Dairy farmer flees Ukraine

Chris McCullough For Agri-View
Mar 8, 2022
Mar 8, 2022

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Dutchman Kees Huizinga has left the farm in Ukraine and is now back in The Netherlands.

Chris McCullough/For Agri-View

Chris McCullough

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Chris McCullough For Agri-View

It’s a day Dutchman Kees Huizinga, a large-dairy farmer in Ukraine, never envisaged would happen. But when Vladimir Putin’s Russian army started a war with the European nation, the entire world felt the aftershock.

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Overhead fans keep cows cool in hot Ukrainian summers.
Chris McCullough/For Agri-View

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Rotary parlor — Kees Huizinga milks 2,000 cows on his farm in Ukraine with an 80-unit rotary parlor.
Chris McCullough/For Agri-View

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Cows are milked — Average yield of the herd is 34 litres per cow per day -- about 75 pounds per day.
Chris McCullough/For Agri-View

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Milk trucks — For now milk tankers are able to reach the farm but that could change at any moment.
Chris McCullough/For Agri-View

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With 20 years experience behind him, award-winning agricultural journalist Chris McCullough is always on the hunt for his next story. He grew up on the family dairy farm in the heart of Northern Ireland and is based on the country’s east coast. He travels around the world to bring readers international news. He has many friends and colleagues in Ukraine.