FARM VISIT ▶▶▶
Greek beef fattener favours the Romanian Blue
The recent financial crisis in Greece has hurt food prices, consumers prefer to purchase cheap meat, which has become one of the major challenges for Greek farmers. Despite this, Vootrofiki Ritsona beef unit is progressing well.
B Profile
Name: Ioanna Kylertzi Residence: Ritsona, Greece Enterprise: Ioanna Kylertzi runs her family beef and lamb fatten- ing farm, Vootrofiki Ritsona. Situated just 70km from Athens the farm fattens around 1,000 calves per year as well as 14,000 lambs. As part of the farm business model, Kylertzi buys Belgian Blue male calves from Romania as they have better growth rates. The goal for the family is to finish the cattle in 300 days with a carcase weight of 350kg. The cattle are fed a home mixed ration with ma- terials sourced locally. As consumer spending on beef de- creases in Greece Kylertzi faces the challenge of supply and demand while remaining profitable.
BY CHRIS MCCULLOUGH
eef is a highly desirable source of protein in Greece which pushes demand high. A number of large beef fattening units around the country supply the meat to both private customers and wholesalers.
However, according to Greek beef farmers the recent finan- cial crisis has hurt food prices, consumers prefer to purchase cheaper meat, potentially from imports, rather than local quality beef. While that struggle continues to be one of the major challenges currently facing Greek farmers, one large beef unit is progressing well. Vootrofiki Ritsona farm is cur- rently run by a young farmer Ms Ioanna Kylertzi. She took the farm over from from her father Apostolis, who along with his two brothers had set the farm up. Sited just 70kms from Ath- ens the farm fattens around 1,000 calves per year as well as 14,000 lambs in the same period. Kylertzi said: “I have a bach- elor’s degree from the Agricultural University of Athens as an animal specialist. Vootrofiki Ritsona is our family business and is located in Ritsona, a mountainous territory 20km from Chalkida, and 70km from Athens, the capital of Greece.”
Belgian Blue calves from Romania Kylertzi imports all her beef cattle from Romania and prefers to buy male Belgian Blue animals as they grow faster on the farm rations. Plus, with a goal of finishing the animals in just 300 days the beef carcase weighs in at 350kg, which is per- fect for her customers. Kylertzi said: “Our business focuses on finishing beef cattle and lambs. We are fattening around 1,000 calves and 14,000 lambs per year. “We import two month old Belgian Blue calves from Romania which weigh an average of 100km while on a milk based diet. “After two months from their arrival on our farm their diet changes to a mixed ration of crops and straw. The system that we use is intensive, so the animals are kept indoors and are fed in lots of ten,” she said. Temperatures in Greece vary from zero to 15°C during the winter to spring period and 22 to 40°C during the summer time. Kylertzi added: “Due to the high temperatures during the summer months we use a ven- tilation system to avoid heat stress among the cattle and any side effects.”
Locally produced feed Looking more closely at the diet ingredients, Kylertzi uses lo- cally produced grains and crops, which are mixed into a ra- tion on the farm. The family is currently discussing the pur- chase of a Keenan diet feeder to add efficiency and reduce losses in their mixing routines. “The animal feed diet consists of a mixture of concentrated crops such as corn, barley, soya and coarse feed, which is mostly wheat straw and corn silage,
▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 27, No. 9, 2019 17
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