Leyli Chobanyan, who is an experienced farmer, lives in the village of Agarak, not far from the town of Stepanavan, Lori Region. For the past 25 years, Leila has begun her day by caring for the animals, working tirelessly to keep her farm thriving and growing.

In 1990, I got married and moved from Vanadzor city to the village of Agarak, not far from Stepanavan. My husband’s family owned three cows, and my mother-in-law was highly skilled at processing milk and making tasty cheese and other dairy products.
As I was born and raised in a city, it was difficult for me to be engaged in animal husbandry at first, but after a few years, I began to assist my husband, and we even decided to increase the number of our animals.

At the beginning our farm was small, but through hard effort, it increased to 70 heads of cattle and 30 heads of small ruminants. Now the number of animals is much more bigger, but it is easier for me, because many functions are mechanized, we have different types of equipment: milking machine, milk separator, etc.

We sell some of our milk, and I process the rest myself, making cheese, butter, and yogurt. My customers impatiently wait to purchase my products.

We rented 60 hectares of land to ensure the fodder base for our animals. I have two sons who work equally with me and my husband. We cultivated fodder for our cattle and sold the extras to the neighboring farmers.

If you want to be successful while living in the village, you have to work every day. Animals require daily care, you should start each day thinking about your animals, doing everything to improve their conditions, properly organize feeding and care.

I believe that our success was also due to the fact that my husband grew up in the village and helped his parents with agricultural jobs, so he learned how to cultivate the land and keep cattle.

He also taught me various functions: now we assist the cow during calving, both of us take the animals to pasture, and we even manage to provide first aid to the animals before the veterinarian arrives.

Ani Sukiasyan was born in 2002 in the town of Tashir, Lori Region. Despite her young age, she has been working at “Lorva Kat” company for several years.

In 1998 my parents founded a small dairy factory, which today, thanks to their hard work, became one of the famous dairy companies in Tashir.

My whole life, my childhood and youth, was spent in that company. After finishing school, without hesitation, I decided to enter Stepanavan State Agricultural College named after Professor A. Kalantar, Department of Dairy Technology.

In 2019, while still being a student, I participated in the contest of young technologists held in Georgia and due to the cheese I made, I won the first place.

After three years and six months of studying at the college, I entered the Faculty of Food Technology of ANAU and started working in the cheese and dairy factory founded by my parents.

I was also entrusted to be the head of apprenticeship and organize the practice of the students studying in the faculty of dairy technology at Stepanavan State Agricultural College for the academic year of 2021-2022.

Development of technologies and modernization of work no longer require physical strength. Today, education and the introduction of scientific methods are crucial. I’d want to underline that while picking a career, don’t consider if it’s a “male” or “female” one. Let your preference be your guide.

Dairy products are essential for the human nutrition, it is considered indispensable and has an exceptional importance in children’s diet, especially in the early stages of their lives.

I have had a dream since I was a child, which I will try to fulfill at any cost: production of infant milk powder and ice cream in Armenia. To produce milk mixture large volumes of milk is needed to be collected, which is not possible under these conditions, but I hope that one day I will fulfill my dream and establish a factory that will become a worthy competitor to the imported brands.

I have already started the path to fulfill my dream, this year with the help of my parents I initiated the establishment of the ice cream factory, which I hope will soon delight the children of Lori region with its products.