Dairy herd production aspects of family farms in Western Amazon, Brazil

This study aimed to evaluate the production parameters of herds in 100 dairy family farms in the mesoregion of the Acre Valley, in Western Amazon, Brazil. To this end, the farms were divided into two levels of milk production. Data were collected from March to June 2016, using a 248-question semi-st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Semina. Ciências agrárias : revista cultural e científica da Universidade Estadual de Londrina Vol. 41; no. 5supl1; pp. 2365 - 2380
Main Authors:	Reis, Eduardo Mitke Brandão, Lopes, Marcos Aurélio, Lima, André Luis Ribeiro, Demeu, Fabiana Alves, Benedicto, Gideon Carvalho de, Peixoto, Renato Mesquita, Bussons, João Paulo, Nobile, Camilla Birenbaum, Linhares, Luane Pereira
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Universidade Estadual de Londrina 01-01-2020
Subjects:	Acre Dairy farming Diagnosis Rural development
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This study aimed to evaluate the production parameters of herds in 100 dairy family farms in the mesoregion of the Acre Valley, in Western Amazon, Brazil. To this end, the farms were divided into two levels of milk production. Data were collected from March to June 2016, using a 248-question semi-structured form and on-site observations. The information was recorded in SPSS® spreadsheets. Dairy farmers were divided into two clusters known as "high production cluster" (1,755.65 L ha-1 yr-1) and "low production cluster" (492.75 L ha-1 yr-1), using the K-means non-hierarchical method. Descriptive statistics was used and, with the aid of the multivariate cluster analysis, cattle ranchers were divided into the two clusters (high and low production). The results showed that the high-production cluster had larger total milk production (L milk cow-1 day-1) and family income within smaller areas and using less workforce. The farmers in this group also used more ear tags for cattle identification and more technologies such as electric fence and artificial insemination at a fixed time. We concluded that family farms should improve their management and receive technical assistance to strengthen their weaknesses in dairy-cow health and reproduction systems. Moreover, milk yield in these dairy farms should be improved to increase profitability of farmers.
ISSN:	1679-0359 1676-546X 1679-0359
DOI:	10.5433/1679-0359.2020v41n5supl1p2365