A few weeks ago we met with one of the owners of the herd with the highest milk productivity for the Montbeliard breed. Today we will do the same for the Simmental breed. Our meeting is with Victor Gichev, owner of the farm in the village of Boeritsa, Ihtiman region.
The occasion is the awarding of an honorary award for the most dairy cow of the Simmental breed for 2020. This is a cow BELLA AT745101729, (HUSS / WEINOLD), with a breeding № 200 1 16 34513, which on the second lactation has reached 11304 kg with 3.94 % MB and 3.42% BV. Simultaneously, the Gichevi brothers were awarded an award for second place for a herd with the highest average milk productivity in the Simmental breed, which for 2020 is 8279 kg with 3.99% MB and 3.37% BV.
In 2019 we met you with the other brother – Svetozar Gichev, who then told us in detail about all the troubles and problems faced by a young farmer with high goals and ambitions.
Despite the great difficulties, the two Gichevi brothers did not give up their dream to build a modern farm on a Western model with excellent genetics and optimal conditions for breeding and feeding. The results are there and we congratulate them!
Today Victor Gichev talks about what and how they managed to achieve in the last three years.
– Hello, please introduce yourself in a few words to the audience.
– My name is Victor Gichev and I will soon be 35 years old. I am a Gabrovo shop – I was born in Gabrovo, but I have lived in Sofia almost all my life. I have been involved in animal husbandry for almost 4 years now with my family. The reason to build the farm we are currently on is my brother – Svetozar. He took the initiative and without him the farm would not exist. He is also the reason and the driving wheel for the high goals we have set for ourselves.
– From the position of these few years, do you assess as correct his desire to build a dairy farm and together with your family to engage in activities in which you have no hereditary experience?
– Undoubtedly! Despite the difficulties, we all support it and with great desire participate in the development of the farm, according to the high standards we have set for ourselves.
I am not satisfied with the Bulgarian reality we have encountered and the lack of labor. My brother is available on the farm around the clock and he generally does everything. The lack of workers requires us to cover all the needs of the animals, and the more the herd grows, the more the work increases. Often our efforts are impossible and it is really very difficult.
– What happened in these almost 4 years? Did reality justify the ideas and plans you had in the beginning?
– Let’s start with the fact that before we built the farm, I had hardly seen cows in my life. Only in pictures or in the fields of Austria when I traveled. Today we already have our own herd of purebred animals, numbering nearly 170 heads.
Many things have happened since then. Of course, we were not quite prepared. All the business plans we had prepared at the beginning regarding milk production, the price of fodder, salaries, etc. turned out to be unrealistic. The costs are practically double and triple, as well as the accompanying problems and disorders. The beginning was very difficult indeed.
When choosing the second truck with animals from Austria, we visited a young farmer on a family farm with over 100 years of history. When he started herding, he managed to increase the average milk yield from 6,000 to 12,000 liters. At that time he was milking 30 cows, and we had the same number of dairy animals. We thought we had achieved high results, but when we realized that their farm milked a ton and a half of milk a day from 30 animals, we realized that we were very far from the real level we should strive for. Then we milked 500-600 kg of milk a day and it seemed impossible to reach their quantity.
With a lot of work, quality nutrition and proper genetics, we are already close to these results. Everything is achievable, but we had neither the experience nor the traditions and we achieve everything very, very difficult.
– At the moment, how much do you milk on average per day?
– A while ago I watched the average daily lactation and per animal the result is 27.6 liters per day. Our animals are divided into groups – calves, fresh group and dairy cows after the 150th day after calving. The fresh group achieves a result of over 30 liters of average daily lactation.
– Did this person, who aroused in you this noble motivating envy and gave you a real idea of your own results, share any valuable advice that you would also share with your colleagues from NARMS?
– What he advised us as a breeder was to bet on good genetics. He works with the best bulls and selects them very carefully according to the individual assessments and needs of the animals in the herd. He selects the best cows and heifers that are included in their selection plan and the results are available.
In this way, it provides the herd with an excellent genetic basis that constantly optimizes. Taking care of these 30 animals did not require much effort. In the morning, a food mixer was being prepared, milked by a robot. When we went to the farm, there were no workers. Everything was automated and planned – feeding, milking, cleaning, and not, as is common here, aimless unbearable efforts and ultimately poor results. There is much to learn from them without a doubt.
This is our goal – full automation and robotization of the activity. This greatly facilitates the farmer and allows for development and planning. In Bulgaria, due to the lack of labor, automation of activities is the only option if the farm has high goals.
– How far have you come in farm automation? What equipment do you currently have and what technology do you need?
– We built the farm 6 years ago on a project for which we applied successfully. We managed to implement many innovations that were relevant at that time. Even then we thought about milking robots, but gave up, because in Bulgaria even at the moment there is no adequate service and service of this type of equipment. We built a 2×8 milking parlor, which was originally planned for 120 dairy cows with a tendency to increase them to 160. This hall has so far completely satisfied us.
We keep animals free-boxing. They are fed with a feed mixer according to a recipe according to their needs. Nutrition has also been optimized over time to achieve current results. With experience we have learned many things, no doubt.
– You have another main activity, which is very far from animal husbandry. Tell us about it and what is your priority at the moment?
– Both are my main and equally priority. I organize ski competitions. I am the manager of the department that organizes all ski competitions in Bulgaria at the Bulgarian Ski Federation. This year we have two big forums – “Men’s World Cup” and immediately after that “Youth World Cup”. Tomorrow I am leaving for Bansko in connection with these events.
As you can see, both activities require extreme dedication and it is not possible to prioritize one at the expense of the other. In the moments when I’m not in the federation, I’m on the farm and vice versa – when I’m not here I’m somewhere in competitions. It is really quite dynamic and engaging.
– When we interviewed your brother before, we had to wait for him, because he personally deals with milking animals. Do you cancel it sometimes?
– You could say that I am already a very good milkman! We had periods without a single worker on the farm, and every member of our family milked the cows, and did whatever was necessary. I can now and have done everything without the inseminations and health care that a veterinarian requires.
– Did you have an initial shock as an urban man who has not seen a cow before?
– No, on the contrary. It was very interesting for me to learn everything. Especially when there are conditions, and we made sure that this is the case and that extremely high hygiene is observed everywhere on the farm. With us, everything is quite civilized. Everything is concreted and rubberized.
Some Israelis had come with representatives of the dairy we work with. They thought that the milking parlor had never been used because of its impeccable cleanliness. They asked to take all our milk, which they think is kosher.
– You mentioned that everything is concreted and I can’t help but ask you – was the investment in an initial project in such massive buildings and concrete facilities correct for raising animals whose natural environment is in the meadows in nature? Did the advice of the designers turn out to be correct then or do they sometimes benefit from the trust and lack of experience of the people?
– It definitely turned out that some of the advice of the technologist we worked with at the time was completely incorrect and inapplicable. I later bought his book. Maybe the project was very good for the 70s of the last century, but not for today’s reality. I think that the technologist in question is debatable whether he entered a cow farm in his life. We had to fix a lot of things from the original project, which, as you know, costs us a lot of costs, nerves and inconvenience for us and the animals.
– I asked you this question because incorrect, or at least incompetent design is something that happens often in Bulgaria. What advice would you give to people who are yet to build a farm when choosing consultants and designers to save their headaches?
– Not only with consultants and designers – they must be careful with companies that are generally just looking to sell you something that may be totally non-functional and inapplicable to the business.
I advise all these people who, like us, are “lying” to start from scratch, to go around many different modern farms and even work in them. In this way, they will face the problems of the farmers first hand and eventually avoid them.
– Are you open for such visits and to share your experience with those who have gone on your way?
– Absolutely, we have always been and are available! To command!
– For example, what would you advise colleagues regarding the rearing of newborn calves and adolescents?
– Hygiene is very important! If the farmer does not look after them himself and the workers do not clean regularly, the consequences can lead to high mortality. We hardly lose calves. My brother, who is a veterinarian, strictly monitors their hygiene and condition.
– I assume you’re already attached to animals?
– Yes, and to the extent that we have not consumed beef for 3 years.
– This year you are among the leaders in average milk productivity of the herd. That is why we are here today. With these high results, don’t you plan to process your products yourself?
– This was the original idea for the construction of the farm in general, but not to produce traditional Bulgarian cheeses, but to focus on the Alpine type of cheese – Emmental, Camembert, etc., as the milk is extremely suitable for this purpose. The problem, however, is that this is actually a different business – costs, workers, sales in stores, etc. At the moment there is no way to deal with this.
– You are obviously perfectionist people who exist in a far from perfect environment. Wouldn’t it be easier for you if you set goals that are more achievable for the Bulgarian reality?
– When there is a desire, it is obtained. We will not give up on our lofty goals. We have been working like this for three years now and we will not give up. It is much more difficult, but we will follow the standards we have set and we will strive to show that it is possible to work like in the West.
Our motto is that we produce food, and quality cannot be compromised with it. We will never change that.
– Have you ever turned to your brother, who is the ideologue and the reason for everything you went through and said to him “Abe, couldn’t you think of something else !?”?
– It happened, of course, in tense situations and I even blamed him, but in the end I and our parents saw the huge potential in this endeavor and we believe that it makes sense and was the right decision. Especially in these troubled times. During the Kovid crisis, the demand for our milk from the dairy has increased and we can’t even afford it. This proves that this is a lasting and profitable investment.
– Do you appreciate the great work that your brother puts into the farm? He literally sacrifices his whole personal life to be here and to take care of the animals around the clock, which is probably very difficult for a young man. What would you tell him?
– I want to tell him that I love him very much and I am infinitely grateful to him for everything he does for the farm. Without him and the sacrifice he makes for the farm, none of this would have been a fact!
– What would you advise other young people who will now take out a huge loan and with many ideas and dreams will embark on building their farm?
– To work with us for a week and then make long-term plans!
– Thank you! It was a pleasure for us to visit you and reward you, and we wish you from the bottom of our hearts ever higher goals and achieved results!
-Thanks to me too!