Bins from PAWLICA for large enterprises and family farms

The Kolář family farm is dedicated to breeding French meat breeds "Limousin" and "Blond d`aquitaine" on the farm in Hlásná Třebana. It has come a long way since the time of privatization and uncertain agricultural beginnings. It has transformed itself from a dairy farm into a producer of quality beef with its own yard sales, which are in demand.

Mr. and Mrs. Kolář started farming in 1991 by taking over the first hectares of farmland from the local agricultural cooperative. Later, in 1993, they were given a cowshed in Hlásná Třebana together with 90 dairy cows. The Kolářs had already worked in agriculture, so they had plenty of experience and were not afraid of the challenge ahead of them.

They had to stop producing milk

From the beginning, the Kolars' business was focused on milk production. "The 1990s were rough. Everything was evolving and we were learning as we went along. In the beginning, it was going well, the economy was working, but after two years there were problems. The dairies stopped paying for deliveries, they gradually went bankrupt and it almost put us down too. So after a while, we stopped producing milk. A lot of producers didn't survive because of that. Fortunately, we were not in debt at that time, so we managed," recalls Ing. Michal Kolář and adds that the farm was, fortunately, able to rely financially on breeding and stabling recreational horses at that time. "At the most critical time, the possibility of housing horses opened up for us. We converted the place from a dairy cow barn to horse housing on our own. That got us to a regular monthly income, and that saved us," says the farmer. The farm continues to do this today. He has about 20 horses in his care.

Raising suckler cows was the right decision

In the next stage of their life and business, the Kolars focused on breeding suckler cattle. They started with crossbreeding, allowing French beef bulls to be used as dairy cows. This built up a new herd of beef cows over the years and they are now producing purebred calves. "The main product at first was bull calves. But later on, we started flirting with the idea of making our own butchery for meat. There was an unused dairy farm left, so we had the space. So gradually we started to do fattening as well. In the fall of 2020, we were able to get the butchering plant finished and approved, so now we can sell meat from the yard. We plan to slaughter about twenty head a year, which will give us another steady economic income. It doesn't compare at all to selling livestock," the farmer praises the way he adds value to his produce.

Today, the whole family is involved in running the farm with two other employees. "From the beginning, our farm has tried to operate as a family farm, both in terms of management philosophy and in real terms," he adds.

The farm could use a grain silo

The farm currently farms 213 hectares. Most of this is grassland and arable land for the production of roughage. Approximately 30ha of arable land is dedicated to growing cereals for the farm's own feed base. However, storage is a bit of a problem.  "It is true that we struggle with space every time. So far we store the grain in a shed on the ground or in sacks, but any handling is very laborious," admits Ing. Kolář. That's why he is starting to think about building a smaller silo. "We received an offer from PAWLICA to discuss the possibility of building a silo that would be located in the barn. For our needs, it would be two self-emptying silos. The intake and filling of the silos would be handled by a conveyor. A grain crusher would also be connected to this system, and possibly a mixing plant to produce mixtures for fattening," muses the farmer aloud. It's all just thoughts for now, but as the business develops and expands, the farmer realizes it would be a step in the right direction.

Good luck

PAWLICA team