“Vecsiljāņi” – a full-cycle farm

The video was prepared as part of the Interreg Baltic Sea Programme project SuMaNu, in collaboration with the Farmers' Council and SIA "Vecsiljāņi", with the aim of demonstrating sustainable manure and plant nutrient management solutions.

The Vecsiljāņi farm was founded in November 1991. At that time, it managed 70 hectares of land and kept 3 cows.

Currently, Vecsiljāņi manages 1,400 hectares of land and has a herd of 750 dairy cows. The farm produces 25 tons of milk every day. Part of the morning milk is processed into their own “Ievas sier” (Ieva's cheese), which is produced in a nearby cheese factory.

The farm employs 50 people. For the last 3 years, the company has contributed 1.3 million euros to the state budget each year.

The layout of the farms built in 2013 and 2020 provides comfortable conditions for a high-yielding herd of cows. The bunks use an innovative improvement to deep-litter bunks, where the dry fraction of digestate is used as bedding. The dry digestate not only provides natural bedding for dairy cows, but also re-enters the biogas plant.

Any farm development project is planned in the context of the essence of full-cycle, environmentally friendly farming.

The layout of the "Vecsiljani" farms, manure collection, biogas plant, digestate separation, and organic fertilizer spreading technologies ensure a closed ecological cycle.

The farm's biogas plant ensures a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 25,000 tons per year. "Vecsiljāņi" uses 35,000 tons of liquid separated digestate for fertilizing fields and crops annually, thus replacing a significant amount of mineral fertilizers needed for plant nutrition. Digestate is a more effective organic fertilizer compared to cattle organic manure, because the nutrients in it are absorbed faster by plants. In addition, it does not create organic pollution.

Farm technologies ensure the recycling of waste, manure and cheese juices while simultaneously producing alternative energy. Full-cycle farming is our vision for reducing climate change in the future, while simultaneously producing quality food and reducing the impact of agricultural pollution on the environment.