It is a place in Bashkiria where horses stand in a queue. Welcome to Ufa stud farm №119.

Here’s the queue. The horses are waiting for morning milking. Older and authoritative ones go first, if any young horses jump the queue they are immediately beaten and turned out. The horses are about to see their foals whom they see only once a day.

There are about 250 horses at the farm that milk. Each of them has a foal pasturing in the common herd. Two milkers meet the horses with pails.

They milk manually

A rear left leg must step back. The horses know it.

Two nipples

Each horse has its own character, the milkers find an individual approach to any of them.

Milked horses can leave

The horses see their foals but will be allowed to come close only in the evening.

To the pasture

The foals are sad moms are leaving…

Here they make kumiss from horse milk.

These lime casks are filled with horse milk which is then beaten up with wood boards. Remains of kumiss are used as ferment. All the process takes about an hour.

Bottling

Capping

2 hours in a cool room and the healing drink is ready. In the centre of Ufa one bottle of kumiss can be bought for 2,5 USD. The drink can be stored for 5 days. It tastes like carbonated kefir. It’s very healthy.

Thanks to the kumiss production survives all the stud farm founded back in 1936 to provide the Red Army with horses.

Location: Ufa

via drugoi