8-9 September 2016 Cherkasy city hosted the third module of AgriSchool UCAB called "Management dairy business 2016. Preparation of feed: hay, haylage, silage".

During the two-day workshop which attended almost 40 participants, including representatives of agricultural enterprises, providers, experts in agricultural sector and practicing veterinarians have been discussed the effectiveness of feed preparation in agricultural enterprises, its impact on the quality of animal products and animal health and also the role of feed preparation in efficiency of the farm in general.

The feed base includes 60-75% of the cost of milk including the feeding of young animals. The basis of any cattle diet is rough feed, their quality determines the quantity of other components in the complete mixed diet. Thus the quality of rough feed determines the cost of feeding, and then it determines the cost of milk by 60-75%. The rough feed is the foundation on which a whole dairy business works, therefore, their quality determines whether profitable the farm is or not.

"Dairy Business in Ukraine undergoes consolidation. Ineffective farms leave the market. At the same time, effective companies build farms and increase farm livestock. Earning money is possible at low purchase prices for milk, but it requires abidance of certain technologies", - said Volodymyr Mirnenko, a speaker of «AgriSchool», expert in technological support, Pottinger Ukraine.

"In Ukrainian realities the impact of bad feeds on health and cattle reproduction is very important because not all of the farmers understand how to harvest and store feed efficiently. Indeed, in the case of improper storage and foundation of rough feed, the unwanted microflora multiplies, which takes the nutritional value of food from 20% to 70%. In addition, the accumulation of microorganisms led to reduction of the reproductive function and productivity", - said Valeriy Lototsky, Assistant Professor, k.v.n., BNAU. According to his opinion, companies which implement sorbents, impose farmers the idea that they may not follow the technological conditions of storage, because the sorbents will solve all problems instead. "Unfortunately, it's just a marketing ploy because there is no sorbent, which could remove all toxic products from the feed accumulated in it due to the microflora» - said the expert.

During the second day of the workshop, participants visited the production enterprise of JV "Lomovate", Sagunivka village, Cherkasy region, where professional excursion took place. Leading experts showed the workshop participants the conditions where animals live, feed storage of its own provision (alfalfa haylage and corn silage) and the specialties of animal feed. Therefore, the modern milking parlor 2x8 Swing Over type was demonstrated.

«Our farm is an example how it is possible to achieve maximum effect without large investments, because 6 years ago our yields were 8 liters per cow, and now we have 30 liters per day. Significant investment we replaced with the hard work of our team. Today the total number of cattle in our farm is 782 animals, 430 of which - milk cows. In our opinion, such events as the workshop at «AgriSchool», should be, because we are constantly learning during the creation of the farm and up to this time. Without continuous learning and sharing the information you can quickly lose all the good results "- said Sergiy Golovach, chairman of a farm JV «Lomovate».

"Holding such practical events as «AgriSchool», primarily aims to exchange the experience between domestic agricultural producers. During these practical seminars producers can discuss methods of solving their problems, which can prevent the diseases or cure cattle properly and on time. We always choose leading speakers, so that our participants had an opportunity to get the latest information about technological aspects which then affect the productivity of cows and economic efficiency of the enterprise in general ", - said Galyna Oliynyk, project manager AgriEvent.