Trip to Azerbaijan

Together with our “Breedexpo2” project partners from Finland and Estonia, we visited Azerbaijan from May 15 to 20 to get to know the livestock sector and needs of this country. While dairy farming has been developed in Azerbaijan for several years, the beef cattle sector is just now trying to get started, so this time the focus was on dairy farming.

Our group was hosted by the company “Ekoferma”, which imports livestock into Azerbaijan. Fuad Manafov, the head of this company, tells us about the situation in the Azerbaijani cattle sector. “Ekoferma” imports not only cattle into Azerbaijan, but also sheep and goats. The company receives 60% in state support for importing livestock. Previously, livestock import with support was allowed only to the state-owned company “Agrolīzings”, but since 2019 it has been allowed to any company. Until then, “Ekoferma” imported cows and heifers from Ukraine without state support. State support is for the import of cows and heifers, but not for bulls. In the near future, Azerbaijan plans to announce procurements for the import of animals. The state provides such large support so that in years, for example, ten, we can breed the required number of animals ourselves. We have imported animals from Austria and Germany, where we have a good cooperation partner. Then we got to know the Estonians. To be honest, at first we were scared, because in the documents of Estonian cows we saw that the cows originated from different countries, such as the USA, Holland and, of course, Estonia. It was incomprehensible to us, we were worried. However, we decided to take a risk and bought animals from Estonia and we have not regretted it. Now I can say that we are lucky that we started working with Estonia. We have not worked with Latvia or Finland yet. We have been working with Estonia for 2 years. In the first transaction, we brought 380 heifers to a farm from Estonia, and another 100 heifers from Germany. The owner did not want to import animals from Estonia, but we could not find such a large number in Germany. Now, the same owner wants to import heifers only from Estonia and ordered 100 more from us. The average milk yield of the cows imported from Estonia in the first lactation was 36.5 liters of milk per day, which is a very good indicator for us. Europe is interesting to us, but the Baltics are much more interesting to us, because we practically see the quality of the cows. If we talk about the number of cows in Azerbaijan, then the exact number is unknown, because local breed cows are not registered, but the number of dairy cows in commercial dairy farms is approximately 15,000. Azerbaijan is not able to provide itself with milk and dairy products, so it is imported, mostly from Iran. The purchase price of milk received by the producer is 0.53 USD/liter, while the slaughterhouse pays the farmer 7 USD/kg for the carcass of a fattened cattle.

Representatives of "Ekoferma" organized a tour of 2 dairy farms for us, which are located more than 2 hours drive from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, where we were staying.

The name of the first farm we visit is “Agrofresh”. They manage 1200 ha of land, of which 230 ha are needed for livestock farming to prepare fodder, while the remaining hectares are used for grain cultivation. The farm grows corn for both silage and corn grain. Barley and wheat are grown from grain. The farm owns all the land. The total number of cattle is 930, of which 580 are dairy cows. Of the dairy cows, 480 cows are imported from Estonia, while the rest are from Germany. The average milk yield for 1st lactation cows is 36 l of milk per day, and for 2nd lactation cows 43 l. The cows are milked 3 times a day in the “Afimilk” milking parlor, which can accommodate 32 cows at a time. Milking takes place at 06:00, 14:00 and 22:00 and each milking lasts 3 hours. The farmers keep the heifers for breeding, but sell the bulls at the age of 3 days. The bulls are sold for 350 dollars, which are bought by farmers who keep local low-yielding cows and feed the cows' milk to the bulls. The cows are inseminated with US genetics. The farm employs 22 people. The farm has built modern barns and purchased machinery. These investments are supported by the state in the amount of 50%. When asked about the cost of milk, the farmer compares the price of a liter of milk with the price of feed barley. If the price of milk is higher than the price of feed barley, then the dairy industry is profitable. The price of feed barley is USD 250/t.

The name of the second farm we visit is “Azza Agro”. They manage 500 ha of land, raise 400 cattle, of which 180 are dairy cows. The cows were imported from Germany and Estonia and are kept in a barn built in 2018. The owner praises the cows brought from Estonia because they have easy births and the first lactation milk yield is already 35-40 liters of milk per day. The cows are milked 3 times a day in the “DeLaval” milking parlor, which has space for 12 cows, but there are 4 spare places if the need arises. This farm also keeps heifers for breeding, but sells bulls at the age of a few days. The cows are inseminated with US and Canadian genetics. Pregnant cows and heifers live in pens where there is a shed, but the walking pen is not concreted. In such conditions, the animals are, of course, dirty, but they feel good, they have fewer leg problems compared to dairy cows, which are in a barn and where manure is removed by a scraper-type manure conveyor. The plan is also to concrete the walking areas of these pens. The farm has its own concentrated feed production workshop. There are several feed recipes, depending on milk yield, such as 40+; 30+; 20+; for the transition period (before and after calving), and for pregnant cows. The farm processes all the milk produced in its own processing plant and sells the milk and its products in its own stores. The farm employs 54 people.