Characteristics of cattle breeders and dairy production in the southeastern and northeastern mesoregions of Para state, Brazil

The objective of this study was to characterize the dairy production systems of the southeastern and northeastern mesoregions of Para state. A total of 112 questionnaires were administered on rural properties with dairy cow milk production in the municipalities of Ulianopolis and Irituia from April to May 2013. The activity was conducted mainly by men between 36 and 70 years of age. The education level was low, with 67% of the cattle breeders having incomplete basic education and 20.5% being illiterate. Regarding herd feeding, only 19.6% of the breeders used energy supplements, and 13.39% used roughage supplements. Sanitation control was performed by 99.1% of the breeders, with vaccines against foot and mouth disease and brucellosis being the most common vaccines because they are mandatory. Milking was performed manually on 98.2% of the properties, and pre-dipping and post-dipping techniques were used on only 2.7% and 3.6% of the properties, respectively. Regarding management, 84.8% of the breeders did not perform financial planning, and 99.1% did not have a defined chart of accounts and cost centres and were unaware of their production costs. Average herd productivity was 4.34 L cow(-1) day(-1), with average production varying between 30 L day(-1) in units with fewer than 10 lactating cows and 355 L day(-1) in those with over 55 cows. Age and education level were shown to hinder the access to knowledge and technological innovations in products, processes and management.