Calf Rearing in Russia - Taissia Mortensen
Russia is a major importer of dairy products. However, the industry there is growing. I got to visit with Taissia Mortensen of Farmers Force about some of the current situations facing dairy farmers in Russia.
1. Taissia, tell us about yourself and your experience in the calf industry.
I have been working for the past 17 years in agriculture. I am currently employed by Zinpro in the Russian subsidiary office. Also, I have my own company called Farmers Force, supplying farmers in Russia with Calf Solutions including, equipment, knowledge, and management advice. The Company is 4 years old and before that we did farm advice in agronomy and new cow farms. When a new farm or investor wanted to build or expand, we could come in with advice and consulting. In 2017 or 2018 we started to look for products and solutions to sell as well. We realized that the area of young calf rearing was almost completely disregarded and that there was not much knowledge in that area.The knowledge for raising calves in Russia is very confusing, and we started to look globally for solutions and equipment. Also, to learn and to educate ourselves. Always looking for new products and knowledge to offer to farmers.
2. What is a typically sized dairy or calf ranch in Russia?
We almost don’t have heifer villages, as we call them, or calf ranches. Most bottle heifers or milk heifers are raised on the dairy. We have old fashioned farms left over from the Soviet Union, and new modern dairy farms. Old farms are 300-800 or 1,000 milking cows. The big investor farms are 2,500 to 6,000 milking cows. And one owner can have several farms of each size. If we talk about big integrators like Econiva, for example, they have more than 100.000 milking cows on many farms.
Bull calves are sold early on and go to fattening farms and raised for meat and beef. Heifers stay on the farm and are raised as replacements.
Historically, there were a lot of political changes from the Soviet Union to Russia in the 90’s, from this tough period we don’t have generations of farmers. So, there isn’t a lot of knowledge passed from one generation to the next. How it works is if you are the owner, it doesn’t matter the size, you have a director, and hired people. Then specialists do jobs like nutrition or veterinary. The simpler jobs are done by less skilled workers. Because of that we don’t have much to back our experience on. Russian farmers are constantly looking to the west to see how things are done.
Also, after the collapse of the Soviet Union there has been a knowledge gap of some 10-15 years, and the milk farm industry started to pick up and to really thrive less than 10 years ago. However, the agricultural knowledge in the universities is hard to find, as the education is still based on long outdated norms and beliefs. Most new knowledge is made available from commercial companies that offer practical knowledge from foreign specialists as part of their service.
3. What are some of the biggest challenges calf raisers face in Russia?
In my personal experience, I don’t have a formula education in farming. I wasn’t raised on a farm. My experience is practical. The last 5 years I have spent working with the calves and calf people. I have observed that calves are always thought of as secondary, because they don’t make milk. Also, people don’t pay attention to the anatomy or physical requirements of the calf.
Health problems always seem to start with diarrhea. I think many of the same pathogens as in the United States. Then respiratory issues follow upon weaning. Many calves have a very rough start and then lots of stresses both nutritional and environmental. Cleanliness is a problem to achieve. Everyone is looking for a magical pill to cure illnesses such as clostridia. They add things to the starter feed. Lots of milk improvers and fortifiers. But the issue stays. Because sanitation and cleaning and disinfection is too complicated as it involves a human factor, and nobody wants to do it.
4. How has the pandemic impacted the cattle industry in Russia?
In Russia agriculture and milk farms have been keeping the flow no matter the pandemic. But what is happening now it is much worse than the pandemic. Supply of feed ingredients since March 2021 has been restricted from import. Premixes, yeasts, minerals, probiotics, are restricted to come into Russia. That has spiked the cost prices and the market has become unstable. It’s been hard to get milk powder. Then they must purchase the second or third best they can find and often end up with poor results.
5. What opportunities do you see in the future for Calf Raisers in Russia?
In the last couple of years some of the big integrators and big players are thinking about building their own heifer villages as a separate calf facility, but as part of the same business. It’s coming, but it’s not an easy task as calves are fragile and there are a lot of things to consider. It is very expensive to bring in quality equipment, such as hutches, because they are imported from other countries like the United States.
The government says they are self-sustaining in pork and poultry production. Russia exports also to Asia and the Middle East. However, in milk production we are still far from self-sustainable. The numbers vary, and we don’t have clear statistics on how many cows we have as many are held in private farms. But it is somewhere around 3,000,000 milking cows. In terms of milk, we still import a lot of dry milk from other countries. There is a lot of space for growth.
I see all young stock as a long-term strategical opportunity to really make a change and a measurable difference of a farm. Calves deserve care, compassion and empathy. I like to inspire people by writing about a #MillionOfHappyCalves, which is yet to be seen. I think it is a key factor to enhance the milk yield and life longevity of the cows.
Thank you Taissia for giving us the inside scoop on calf rearing in Russia! If you would like to learn more about her company, Farmer’s Force, you can visit their website, and follow them on Instagram!
Written by: Mariah Gull, M.S.