Our consultancy branch The Friesian conducted a training program for small-scale and medium-scale dairy farmers in Mongolia, commissioned by a large global bank. In the beginning of September part two of this trainings project started. The topic of this training session was winter feed production.
To achieve a good milk production in winter, a good roughage quality is absolute necessity number one. However, due to Mongolia’s harsh climate, cultivating crops and producing good roughage is a real challenge. Mongolian farmers have to deal with extreme cold in winter, hot and dry periods in summer (with sometimes very early frost!) and now and then periods with a lot of rainfall.
The trainings were given on two different farms and they were split up in a theoretical and a more practical part. The training materials covered cow feeding, stock calculation, crop choice, planting and harvesting. The theoretical part went on quite interactive with farmers mentioning their present rations. It was explained to them how to correct those and what would be the influence of better roughage.
Later the group visited dairy farms and undertook field visits. During the farm and field visits the condition of silage and current crops was observed and inspected. Our trainers made recommendations and provided a lot of information and tips. Some practical adjustments were made right on the spot.
There is still a lot of improvement possible. But with some input like fertilizer, seeds, machinery improvements can be made. To our client it was recommended to promote the introduction of new crops and silage making.
