New Dairy Farms to be Among Biggest in Central Europe

 According to The Slovak Spectator, the reason for this is the milk crisis, which is also impacting the cooperative.

"After in-depth analyses we have decided on a completely different solution to the current situation: to make production more efficient and build a modern dairy farm with concentrated cattle breeding," said investor Daniel J. Kratky from the Slovak Agricultural Cooperative (SFD), as quoted by the TASRnewswire.

The investment will be carried out in two phases. The first one, worth €3.5 million, started in May 2015 and completion is expected in January 2017. The plan is to have capacity for 700 dairy cows.

During the second phase, worth €2.5 million, another 700 dairy cows will be added, TASR wrote.

Similar investments have been carried out in Germany, France, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Estonia, the SFD analysis suggests. Dairy farms in central Europe only rarely have more than 1,000 dairy cows, Mr Kratky said.

The new farm will use the synergy of the three neighbouring companies associated in the SFD, specifically the cooperatives in Bzovík, Senohrad and Dačov Lom. Compared with other investments, it does not involve the reconstruction of existing facilities. Instead, it is a completely new construction.

The technologies and logistics are designed to secure the maximum amount of energy and process efficiency, to support existing biogas stations in Bzovík and to secure a return on investment, Mr Kratky stressed.

In addition, the new dairy farm is expected to increase the number of jobs in the region suffering from a high unemployment rate. After completing the two phases, the number of animal production employees should increase by one-quarter.

The investment will also increase daily milk production by 133 per cent, with plans to produce about 40,000 litres to be primarily supplied within the domestic market, TASR reported.

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