Tivadar Nemeskéri Kiss has his sheep farm at the foot of the Bakony hills, in the High-Bakony Landscape Protection Area, close to the town of Városlőd. He has been a sheep farmer for almost half a century. He had bought his first sheep back in the early 1970s, from the culled flock of the Agricultural Co-operative of Vaszar.
Since then many years have elapsed and sheep husbandry has also changed substantially; in his opinion, mainly the purchasers and the traders have become much more cunning. ‘If you are not careful enough, they want to take the lambs at a depressed price, and the lambs keep growing in the meantime, so the time is on the traders’ side, and therefore you have to consider carefully what you do and when’ – says Tivadar Nemeskéri Kiss.
Currently he, a sheep farmer in Veszprém county, has a flock of about 600 ewes, but there were times when he had as many as 800 ewes. As he feels that he will not become any younger and it is difficult to find labour to work with the sheep, nowadays he is keeping a smaller flock. Compared to other sheep farmers, he is in a fortunate position as he has a 200-hectare land including some pasture. They grow their own maize, wheat and barley, and hay and straw are also available in sufficient quantity. In his opinion, nowadays the profits of sheep farming would be very slim if only leased land and purchased feeds were used.
‘Finding suitable farmhands is a rather difficult task, but labour in itself would not be enough without a flock having good genetics, a competent veterinarian and, last but not least, good feeds’ – states Tivadar Nemeskéri Kiss.
He strives to have all elements of a sheep breeder’s work in their proper place. In his opinion, not giving attention to details, that is not keeping a flock of good quality and not feeding a high-quality feed, is a big mistake. Farmers doing this can wait for the good results for ages, but all in vain.
He thinks that the old Hungarian saying ‘Cheap meat produces thin broth’ (meaning ‘if you buy cheaply you pay dearly’) is very true. ‘This is why I usually say: For me, Mercedes is THE CAR and Bábolna is THE FEED’ – says Tivadar Nemeskéri Kiss.
The partnership between Bonafarm-Bábolna Feed Ltd. and Tivadar Nemeskéri Kiss was established a long time ago, and Tivadar Nemeskéri Kiss gained a lot of experience during his sheep farming activity spanning several decades. ‘I know that Bábolna Feed has multiple solutions for the feeding of lambs. It would be good to have the ewes lamb at the same time rather than drawn apart in time, as in that case I could have my lambs started on the Lambex starter and then switch them over to the Lambex fattening diet. However, as I have lambs of different ages, I have been purchasing and using the Lambex single-phase lamb grower diet, to my great satisfaction.’
‘Among the sheep farmers that I know, there is one who managed to rear his lambs on as little as 18 kg diet up to the 20–24 kg weight category last year; true enough that this required also a ewe flock of high milk production. I have heard words of praise for the Lambex receiving diet even from the mouth of purchasers, which is no little thing.’
As I am not a young man anymore, I do not have great plans for the future. Luckily my health is good, I am able to work and create what I need. My family helps me with the animals and in the cultivation of the land, I have two grandchildren who are really resourceful and real scapegraces. I hope that one of them will take over sheep farming from me and carry it on’ – concludes Tivadar Nemeskéri Kiss.
