The University Farm Estate Lány is a special-purpose facility of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. Its main task is to ensure the activities of university under practical conditions. Vocational and practical training of CZU Prague students, other agricultural schools and the professional public is implemented here. The estate also creates a base for the research and educational works of the faculties, institutes and departments of CZU Prague.
University Farm Estate Lány was established in 1960 from the original Presidential Office Farmhouse of the Czechoslovak Republic in Lány.
The basis of the original Presidential Office Farmhouse was the Lány farm with an area of 240 ha of agricultural land and the Ploskov farmyard with an area of 100 ha of agricultural land. These two units were created around 1850 and were part of the Křivoklát Estate, which was owned by the Fürstenberg family until 1921 when it was sold to the newly created Czechoslovak state. The Lány Castle and the adjacent forests are still used as a place of rest for the president of the Czech Republic today.
The estate currently farms on 2,800 ha of agricultural land, about 90 ha of which is non-agricultural land. Approximately 58% of the area is university land, and the remainder is leased from private owners. We provide maintenance of genetic reserves of Czech Red breed of cattle, Blonde d´Aquitaine breed beef cattle, grapevine clones and varieties, and we demonstrate different ways of farming on agricultural land.
The University Farm Estate Lány is also involved in plant and livestock production.
The crop production centre is the mainstay of the University Farm Estate. Its main tasks include the production of commodities for commercial use and ensuring adequate supplies of high quality feed for the estate’s livestock production needs. The main grown commodities are oilseed rape, winter wheat, spring barley, winter barley, alfalfa and corn silage, which is produced for own bulk feed.
The livestock production centre specializes in breeding Holstein cattle. Holstein cattle are one of the most widespread cultural breeds in the world and a specialized milk breed. Currently, their average milk yield is 8,310 kg of milk, a fat content of 4.17% and protein content of 3.28%. The Požáry farm specializes in breeding Jersey cattle. Physically, these cattle are the smallest dairy breed in the world, and for centuries their milk has been used to make cheese due to its high fat and protein content. There are currently 130 heads of cattle on the farm.
The estate is also involved in farm breeding of eland antelopes and guanaco llamas. The first five antelopes of our breed were born at the zoo in Dvůr Králové. The Czech University of Life Sciences Prague has been their breeder since 2002. The original group has grown to the present 20 heads, and as of spring 2006 the animals have been kept at the University Farm Estate in Lány in cooperation with the Institute of Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture. The aim of the breeding is to test eland antelope technology as an alternative type for use in Czech conditions – the model stud will be used for master’s theses and dissertations of CZU Prague students, and for demonstrations of this species in captivity.
Breeding interesting types of species spread in 2009 to include the Llama Guanaco farm. Five heads were originally imported that included one male and four females. The animals come from the Brno and Jihlava zoos. The farm was built on the site of a former orchard and an area of approximately one hectare. The animals acclimated quickly here and became accustomed to the attention of visitors and passers-by. They will be happy to pose for you for a piece of bread. Due to the natural aggression of males towards their descendants, in 2014 the enclosure was divided into two parts, a brood enclosure and a production enclosure, which will be gradually replaced by a second breeding group. The basis of the second group are unrelated breeding animals imported from German partner zoos Tierpark Berlin and Opel Zoo Kronberg. The entire breeding facility has a capacity of about 25 individuals.
The Mělník Wine Centre of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague is one of the winemaking entities of the Mělník wine growing sub-region located 2 km north of the town of Mělník. It can be found at the southern foot of the ridge called Chloumek. The Centre produces grapes and fruit on an area of about 20 hectares of land. The centre where wine production is concentrated is the historical building called Kartuziánský lis (Carthusian Mill).
The most successful clones of grapevine suitable for the Mělník area were used for planting vineyards. Seedlings for planting vineyards were mainly imported from wine-growing localities in the Rhine river basin, whose climatic conditions were similar to those in in Mělník. Among other things, the task of the research was to verify the suitability of foreign clones, and to verify the most appropriate clones depending on the substructure, cutting method, routing and other factors. The best results were achieved with Rhine Riesling clone varieties, as well as Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Sylvaner, Müller Thurgau and others. The possibility of eventual use of new varieties grown abroad, such as Kerner, Dornfeldr, Domina, also proved to be successful. Today, these are widely planted in the Czech Republic.
First contact
Ing. David Richter
email:richterd@lany.czu.cz
cell: +420 733 678 763