Olga Shcherbinina from the Gorodetsky District became the winner of the regional dairy cow milking machine operator competition.

      The results of the XXXI competition for the best dairy cow milking operator have been announced in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Olga Shcherbinina, an operator from the Kuibyshev collective farm in the Gorodetsky municipal district, was recognized as the winner.

      In the regional stage of the contest, held at LLC "Vostok" in the Pochinkovsky municipal district, 26 operators from 25 municipalities participated.

      "Farming, like any industry, is competing for personnel. The agro-industrial complex today is a high-tech and dynamically developing sector. It is very important for youth to come to us. The professional skills competition is both a contest and an opportunity for specialists to showcase themselves. On the other hand, it is also a kind of personnel support tool. Besides that, we have a whole set of support measures: scholarships, salary supplements, housing improvement payments, housing construction programs, and much more," said Oleg Grigoriev, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Resources of the Nizhny Novgorod region.

      The contest consisted of four stages: sanitary preparation of the participant, theoretical knowledge, disassembly and assembly of milking machines, machine preparation, cow milking, and milk cleanliness. Judges awarded points at each stage.

      "Winning the contest is not just a personal achievement, it is a recognition of my daily work. It is a great honor and responsibility. It is especially exciting to represent our region at the Russian level. Our labor, efforts, and dedication are not unnoticed. We don’t just milk cows—we create a product that goes into every home," said Olga Shcherbinina.

      Second place went to Olga Lopatinova, a collective farm operator from "Kriushinsky" (Pochinkovsky municipal district), and third place to Elena Rakhova, an operator from "Zarya" (Chkalovsk municipal district).

      The best dairy cow milking operator among participants under 30 was V.S. Ozmanian’s farm operator Ekaterina Rybina from Divyevo municipal district.

      The participant with over 25 years of experience, Tatiana Kholodova from Pochinkovsky district, was recognized as the winner.

      According to Faina Chubikova, an operator from LLC "Kolos" in the Buturlinsky district, the contest is an indescribable experience from meeting colleagues.

      "It’s an opportunity to show myself and learn something new. I’ve been in the profession for 34 years. I want to tell young people: come, work! You won’t want to leave later," she said.

      Svetlana Cherepanova, an operator at AO "Ilyino-Zabor" in the Semonovsky district, shared that she has been working in the profession for 25 years.

      "I grew up in a village. My mother was a calf keeper, my sister a milkmaid. I first tried milking a cow when I was only 10 years old. The working conditions then and now are incomparable. Everything was manual, carrying barrels. It was very hard. Now it’s beautiful: everything is wiped, disinfected, connected," Svetlana shared.