The Minister of Agriculture paid a working visit to the Orshansky district
The Minister of Agriculture and Food, Yuri Gorlov, made a working trip to the Orsha district. He got acquainted with the state of affairs in animal husbandry and the progress of the harvesting campaign.
The first stop on the route of the head of the department was the dairy complex "Usten" of RPUP "Ustye" of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Together with the first deputy chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Sergey Levkovich and the chairman of the Orsha District Executive Committee Igor Moroz, he observed how the processes of care, feeding, maintenance, and growing of young stock are organized.
Today, the total cattle population at the "Usten" dairy complex is 2,200 heads. Of these, the milking herd consists of 1,000 heads of cattle.
The red Danish cows have been yielding high results for several years. As the director of the agricultural enterprise "Ustye" Dmitry Batyukov reported, only in the first half of 2025, the gross milk production at the "Usten" complex amounted to 3,700 tons of milk of "extra" grade with an average fat content of 5.1% and a protein content of 3.28%.
– The breeding of the red Danish breed of cows should be further developed, – emphasized the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Yuri Gorlov. – However, this direction needs to be carefully managed, adhering to all technological parameters. We see that a certain result has been achieved at the "Usten" dairy complex, but there are reserves in terms of feeding and livestock selection that still need to be refined. Special emphasis is placed on the preservation of cattle.
Minister Yuri Gorlov also visited a field in the Belovo area, where the harvesting of winter wheat of the "Marquise" variety is currently underway on an area of 250 hectares. Four combines and the same number of units of equipment for transportation are working on this site.
In the farm, 3,200 hectares of grain crops and rapeseed are subject to harvesting. As of August 2, winter rapeseed and winter barley have been harvested 100%. They have started harvesting winter wheat and spring barley for the second day now. Prior to this, the work was hindered by rainy weather.
– This year we plan to increase the gross harvest of grains and legumes by 20% more, – said the head of the farm, Dmitry Batyukov.
During the working trip, the minister also visited the field of the agricultural enterprise "Radun" where rapeseed harvesting is taking place, and inspected the progress of the harvesting campaign at OJSC "Agrocomplex "Yubileiny".
– Overall, I see that people are working with a good mood, understanding that they can earn. The harvest is good, the harvesting process across the country is organized decently, – Yuri Gorlov told a journalist from "Orshanskaya Gazeta". – This year, 567 grain harvesting combines have been purchased and transferred to the farms of our country. Full fuel supply. The main thing is not to relax and keep the pace. Our President has pointed out that due to weather conditions and the overmoistening of grain crops, it is necessary to constantly monitor the fields and, if necessary, redeploy combines to harvest those fields that are ready by all indicators. Some enterprises are resorting to flattening the grain when it is not yet ready for harvesting according to moisture indicators. This is one way to quickly harvest the crop without losses. After all, how we work today in crop production depends on other sectors of agriculture. I would like to note that this year, taking into account the yield and the percentage of harvested areas, we currently have a better harvest than last year.
Considering that the Orsha district has some of the most fertile lands in the Vitebsk region, the region should show high results. Today, the yield of grains across the country is 42 quintals per hectare. In the Orsha district, it is currently 44 quintals per hectare, but we expect it to be higher.
Anastasia TUROK.
Photo by Sergey SLEPTSOV.