From Six Cows to a Hundred-Head Herd: The Bišćan Family Farm from Cerovac Barilovićki
Despite the dairy crisis, the Bišćan family from Cerovac Barilovićki persists in production, and their extra-quality milk is specially purchased
Despite the dairy crisis, the Bišćan family from Cerovac Barilovićki persists in production, and their extra-quality milk is specially purchased
In Cerovac Barilovićki, a village about twenty kilometers from Karlovac, Tomislav Bišćan today tends to around a hundred head of cattle on his farm. Twelve years ago, it all started with just six cows in an old barn, and the milk had to be carried by hand in cans to the cooling tank.
Today, the Bišćan family farm boasts a modern milking parlor, a silo, and a new barn housing around thirty dairy cows, along with calves, heifers, and fattening bulls. Tomislav, a 23-year-old carpenter by trade, built the barn himself, and it wasn't his first such endeavor.
"I built the first one myself when I was in fifth or sixth grade," says Tomislav.
Working alongside him on the farm are his mother Draženka, his older brother Ivan, and soon his sister-in-law Lukrecija, Tomislav's fiancée, who is a veterinary technician by profession. They produce around 150,000 liters of milk annually, raise about thirty bulls, and cultivate roughly 50 hectares of their own and rented land.
The Bišćan family relies on their own machinery for farming and has all the necessary equipment for fieldwork. This is crucial because their arable land is spread across over a hundred different locations. The most distant plots are as far as 40 kilometers away, meaning they need top-notch organization and reliable machines.
Tomislav regularly shares glimpses of daily life on the farm through social media, mostly on Facebook and TikTok. Social media has also helped them expand their farmland, as owners of uncultivated plots have reached out and offered their land for use.
While dairy farming in Croatia is going through a serious crisis and the number of producers is declining year after year, Tomislav says he has no intention of giving up milk production. He plans to keep the herd size roughly the same and focus more on genetics to improve production.
"We also thought about quitting and at one point wanted to stop everything. But then we switched to the 'Milka' dairy and now we're satisfied. We get 60 cents per liter, and because our milk is extra fatty, with over six percent milk fat, they transport it separately, without mixing it with milk from other producers. We achieve such fat content through feeding: haylage, silage, hay, and straw," explains Tomislav.
The "Milka" dairy from Duga Resa purchases their milk, and in its cheese factory, they produce fresh cheese, squeaky cheese, Lički mix semi-hard cheeses, yogurts, and kefirs, available at Spar as well. Depending on lactation, they produce between 500 and 1,000 liters of milk daily.
All calves are kept on the farm; bulls go for fattening and are either bought by local butchers or taken to the slaughterhouse, after which the meat is sold at the farm for twelve euros per kilogram, mostly to regular customers.
"It's easiest when someone comes, loads up a truck, and takes it away. We sell it cheaper that way, but we also have the least work," says Lukrecija.
Lukrecija came to Cerovac Barilovićki from Mahično, a suburb of Karlovac. As she says, agriculture is not foreign to her because her family had a cow, just for their own pleasure.
"Agriculture isn't foreign to me; my family had a cow, just for their own pleasure. But when I started dating Tomislav, my brother got more interested, started raising bulls, and he liked it," she adds.
The Bišćan family also has about forty sheep, which Ivan takes care of. They also have goats, which, as Tomislav emphasizes, are his mother's. Sheep and goats are raised for their own needs.
There is no strict division of labor on the farm; everyone does everything and helps where needed most. The day starts in the barn, where, surrounded by cows, they first have their morning coffee, followed by milking, cleaning, and feeding. By ten o'clock, they finish the morning chores, then the brothers head out with tractors to the fields, around noon the milk tanker arrives, and in the afternoon, the whole cycle of animal care repeats.
Mother Draženka is now due for a vacation, and a longer one than her sons, who each took just one day off. Ivan promised to treat her to a spa, so she announced she'll be gone for ten days.
"I know they'll send me off, just to get rid of me," Draženka Bišćan says cheerfully.
And there is certainly enough work on the farm for the whole family. As the brothers Tomislav and Ivan add, the farm isn't everything; they also run a shop and a sawmill.
