provide the livestock with high-quality protein raw materials,” explains Alexey Anatolyevich.

The corn produced better in the fields of SNB-Agro LLC. Today it perfectly complements a balanced diet for cattle .

- In the abnormal conditions of this year, we got a good result - both in terms of corn grain (more than 120 c/ha) and in terms of green mass for silage. The rolled grain of waxy ripeness was stored in polymer sleeves. The farm also provided itself with a year and a half supply of silage, says Alexey Smolyakov, explaining that the farm works with imported corn hybrids, which traditionally demonstrate high yields.

Since winter grains and corn demonstrated high stress resistance in difficult weather and climatic conditions and produced a good harvest, the management of the farm decided to rely on them during the autumn and spring sowing. This fall, almost 1 thousand hectares of winter grains were sown. Another 1 thousand hectares of arable fields will be used for corn in the spring: this time the queen of the fields will be allocated 30% more land than in the outgoing year.

The fields also grow under the grass. Of the perennial cereals, the most popular is timothy, of the annual cereals - ryegrass, and of the legumes - alfalfa.

“It’s true that we don’t sow a lot of alfalfa: we have little land suitable for cultivating it,” regrets Alexey Smolyakov and still plans to slightly increase the fields under this legume family crop next year.

Considering that grasses are one of the favorite delicacies of cattle, the company decided to increase their quality and quantity in the feed ration.

“A green feed chopper has arrived, which we bought to bring the haylage to the desired condition,” the director of SNB-Agro LLC reported positive news, clarifying that wheat and barley straw is also traditionally used not only for bedding livestock, but also for balancing rations. And if haylage from cured dry hay, after chopping, will be packaged in a polymer film, where it can be stored for up to a year, then straw - in nets.

It should be noted that the cattle herd at SNB-Agro LLC is quite large - 2856 heads, of which 864 are dairy cows, producing 16 tons of milk per day. Robotic milking is organized at both dairy farms of the enterprise - MTK "Kalachi" and "Kremenets": robots milk cows 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And their food is prepared by a state-of-the-art feed dispenser - a self-propelled machine equipped with scales, a computer, which calculates and prepares the food ration for each group of cattle. Today this self-propelled “feed kitchen” for cattle is managed by machine operator Andrey Lashukevich.

The dairy theme in livestock farming here is organically complemented by beef production. The daily weight gain of calves is 777 grams.

“Meat processing plants purchase the bulls raised in our country according to the category of highest fatness,” emphasized chief accountant Raisa Chupris.

For the livestock breeders of this farm, growing beef has good prospects, the horizons of which are not visible to all agricultural farms that rely on fattening.

On our last visit to SNB-Agro LLC, we were shown bulls born from a cow of low milk productivity of the Belarusian black-and-white breed, which was inseminated with sperm from the Belgian blue MEAT breed. How is the experiment going?

“The mixed breeds turned out to be a distinct meat breed - already at birth they weighed more than ordinary calves,” its director spoke about the continuation of the experiment at SNB-Agro LLC. - The Belgian-Belarusian bulls have grown over the year and indeed turned out to be clearly meat-bearing, with sides “drenched” in meat tissue, and similar to Aberdinangus bulls, the sperm of which was previously purchased by the company.

These animals produce a higher meat yield than black-and-white Holstein bulls. With an average daily weight gain of 1.1-1.2 kg, they grow 13-14 months before slaughter weight, and mixed breeds grow a month faster. At the same time, their main advantage is a greater yield of meat. In black-and-white it makes up 53-55% of the total weight, in Belarusian-Belgian - 56-57%.

“Targeted work on fattening cattle is a rewarding and, of course, interesting topic,” concludes Alexey Smolyakov and expresses his regret about the undervaluation of such animals by beef processors. - For now, meat processing plants are not interested in such cattle: they do not distinguish between black-and-white cattle and meat-producing cattle.

So, after considering the economics of the experiment, the company decided to stop the process of further raising Belgian blue bulls.

“I hope that when we organize our own slaughter and processing, the topic of raising beef cattle will be beneficial for us,” summed up Alexey Smolyakov.

So milk production remains the main trend of the enterprise’s economic activity, bringing the main income to the team.

SNB-Agro LLC plans to end the outgoing year 2023 in the black: net profit based on the results of work for 11 months has already amounted to 1 million 140 thousand rubles.

- INWe are going into the new year with new plans and optimism,” noted Alexey Anatolyevich. - Work on two projects has been completed: reconstruction of the mechanical yard and the administrative building - office. We will begin the actual implementation of both projects next year.

Both projects are important for farmers. The management of the enterprise expects that with the completion of the major renovation of the administrative building, a modern canteen will appear here, which will be open all year round. In the meantime, the enterprise’s canteen, which provides lunches and afternoon snacks to farmers during sowing, harvesting and during feed procurement, operates only during the season.

The overhaul of the mechanical yard is about to begin. The farm has a fleet of modern equipment, which is constantly updated. The equipment requires appropriate storage in boxes that meet the main requirements, and maintenance in modern workshops.

Today, the basis of the fleet is made up of three energy-rich domestic "MTZ-3022", powerful John Deere and "Kirovets" tractors, and medium-power tractor equipment - "MTZ-1221". Farmers also have the entire arsenal of trailed equipment - soil cultivating Strom (Czech Republic), Tiger, Horsch Tiger, universal sowing kit Horsch (all - Germany ) and others. Next year's plans include the purchase of medium-drawn tractors of the class - from 150 to 250 horsepower.

We visited the mechanical yard, where we met with chief engineer Valery Zhovnerchik, machine operators Alexander Shavlyuga, Vladimir Burkovich and Nikolai Dyatl. Here they learned that all the tractor, combine and trailed equipment available on the farm were prepared for spring field work, applying solid and wild fertilizers, and harvesting equipment was prepared for harvesting and preparing feed for cattle and put into storage.

- Prepared one hundred percent! - Deputy Director Sergei Kolbasin is confident. - All tractors and units - even in the field today!

SNB-Agro LLC is a socially responsible agricultural company that makes sure that its employees have a roof over their heads, are healthy and work in good spirits. In December, for example, when almost all the equipment is laid up, machine operators go on vacation. Some vacation on trade union vouchers in the best sanatoriums in the country - mainly in Naroch. But not everyone’s winter season is a vacation: the livestock industry knows no days off... Cattle care, feeding and health require the constant attention of specialists - livestock specialists, veterinarians, veterinarians - and those involved in feeding and care. And machine operators involved in the livestock industry are also involved.

A good worker is a healthy worker who happily goes to the farm, mechanical yard, grain warehouse and returns home with the same good mood. To ensure that this is always the case, members of the farm’s workforce have been covered under a health insurance program for two years now. Insurance covers various types of diagnostics, including CT and MRI, as well as the purchase of medications and dental services.

By the way, many specialists and other team members live in apartments and houses provided to them by the farm.

SNB-Agro LLC also cares about the good mood in the team. Trips around the country are periodically organized here, mainly to various cultural events in the capital. For example, not so long ago everyone went to MINSK together for a circus performance.

Since mid-January, SNB-Agro LLC has already begun preparing equipment for spring field work.

The livestock breeders of SNB-Agro LLC have good prospects for growing beef, the horizons of which are not visible to all agricultural enterprises that rely on fattening.

Tamara MEDVEDEVA

Photo: Tatiana MATUSEVICH, Ramil NASIBULIN