Agrowill Group to be first in Lithuania to employ modern cow breeding method

All agricultural companies controlled by Agrowill Group have stepped into a new stage of cow breeding – introduction of a rotational cross-breeding model. The Group is the first in Lithuania to apply this modern method of breeding.

“We want to be an advanced and innovative agricultural company. Our business management model is new not only in Lithuania but also in entire European milk production: we manage the company according to a modern theory and are seeking to apply other agricultural sectors’ business management practices. Therefore, our objectives and strategy also require a substantially different approach to both herd management and breeding,” Valentas Šulskis, General Manager of Agrowill Group, said.

In his words, the company’s decision to breed cows using the rotational cross-breeding method has aroused a lot of discussions in the breeding sector. “Old breeding tradition supporters find this method to be too innovative and modern. I think this is understandable. After all, not only in Lithuania but also in other European countries, dairy cattle breeding solutions are based on conservative and old principles established in small family farms,” Šulskis said.

The idea of cross-breeding itself is not new in animal breeding: businesspeople working in the areas of pig breeding and aviculture have applied various cross-breeding techniques for over 50 years and have refined breeding schemes combining pure breeding and cross-breeding.

The essence of the rotational cross-breeding method is the use of different breeds of dairy cattle in the breeding scheme in rotation. This breeding method is chosen by large farms orientated towards intensive milk production where intensive milk production sets a lot of requirements for cows: they must be healthy, long-lived, fertile and productive. All these desirable characteristics can be gathered in a herd by mating several breeds in rotation using the cross-breeding method.

“The company has chosen the cross-breeding method because our vision is a profitable herd of healthy cows. Therefore, we are trying to concentrate all animal feeding, keeping and breeding facilities in this area,” the head of Agrowill Group said.

Cows bred using the new method are expected to yield 10,000 kg of milk per lactation. The figure at Agrowill Group companies currently averages some 6,500 kg. In the coming year, Agrowill Group plans to invest over a million litas in cow breeding.

It has chosen Gameta as its partner in introducing breeding solutions.

Agrowill Group is the largest agricultural investment and development company in the Baltic states operating 15 agricultural and 23 land management companies. The Group controls some 36,000 hectares of land and a herd of over 7,500 dairy cows in the Baltic region.

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