Spouses Heidelbach: “We hold six cows, a bull, two hundred chickens and are engaged in the sale of their products. We sell milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, cheeses and eggs ”

Ayrshirs, Jerseys and Simmental — in the village of Aleksandrovschina you can meet unusual «residents». True, this is not about nationality, but about the breed. The Heidelbach family breeds outland cows by setting up livestock production. The milk and cheeses made here are very fond of the Zelvenians. Alexander and Natalya Heidelbach told how the business was born, what is the peculiarity of animals and where to buy exclusive products.

The spouses Alexander and Natalya Heidelbach arrived in Belarus from Germany in 2017. At first they lived in the Vitebsk region, and then they decided to move closer to the border so that children and grandchildren would often visit. And in August last year, they bought a house in the village of Alexandrovshchina. Having settled down a bit, they opened a family business of an agricultural orientation. — We hold six cows, a bull, two hundred chickens and are engaged in the sale of their products.

We sell milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, cheeses, eggs, ”says Alexander Nikolaevich. — We work only together. So we take up work at five in the morning and finish only by 11 in the evening. I look after the animals and feed them, my wife leads the process of processing and trades.

“Trade is a purely female affair,” says Natalya Nikolaevna. — My husband is in agreement, says that when I leave, there is a lull — there are half less buyers. And there is! I remember when Sasha was on maternity leave, Sasha went to the market. So he returned home without selling anything at all. And I had to leave the baby and go to trade myself. The line lined up immediately, snapped it all instantly.

All animals in the compound of Heidelbach are not simple. Cows, for example, Ayrshire, Jersey and Simmental breeds. We arrived in our region from the Moscow region and the Leningrad region. The cost of one is 2-3 thousand dollars.

“Jersey” are tiny, they give a little milk, but it is very oily — more than 9%. And the Ayrshire people have milk without lactose. Therefore, it is suitable for children, the elderly and those who have stomach problems. It is rich in vitamins, potassium, phosphorus and protein, ”says Alexander Nikolaevich.

They feed the cows three times a day. The menu includes fresh grass, beets, zucchini, watermelons, potatoes. Plus, a portion of the feed with the addition of sunflower meal, so that the milk yield grows.

“There were problems with the feed at the beginning of the journey,” recalls Alexander Heidelbach. — The summer of 2018 turned out to be arid: the grass in the meadows all burned out, there was nothing special to mow. Then the chairman of the SEC “Synkovichi” Dmitry Deshko and the director of the state enterprise “Borodichi” Alexander Zastenchik helped us. Reserves shared and local residents. We are very grateful to all of them for helping out. — Now a day from our Martha, Matruli, Milky, Maya, Knopa and Snow White we infuse 40 liters. We get extra milk. Fat content is on average 5-6%, — the hostess notes. — We sell dairy products to Zelva and Carolyn for sale. Among regular customers — employees of gas supply, post office, land reclamation systems, Beltelecom and registry office.

Now the customer base is rather big — the so-called word of mouth has helped. But in the beginning it was very difficult to sell products, because no one knew about us. I had to walk around the village and offer people to taste cottage cheese, sour cream, milk. And whoever at least once tastes our dairy products — comes back for them again and again.

And this is pure truth! We also had a chance to taste the Dutch cheese, which is made by Natalia Heidelbach. Real jam! By the way, you can buy cheeses from the hostess only in the mini-shop at home. There are many choices in the refrigerated display case — four varieties: “Adygei”, “Kachotta”, “Hallumi”, “Chechil”.

A day can make two rounds of cheese. It takes all day to cook. And this is not the whole process. After the product is sent for maturation in a special storage, where, depending on the type, it is from two weeks to two months. In this case, you need to turn it over daily and wipe it with saline or wine. There is no chemistry in the composition, I use only natural products. I try to bring starters and enzymes from Germany, ”says Natalya Nikolaevna. — A kilogram of cheese costs 16 rubles. Now the Grodno residents have made an order, they will bring treats to Moscow. Honestly, I’m just in love with the cheese making business. The plans — to engage in the production of blue cheese.

This is the kind of dairy production that was launched at the site of the Heidelbach wife. Natalia, an economist by training, and Alexander, a machine operator with 22 years of experience.

We have been connected with agriculture since childhood, our parents always had a large economy, and we were the first assistants. So now we are doing what we can do best. But the main thing is that we love the most, ”the spouses say. “We have been together for almost 25 years.” They brought up three daughters, who gave us six granddaughters and a grandson. We are happy! We were very lucky to find each other.

Diana BEBECH