Tanya and I returned today from Pryluky, a city of 65,000 about 2 hours east of Kyiv. A client there sponsored a three-day beef school for his staff and other interested parties Friday, Saturday and Sunday. An old Soviet style meeting room in city hall was rented, a sound and projector system set up and coffee/tea and cookies available at the back all day long. There were about 30 people on Friday when I was talking about business management (the bean counters were there), 20 on Saturday when the topic was breeding and selection and 15 showed up on Sunday for nutrition and herd management.
Tanya helped out with some group activities which I am not good at. Next time we will do more of them, plus she will deliver some of the sessions. Tanya helps answer questions and gives more detailed explanations of some points as she has heard my sessions before and also been to Canada and understands our beef production system. My translator was Sasha Borisov, who has translated for me many times before, starting back in 1999. We work well together.
The client, Agrikor Holding, run over 2000 purebred cows in four breeds (Simmental, Charolais, Angus and Limousin). They recently bought Limousin and Charolais bulls from France. We went out to see them one evening after class and also look at one of the old feedlot barns which is in use until better facilities are built. We also toured their new AI Stud and the company's 184,000 tonnes (6,750,000 bu) capacity elevator for drying, cleaning and storing sunflowers and corn.
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| Old Soviet feedlot barn, 300 animals tied up to grow and fatten |
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| The barns are OK in summer but cold and wet in winter. Outside is best but that will take time. |
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| French Charolais bulls inside resting |
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| French Limousin bulls outside resting |
That is great that you and Tanya can work together on these sessions.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the sessions went well.
ReplyDeleteThose bulls; they look big even to me, and I've seen some big fellas.
Those Charolais bulls are gorgeous!! Hearty stock?
ReplyDeleteThe one thing we've noticed about Florubian cows versus Indiana cows:
Florubian cows are always SO clean! (due to just sand and rain)
In Indiana a cow's fur is always sticking out, caked in mud and crud.
Tanya and I are a great team. Makes it fun.
ReplyDeleteThose are very big bulls but they were selected for calving ease as well as growth.
I would think that summer time should see clean Indiana beef cows if they are on pasture. Dairy cows in barns would tend to be less clean. Florida has some very large beef ranches.