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Kazakhstan dairy farmer grows with American technology
A dairy farmer from Kazakhstan works to improve production with western technology. Damir Abitayev has about two thousand dairy cattle, with 570 cows currently milking. Abitayev says he’s been able to increase milk production to six times what it was twelve years ago. “Now, we’ve got to the peak of 37 liters per cow which is second place on the productivity in Kazakhstan, but we don’t see this as a limit. We want to get technologies and learn from other countries.”
Abitayev traveled to World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin to connect and learn from other farmers and vendors. “Wisconsin is a beautiful place to visit and also to see some of the farms and meet some people with those technologies that we need like embyos or some semen to get our genetics better.”
Abitayev says more production and higher quality is needed in Kazakhstan to meet demand and reduce the need for dairy imports. “About 30% only, we cover our market with our local products so others are imported from Russia or Belarus.”
Abitayev worked with USDA’s Foreign Ag Service in central Asia to connect with U.S. farmers and genetics companies.
AUDIO: Farmer Damir Abitayev and USDA Foreign Ag Service representative Lucas Blaustein discuss how they seek technology to help improve the dairy operations.
