EkoNiva's organic farming enterprise has boosted its daily milk yield and cow productivity by a quarter. The key growth factor was fodder quality improvement.

The specialists harvested and ensiled perennial grasses for haylage and maize for silage based on the experience of previous years. The grasses were cut in the budding stage, when they reach the highest concentration of crude protein and have easily digestible fibre. The maize cobs were harvested in the milk and wax stage of ripeness. At this phase, the plant is distinguished by optimal digestibility and starch concentration. The nutritional value and feed assimilation were improved. Besides, special attention was paid to meeting all harvesting and storage requirements.

‘From January to September 2024, we received an average of 18 kg of milk in bulk per day per lactating cow. The figure for the same period in 2023 was 14.6 kg, which means an increase of 23%. Our milking herd is getting bigger with the offspring produced by the 19 new heifers received in February. Back then, the output was about 6.8 tonnes of organic milk per day’, says Valeriy Gushchin, Director of Savinskaya Niva.

With 520 milking cows, the farm has boosted its gross milk yield by a quarter – it currently amounts to 8.5 tonnes. In addition, the company’s specialists keep enhancing the crop quality. The in-house bred soya bean variety EN Argument was sown in the fields to be used for production of concentrated protein fodder in the future. Quinoa and several varieties of lentils were also planted as part of the trials carried out by EkoNiva. The results will be analysed after harvesting.

‘Organic production in Russia has just started developing’, says Valeriy Gushchin. ‘The demand is growing over time thanks to the popularisation of mindful consumption and healthy lifestyles. We can see it clearly now that buyers are opting for truly organic products.’