"Scots" like Moroccan pastures. Enviable prospects for the breeding business of OJSC "Moroch"

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JSC "Moroch" is a place where today and tomorrow domestic animal husbandry meet. The farm produces MILK and cattle MEAT, and also breeds beef cows, which have enviable prospects. What kind of breed and what is it like to run a breeding business, while milking more than 20 liters from a cow a day, and also feed a six thousandth livestock of cattle, says Anatoly Budchan, DIRECTOR of Moroch OJSC, an enterprise that has the status of a breeding enterprise.

Aberdeen angus and marbled beef

The Aberdeen Angus cow breed was bred in the 17th century in the northeast of Scotland - in the counties of Aberdeen and Angus in the northeast of Great Britain. The total number of Aberdeen Angus herds on the farm is 400 heads.

“The Scots like the Morochan pastures,” Anatoly Valeryanovich admits and adds that the breeding stock, which is 200 heads, can’t wait until the earth is covered with sweet green grass. Together with the cows, the calves will also go for grazing, which walk with their mothers in the wild for up to six months.

Next - who goes where. Breeding heifers - for sale: they are purchased by those who are interested in breeding beef cattle. So, for example, in the fall of 2022, a batch of heifers was acquired by the Vitebsk breeding enterprise. The MINSK breeding enterprise also shows interest in Moroccan young animals: it buys bulls for the reproduction of Aberdeen Angus herds. The Morochans refused artificial insemination: breeding cattle are bred in the traditional way: bulls walk along with heifers on pastures. To avoid closely related crossing, breeders exchange bulls with a farm that also breeds this breed. For meat - only culled, not suitable for the article and other characteristics.

“We keep the livestock of the meat breed in a stable number (400 heads), – says Anatoly Valeryanovich and clarifies that the enterprise also has three thousand bull-calves of the Belarusian black-and-white breed, which, by the way, is inferior to the Aberdeens in terms of weight gain.

"Scots" gain up to a kilogram per day (and on pastures and at all - up to 1.4 kg), and black-and-white cattle - an average of 750 grams. And further. An Aberdeen Angus bull grows up to 400 kilograms in 10-12 months, and the traditional breed gains 400 kilos in 13-15 months. Here are the costs. At the same time, black-and-white cattle receive "good" and "excellent" from the meat processing plant, but the Scots - exclusively "excellent".

Meat breeds are more suitable for beef production, given that their meat is marbled with a small fat layer.

Milk is a plus

But Moroch OJSC, like most agricultural enterprises, earns its main profit from milk. Of the 6.7 thousand livestock of cattle - 1090 heads of dairy herds. The average milk yield for 2022 was 7,090 thousand kg of milk per cow. For the 1st quarter of 2023, the enterprise increased its gross milk yield even more (105% compared to the 1st quarter of last year). Yes, and the sale of milk has noticeably increased (112% over the same period last year).

– We milk 20.8 kg per cow per day, which is already more per kilogram than in 2022. The growth in milk yield is the merit of the staff of the new dairy complex introduced in November 2022. Westfalia equipment was installed there with a modern milking parlor for 800 heads, where they began to milk 40 cows at a time (20/2). On this MTC milk yield - 25 kg per cow - is generally higher than on the farm. When there was a linear milking, it was serviced by eight machine milking operators, now there are four, - Anatoly Valeryanovich shared and explained: - Modern equipment increases the efficiency of animal husbandry, optimizes personnel, but we save people. Part of the team remained at milking, others began to take care of calves and adult cattle, someone retired.

Next in line is the reconstruction of another farm, which the Morochans intend to master on their own, although, the HEAD admitted, it will not be easy financially.

- We spent 3.3 million rubles on the modernization of the previous farm, which could be spent on the purchase of new equipment and the repair of existing equipment ...

At the same time, Moroch OJSC has a solid fleet of agricultural machinery. There are only five energy-saturated tractors, four of which are domestic, produced by MTZ. But after all, the farmland here is rather big - more than 6.8 thousand hectares, that is, there are up to 100 head of cattle per hectare!

For a session, to the Academy of Management

Anatoly Budchan is one of those managers who constantly replenish their knowledge base by putting theory into practice. At one time, Anatoly Valeryanovich graduated from the Belarusian Agricultural Academy in Gorki. He, a student of a local school, was once sent to a targeted study in the specialty "agronomy" by his native farm. Here he worked as a foreman of the field-growing team, then he went to the neighboring farm of Lazovichi OJSC as the chief agronomist. In 2022, he returned to his native agricultural town Moroch - already the head of the JSC. We met with Anatoly Valeryanovich at the Academy of Public Administration under the President, where he receives a second degree - he studies in the specialty "public administration and economics."

“Either in class, or on phone calls: I’m worried if everything is in order,” the interlocutor tells about the schedule of session time. - After all, now - sowing: thoughts there.

“In a day or two I’ll break out home,” the manager admitted, whose excitement is quite understandable: the farm team in 2023 intends to gain production volumes no lower than in the previous one.

Production success - team

In 2022, the farmers of JSC "Moroch" did their best. The grain yield was 62 centners per hectare (in 2021 - 42.8 centners per hectare), which were harvested for a round of 7.2 thousand tons (+ 117% compared to last year)! Rapeseed also pleased: 963 tons of oilseeds were harvested (in 2021 - 536 tons).

Farmers laid a reliable foundation for the 2023 harvest already in the fall. Under winter cereals - 1592 hectares, and even 570 hectares - under rapeseed. Its first feeding was carried out at the end of March: rapeseed is a profitable crop, but last year's sowing fell on an autumn drought, so today it is a subject of special concern to farmers.

“We have sown spring barley, next in line is the sowing of other crops - millet, for example ... Our lands are not bad: with competent agricultural technology, it is really possible to get a good harvest! - says Anatoly Budchan.

Talking about gains, milk yields and yields of fields, the director of the JSC said a lot of good things about his team - specialists, field farmers, machine milking operators, machine operators, drivers.

– The production successes of JSC "Moroch" are commanding. There is no other way in agriculture, - says Anatoly Valeryanovich.

Even the outward appearance of their personal estates speaks of the fact that the Morochans work well and also earn money. Many residents of the agro-town, which got its name from the river flowing into the Lan, settled in the houses built by the farm, with the right to buy. For young professionals - a four-story hostel with one-room apartments.

Moroch is a place to live. Good, interesting, where the main measure of success is diligence and love for work.

Tamara MARKINA

Ramil NASIBULIN