Russian ‘Dairy Rally’ checks out agriculture in City of Kawartha Lakes

Their first stop today was at Kawartha Holsteins, the farm of the McMorrow family near Lindsay.  One of the rally members,  Sandra Willer, organizes the largest farm show in Europe and is most impressed by the Ontario family farm.

“I”m impressed by the farmers [who] have a passion for farming,” Willer said. “They are very open to show us their farms, they [are] open to answering all questions: is it on feeding? Is it on genetics? Is it on ways of production?”

Kawartha Holsteins is in the business of producing cattle famous for their milk production. The visitors were impressed by the amount of milk the cows produce and how important it is to provide good quality feed and silage.

“They know how to make a good business and to make money, they produce very high quality milk, and they are growing and producing very high quality silage” says Marc Kolotovkin of Alltech  Bio Science

When asked why the group drives themselves in separate cars and does not travel by bus, organizer Michael Mishchenko with the Russian Dairy Research Centre said it’s all part of the learning process.

“This is way of discovering country,” said Mischenko. “It doesn’t matter where it is, in Russia or here, it is very important to discover way of life, lifestyle, just discovering why people are in dairy — you know, we realize people are similar.”

The rally wraps up in Kitchener on Friday.