The Bicserd Agricultural Farm was established more than 40 years ago, and for the past 30 years, Jozsef Szili has been its manager of daily operations. In the beginning, the farm started with the Hungarian sort of dairy cows, and the yearly milking productivity of those cows was around 3,000 kilograms.  When Szili came onboard, the farm started using Holstein cows and since then, the average yearly production of each cow has increased up to nine, sometimes nine and a half, thousand kilograms per year. Bicserd, which was among the first farms in Hungary to start using AminoPlus, has been feeding it for the past five years. Szili said there are two reasons why AminoPlus proved to be so successful at the Bicserd Agricultural Farm.

Bicserd Agricultural Farm operations manager Jozsef Szili with one of his prized milk cows. (ASA photo by Bob Callanan)

“The milking had better results than in cows that were not given AminoPlus,” Szili said. “And the possibility of mixing AminoPlus with other parts of the feeding process is very easy. AGP Omaha provides the software programs for that to reach very good production results.” 

Bicserd farm is proud to have several of their animals included in the “Golden Registry” of the Holsten-Friz Association. Their most famous cows, Narcisz, Treszka and Boho, were eligible for this honor for total (lifelong) milk production of more than 100,000 liters (about 100 metric tons). The best among the best was Narcisz, who reached 111,000 liters. 

“Another important factor in using AminoPlus is not only the high protein content, but also the high energy content used by the milking cows provides excellent results, which puts our operation among the very best Hungarian dairy farms,” Szili said.

Play the Bicserd Farm video  Length 00:09:03

The Danube River port at Mohacs in southern Hungary is owned by the Boly Company. The port, which was established in 1975, has a daily loading capacity of 1,000 metric tons. About 200 barges visit this port each year. 

Boly uses approximately 12,000 metric tons of U.S. soybean meal that is being mixed into compound feed. 

ASA Hungary Consultant Sandor Zsarnoczay said, “This is a port facility on the river Danube, which is the equivalent of the Mississippi River for central and eastern Europe. This port is very important to us since this waterway connects the Danube with the Rotterdam port, where the soybean meal and AminoPlus shipments are coming on barges in 800 to 1,000 ton units.” 

Play the Mohacs Port video  Length 00:09:30

The two primary products coming into this port are Hi-Pro soymeal, mostly from European crushers, with smaller amounts coming directly from the U.S. 

“To my knowledge, the crushing facilities in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp are primarily using U.S. beans,” Zsarnoczay said. “Also we have to mention South American beans as well, but Hungary and neighboring countries prefer the quality of the derivatives from U.S. beans because it’s more reliable. The Hi-Pro that’s coming from the U.S. gulf ports is extremely competitive in terms of quality.” 

But the imports of AminoPlus are 100 percent U.S. product. Last year, AGP Hungary sold 8,000 metric tons of AminoPlus that was imported directly from AGP in the U.S.

“Just look at the history of ASA here, and also AGP Hungary, and now we have AGP Slovakia as well, so it’s a growing niche market for us and we are happy to provide the best service that we can,” Zsarnoczay said.

The Port of Rotterdam

To learn more about the process of shipping AminoPlus from the United States to Hungary, ASA staff visited with Jan Idzenga, Prokurist at the Peterson Agricare & Logistics company. Peterson's acts as the receiving agent for AGP and facilitates the barge shipments to ports such as Komarno, Slovakia, and Mohacs, Hungary.  

Peterson's also has an extensive product testing facility to monitor quality for incoming grains and oilseeds. 

ASA staff then visited with K.S.M. Peters, the Business Development Manager Industry for the Commercial Division at the Port of Rotterdam. Take a look inside the Harbor Master's control room atop the World Port Center building overlooking the River Maas. Special thanks to Tie Schellekens, Corporate Communications Press Officer for the Port of Rotterdam.  

Play the video and listen to ASA interviews with these important trade contacts. 

Play the Port of Rotterdam video  Length 00:17:30