More than one hundred farms with milking parlors or robots will be built in the Vitebsk region within the five-year plan

July 27, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. More than one hundred dairy farms with milking parlors or robotic complexes will be built in the Vitebsk region within the five-year period. This was announced today at a regular meeting of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee by its chairman Alexander Kosinets, BELTA correspondent reports.

According to the governor, the problem of technical equipment of dairy farms is acute in the region. More than half of the livestock premises were built over 30 years ago, the service life of 61% of farms exceeds 30 years. According to the regional agricultural department, about a quarter of the milk produced in the region is milked into buckets on farms, 60% is produced on farms with milk pipelines, and only 15% on complexes with milking parlors or equipped with robots. At the same time, the milk yield per cow for six months on farms with milking parlors exceeded 3.2 tons of milk, while on farms with milk pipelines it was 2.6 tons, and with bucket milking - only 1.9 tons. On an average farm with bucket milking or a milk pipeline, 200 cows are typically served by 20-25 people, while on farms with milking parlors, there are only 26 workers per 1,000 heads. In addition, modern livestock technologies allow for high milk commercial quality. On 21 dairy farms commissioned in 2009-2010, 95% of the milk is rated as "extra" grade.

"While quality is covered by quantity, it is time to translate quantitative indicators into qualitative ones," Alexander Kosinets summarized. Thus, all newly constructed farms in the Vitebsk region will be equipped with either milking parlors or robotic complexes. Three standard designs have been selected that are most adapted to the region's conditions, allow minimizing imports and reducing construction costs by using materials produced in the region. In particular, according to economists' calculations, with an estimated cost of a farm built according to the analogy of the farm in OJSC "Alexandriyskoye" of the Shklovsky district, Br32.9 billion, Vitebsk builders have the opportunity to reduce its cost by approximately Br5.5 billion.

Currently, the construction of 21 dairy farms has begun in the region. The total estimated cost of constructing these facilities will be Br580 billion. Br118.6 billion of credit resources have been allocated for construction. "All farms must be commissioned on time, while adhering to a strict economy regime. It is better to build using own sources, farms are capable of doing this," - Alexander Kosinets is confident. -0-