Four days without electricity from ESO. How did Lithuania’s largest family-run dairy farm cope under these conditions? (VIDEO)

The storm that hit Lithuania a few days ago left more than 250,000 households without electricity. The power cuts have affected not only residents but also farmers – the farms on which the country’s food security depends every day.

How does a dairy farm, where 1,100 cows need to be milked, operate when there is no electricity from ESO for four days? How can animal welfare be ensured? What can be done when virtually all aspects of a modern farm’s operations depend on electricity?

“Agrobitė play” visited the largest family-run dairy farm in Lithuania and looked at the situation from the farmers’ perspective. We saw how the farmers dealt with the crisis and what challenges they faced when the electricity supply was cut off.

Farmers say they are prepared to help one another even in the most difficult circumstances. However, this situation has also raised a much broader question: how prepared are we, really, for long-term infrastructure disruptions?

Let’s recall the empty shelves in supermarkets at the start of lockdown. But what would happen if power cuts lasted not just a few hours or a day, but considerably longer?

Here’s what we saw and heard on the farm.

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