Dairy farms in Latvia are forced to sell property and cut down nearby trees to free up territory, feed their livestock and avoid bankruptcy, reports LSM.
Farmers told LSM that his year was difficult – the low price of milk in the beginning of the year, rapid price rise, the intense drought and shortage of feed made it almost impossible for farms to survive.
Farmers explain that the current average milk procurement price is 0.35 EUR/l, whereas production costs reach 0.40 EUR/l.
Considering that production costs exceed the average procurement price, milk production is unprofitable and causes losses for dairy farmers.
The head of Mazdzērvītes farm Jānis Ločmelis told LSM that the cost of a single animal reaches EUR 12 per day. He said the cost of mixed fodder for a single dairy cow reaches six to eight euros per day. However, adding straw to fodder increases the cost to eight to 12 euros per day.
Most farms are unable to cover such costs, and so they are seriously considering commencing a liquidation process.
“We cannot leave them [livestock] unfed, we cannot leave them without water, we cannot leave them without care. And this is why we are looking for solutions to ensure their basic needs are met,” said Ločmelis.
Mazdzērvītēs farm has nearly 600 dairy cows. It is likely they will have to liquidate at least one-fifth of them. The chairperson of the Farmers Association Sandra Stricka told LSM that most farmers are in a state of panic – to preserve their farms, many have chopped down areas of nearby forests and others have cut down some of their livestock.
Stricka stresses that the panic in the sector is also over the fact that the Polish are actively buying off dairy cows from farms that have shut down and livestock fodder, of which there is now a severe shortage.
Farmers hope for state support to fix the situation. The Ministry of Agriculture told the media that currently officials are still compiling information about the extent of the damage caused by the recent thunderstorm and hail, which means it is too soon to touch on the topic of provision of support and its size.
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