Farming in wartime
Every time the drones fly over, the dogs start howling, the ponies start screaming, and the ostriches panic. They run around the aviary and crash into the fence in fear. “The animals hear these things coming before we do,” says farmer Vitaliy. The Russian long-range drones that torpedo Ukrainian cities and power plants always cross the valley where his company is located. “They fly in early in the morning. Then you hear the air defenses banging. Then the power goes out. It happens almost every night.”
Farmer and poultry farmer Vitaliy (61) owns about a hundred hectares of land in the Kharkiv region. He grows grain, corn and potatoes on it. He feeds his animals with the harvest. He makes cheese and cottage cheese with the milk from his cows; he keeps his sheep and pigs for meat. He uses the sales to maintain the ‘eco-village’ that his farm has grown into in recent years. However, the harvest was poor this year. “We expected a new attack from the Russians,” Vitaliy explains. “That’s why we started sowing and planting too late.” It was also too dry. The last rain was in May. After that, not a single drop fell.
Poultry shelter
Vitaliy’s great specialty is poultry. The farmer keeps more than two thousand chickens, ducks and geese on his land: the coops and aviaries are full of cackling, cackling, quacking and fluttering. His farm used to be a tourist attraction, but now it mainly serves as a shelter for animals. Most of the birds have been evacuated from the war zone, the farmer explains. For example, there are turkeys roaming around, originating from a front village. There are swans bathing, which can no longer fly after being injured by shelling.
And there are especially many chickens, in all shapes and sizes, and of the most beautiful breeds. Farmer Vitaliy points to a red-and-white-feathered family. The owner’s house burned down. The man then sent his family to Europe, put the chickens on transport to the ecovillage, and reported to the army. “We never heard from him again.” Another group of chickens, black-feathered, comes from a refugee family whose man of the house is also a soldier. “He calls me every week from the front to ask how his birds are doing.” There is also a snow-white duck, with yellow, fluffy offspring. After the flight, the animal had laid eggs. The chicks are radiantly healthy.
Rescueing animals
Most of the animals are brought by animal rights activists, who evacuate them from the war zone. Sometimes Vitaliy also goes out himself. For example, a while ago he drove with a friend to a front village, where a group of ponies was supposed to be among the ruins. It took a whole day to convince the soldiers to grant them access to the area. They managed to capture the animals, but on the way back they were caught in a bombardment. They had to leave the cars with the trailers on the road and hid in the verge. The shells hit close by; the horses screamed. They are doing well now. One couple even had a foal.
People shelter
The poultry farmer also takes in people. Under a canopy, thirty pensioners are enjoying a tasty and healthy lunch. They live on the property. Now that the economy is in shambles, many people are extra vulnerable, Vitaliy explains. Now that the war is intensifying, he expects a new wave of refugees. They come from villages to the big city. It’s hard to get used to it there; they miss their vegetable garden and there’s no government support. So Vitaliy brings some of the food he produces to the city. “By feeding them, they can focus on building a new life.”
Lack of electricity
The biggest obstacle for farmer Vitaliy is the chronic lack of electricity. At this moment — it is two o’clock in the afternoon — there has been no electricity all day. Without electricity, the cows cannot be milked. Cottage cheese, cheese and meat cannot be produced. Moreover, the production cannot be cooled. The residents lack heating and running water. “There has been no power all day today. When will it be back? No idea.” When there is electricity, it is often rationed.
Of course, Vitaliy has alternatives. If the oven does not work, the cook resorts to the traditional Ukrainian wood oven. This is hard work: the pan has to be pushed in and out with a long stick. “This was purely a tourist attraction. Now this oven saves us.” A generator can solve many of the inconveniences, but the diesel required makes the device expensive to run. He constantly drives the one generator he has back and forth across the yard: to milk cows, pump water, turn on the lights somewhere, etc. “There is a big shortage, because all of Ukraine needs generators. They are expensive.” The winter will be difficult for people and animals, the poultry farmer expects. “Let’s just hope that God gives us a mild winter.”
TGS business supported 60 farmers in 2023. We were involved in an aid project and deliverd seeds. We kept contact with the farmers and talked to them about the situation
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