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We arrive at the company in Rietavas in the afternoon, and its manager only attends when we meet. He explains that the company was acquired four years ago, there was already a farm here, and today everything has expanded.
“We bought it from other Lithuanians.
About 60 people now work here. We grow about 2 thousand. cattle, of which 460 are dairy cows ”, says Tomas Skierus, director of the company, only after driving to the farms.
He mentions that when the farm was bought, the cows produced around 7 tons of milk during lactation, and now the number has grown significantly.
“Now we are milking about 10 tons,” says the manager.
We approach the smallest calves, which grow one by one in special houses.
“It just came to our knowledge then.
They are distinguished from the others because their immune system is weaker, they are given three times a day as a substitute for milk. They should be allowed to intensify for 5-6 weeks so as not to get bacteria, diseases, so we keep them in units so that they have minimal contact with each other.
Now there are about 2 weeks for this, ”the owner points out to a cattle.
Upon entering the barn, T. Skierus explains that larger calves are already growing here.
Afterwards, the bulls “go” to fatten, we breed them ourselves for 14-15 months. and then we sell them where the meat is cut and exported.
And heifers in other places, where they are later inseminated. We try to use all the animals efficiently, ”he says.
Continuing, the manager explains that here is the “barn for the mothers, which was built first, a little after the construction of the calves, and the plan for next year is to build a new barn for the dairy cows.”
“To have a productive and efficient farm, it is necessary to create conditions for the animals. If there are no conditions, there will be no result ”, he says.
According to T. Skierus, there is no need to worry about animals even in winter when it is cold; the most important thing is that the system supplies water, has food and has an orderly bed.
“I would say yes at -30 degrees. Last year, the lowest temperature was -28 degrees and there was no problem, “he explains.
The manager does not want to reveal where the company sells the milk received, says that here it is a trade secret, but claims that everything remains in Lithuania and is not exported abroad.
“For now, we have very little milk to open so that our dairy can produce our products, but I think we all have to do our job and our goal now is to produce quality raw material,” he says.
Currently, this company exports between 14 and 15 tons of milk to Lithuanian producers per day.
The manager explains that the company also grows its own feed, which is then mixed by specialists according to the proper diet.
“This company owns about 1,200 hectares of land. About 15% of them are used for animal husbandry, and everything else is used for crop production, ”calculates T. Skierus.
The company plans a major expansion next year. Plans are to build 8 to 9 robot dairy farms.
“Milking will be automatic, no more manual work will be required,” says the manager.
New purchases will require a significant investment.
According to him, if the mechanisms can be acquired with the help of support, then that option will certainly not be ruled out, and otherwise the funds will have to borrow from banks.
It is planned to invest about 3.5 million in the new farm with robots. EUR, and the total investment in this farm since its acquisition already reaches 9 million. EUR.
“We plan that the investment will pay off in 10 years,” says Skierus.
15 km from this location the manager says he has a “test farm” where he has another 200 cows and he already has 4 milking robots there.
“We launched 3 years ago, we were not sure how everything would work, but we see that the animals have become friends, everything works perfectly. In the barn: peace, no people, no one chasing animals.
The animal decides to milk it, ”he says.
“If we want to invite young people to work, nobody wants to go to the milking parlor three times a day.
The young man does not want that job, so the decision is to invest in technologies that facilitate that job, ”he says, and says that with new investments he plans to increase the number of dairy cows to 600.
It is true that T. Skierus says that finding employees for the company is not yet a problem.
“We are not really complaining,” he says.
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