Farmers in the Sennensky district breed Danish mink and silver fox

For a quarter of a century, the village of Litouso in the Sennensky district has been famous for the diverse valuable animals bred by the farm of Alexander Borisenok. How is this unusual business for the Pridvinsky region developing today? Our interlocutor and guide through his lands was the owner of the estate, Ekaterina Borisenok.

How it all began

Once, where the current animal farm is located, there was a forest. The reason for choosing this slightly unusual location was that at that time, legislation did not allow agricultural land to be withdrawn from circulation. Everything was cleared and uprooted, soon the first animal enclosures, an administrative building, a feed kitchen, and other structures appeared...

Initially registered as an intra-collective farm cooperative, when it became possible, they changed the form of ownership to a private unitary farm enterprise, then the first two words had to be removed, and today it is "simply" the farm of Alexander Borisenok. It consists of a friendly team of a dozen people, half of whom are directly involved in animal care. Many employees have been working here almost since its inception. The owners themselves are not afraid of any work and adhere to the principle that one can only lead if one thoroughly understands the specifics of production oneself.

"Staying afloat"

This, Borisyonok believes, should be the motto of any entrepreneur. According to Ekaterina Viktorovna, 5-6 years ago the fur farm operated on a large scale. The mink population reached 17 thousand heads. However, the fur market is unstable. If it was good for several seasons in a row, then last year there was a sharp collapse in prices. Fortunately, a complete culling of animals was already planned in Litusovo for thorough disinfection of the cages, so the fur was sold in October at the old prices. But many other producers had to sell their goods at a loss…

By the way, 8 years ago, the farm was one of the first in the country to start breeding exclusively imported animals, which are much more expensive and to which all major sales markets are shifting. Short-haired minks of Danish selection are in high demand in Russia today. The guard hair, which is shorter in foreign minks, and the underfur is denser, is of great importance for the quality of the fur. It is much more valuable, but also more capricious and delicate. For a domestic female, a litter of 5 pups is a good result, while for foreign animals it's 3-4 pups. If our farms switched at least half to these animals, Ekaterina Borisyonok is sure, there would be no problems with sales at the auction. Currently, they don't have minks yet, but the purchase of individuals from the Pinsk fur farm in October-November has already been agreed with the Ministry of Agriculture.

By the way, I learned an interesting fact: it turns out that Belarus produces not much less fur than all of Russia. Alexander Borisyonok's farm does not consider itself a competitor to the giant enterprises of Belkoopsoyuz, but it is the only one in our region, by the way.

The mink population was sold, but the number of black foxes increased: to 500 heads in three years, and 100 arctic foxes were brought in. But still, it is necessary to work at a loss for now, as the feed kitchen is designed for 1.5-2 tons of feed, and now less than a thousand is required for the current population. And the electricity costs for the refrigerators do not decrease because of this.

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"A major drawback is that we are producers, not traders: we cannot properly sell what we produce ourselves," - sadly states Ekaterina Viktorovna.

Enthusiast Experimenters

Alexander Borisenok's farm is multifaceted. Over the past years, they have tried both. Enterprising owners are interested in various business directions. Recently, there were three enclosures of 4 hectares each with wild boars. Purebred Dutch pigs were crossed with wild ones. The result was half-breeds that were popular with buyers. These hybrids were unpretentious in their diet, like their forest relatives, but at the same time, they produced excellent environmentally friendly meat with a small layer of fat.

The current year has been difficult for the farm's economy. All wild boars had to be slaughtered, including those in hunting grounds. This is also a great loss, as so much effort was invested. However, there are now more wolves and elk. Therefore, the owners are confident that they will be able to overcome everything.

They were also engaged in sheep farming, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was

"not for us." Belarusians are not yet accustomed to other types of meat. However, it is possible that their own flock will appear again someday.

For several years, goats were bred, but it was not possible to establish sales of their milk, especially valuable for children and the elderly, within the country due to various bureaucratic hurdles. It was necessary to sell the pedigree animals to Ukrainian entrepreneurs. And yet, there were no goats of such bloodlines in all of Belarus! Now, one of the farm's top priorities is to return to this type of activity. After all, the milk sold will bring tangible profits every day. Now we have open trade with Russia, so the most profitable option, as Borysenki calculated, is to bottle the milk in Tetra Pak packaging and sell it to private stores, for example, in Smolensk. The problem is that due to African swine fever, the borders of many European countries are closed: elite goats can only be purchased in America right now. The market price of goat milk in Belarus, according to Ekaterina Borysenok, is currently too high. When a liter costs 50-70 thousand rubles, it's abnormal. In her opinion, the benchmark should be a markup coefficient of 30% of the cost of cow's milk.

After the quarantine period, there are plans to resume pig farming. The main thing is that there are no new outbreaks of swine fever nearby.

To date, the largest profit comes from the hunting Laika kennel. It houses 350 charming four-legged friends who announce the arrival of strangers with loud barks. And all of them are of the best bloodlines! This business, which coincides with a hobby, has been passionately pursued by the head of the family for several decades, and he is well-known to hunting enthusiasts far beyond the borders of Belarus. Buyers of pedigree dogs with impeccable pedigrees even come from the Far East. Dogs from Litousovo regularly win prizes at various exhibitions and competitions in Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic countries.

Recently, the farm has been seriously considering creating its own Laika sperm bank. Ekaterina, a veterinarian by profession, has been involved in the artificial insemination of foxes and arctic foxes (the only one in the country, by the way) for a couple of years, crossing these two seemingly incompatible species to obtain the blue frost hybrid.

I always feel sympathy for people who are, as they say, in their place. Whether it's an official, a tractor driver, a turner, or an athlete. To such enterprising, competent, thorough people, on whom the well-being of our country rests and will continue to rest, I will unhesitatingly include farmers Alexander and Ekaterina Borisenkov, who look to the future of their difficult, but at the same time so fascinating work with confidence.

Ales Bynkov, "Vitebskiye Vesti"