Last Thursday I went along with Garry and Masha (who translates for him at the school) on a quest to buy some inexpensive frozen North American Holstein semen. Garry had been purchasing it for the last couple years from the Canadian-Ukrainian agriculture people in Dnepropetroesk, but now they do not have any for sale. I think the Canadian mandate is finishing up so he needed to find a new place to buy some. He purchased some straws of semen from Vitaly, that dairy farmer he works with sometimes; but that was 66 grivna a straw, which meant that he was losing money when he charged the people he breeds cows for in the village (and the surrounding villages) 100 grivna like he has been, he was losing money, when you count travel, gas and the expense of liquid nitrogen to keep the semen frozen in the semen tank.
It was a beautiful day and we picked Masha up in Zaporosia on our way, after our guests had breakfast and were off on their Mennonite tour with Victor. Garry thought we would be back in Zaporosia by noon , but we ended up on a Mennonite tour of our own. The headquarters of the semen company, which handles and sells semen from North American companies like Semex and Genex, along with Ukrainian ones, is in one of the old Mennonite villages Molochansk, which means river of Milk (the Russian word for milk is moloko, you may remember.)
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| down the hill toward the traffic circle and "space ship" |
We drove south of Zap on the highway that we take to Crimea, past the city with the space ship police station in the traffic circle, and found the turnoff to the Molochansk that the director had told Masha we should take when she phoned to confirm the directions. The world had turned very green and hundreds of crows were building their nests in the trees along the highway in one place.
We arrived and the man came and found us and led the way to the office which was in an old Mennonite house, which still has the attached barn, although not in use.
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| He found us |
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| Office in old Mennonite house |
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| Inside the director's office- this is how they look |
We had tea---with cookies and candies- twice before finally agreeing to a price and bull to buy, after first discussing Mennonite history of the area. Most Ukrainians assume that we must have Ukrainian or Mennonite roots since we have come to Ukraine.
We met the lady who comes around to farms to sell semen, she actually has a Mennonite last name, and talked about the Russian red cow. The director says that the Mennonites came with German cows that did not do well in the area, so they were crossbred with the local cows to make the red breed of the area. Now they are being crossbred with Holsteins to increase size and production.
Garry was pleased with the selection they had, and got an inexpensive bull that sires smaller calves, just what he wanted to purchase to breed cows in the village. They even had cheaper liquid nitrogen than the place Garry had been buying it from near Kirvoy Rog, which had doubled in price recently.
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| On the wall in the hallway |
Finally about one o'clock they took us on a bit of a Mennonite tour, before we went on a tour of their farm where we got the semen put in the tank that had been in the back of the car in hopes of buying some that day, since Garry was down to two straws left in it to breed cows again. The director told us the Mennonites built both a brick and a tile factory, which explains all the tile roofs in town.
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| better photo of the attached barn |
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| Lots of tile roofs in town |
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| In front of the Mennonite Center building |
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| An old cobblestone road |
We did not see any bulls bull stud farm, but had a tour of the semen storage before they put Garry's purchase in the tank in the back of the car.
The farm was a horse breeding farm at one time, originally owned by German Baptists we were told. The director said he started his career there as a vet taking care of the bulls.
They also raised pigs there and bred them artificially for local farmers, and sold baby pigs to them.
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| Inside the storage building |
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| It came by plane from Canada |
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| Ready to go- the older lady helped get it ready |
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| And the sales lady puts it into Garry's tank in the car. |
Garry often forgets how long the polite conduction of business takes in Ukraine, but next time they will come to the farm in Nikolipolia.
It was almost three o'clock as we headed home (remember Garry thought we'd be home before one when we left home that morning) and Garry was supposed to take the milk into Dnepro to sell that afternoon since Victor had his tour to conduct.
It was a fast ride home, with at least a two hour drive, Garry made a quick for potato chips and juice at a store, no time for a late lunch!
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| Pretty flowers but not much lunch selection at the "maga-zine" (store) |
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