Dairy Cattle for Farmers in Żabia Wola
No. 27-0617-01

Zabia Wola and Baranow are located in Central Poland, 40 km southwest of Warsaw, an unlimited market for selling agricultural goods. Moreover, citizens of Warsaw often come there for rest and recreation. Tourists are a valuable consumers of the local dairy products.

Many farmers of Baranów and Zabia Wola are trying to make income for their families exclusively from farming. It is not an easy task. Requirements of the United Europe can be met only by efficient, well-equipped farms with proper quantity and quality of livestock. To be able to survive on the competitive market small scale farmers have been forced to look for new ideas of obtaining higher production of milk.

The members of the Dairy Cattle Breeders Group consider improvement of the breeding value of their dairy cattle to be a major opportunity for them to increase milk production and thus the income of their families. The farmers, who were determined to increase milk production, but couldn't afford purchasing quality cattle, applied for HPI assistance. They were strongly supported by the local authority officials as well as by the local dairy plant of Grodzisk Mazowiecki that offered also its assistance with project implementation and management.

In 2001 HPI project was implemented in Zabia Wola nad Baranow. For 40 farmers HPI purchased 40 pregnant Holstein heifers; some have passed on animals to other farmers, while others have decided to repay their equivalent value in cash to HPI in order to keep the offspring on the farms.

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