Characteristics of the milk production system at the Imperatriz micro-region, State of Maranhao, Brazil

Abstract

The geographic micro-region of Imperatriz produces half the milk in the State of Maranhao. In order to know its production system, a survey based on 249 properties which produce milk for commercial purposes was carried out. To this end, questionnaires on the milk production and marketing conditions, cattle handling and infrastructure of the properties were conducted. The properties were categorized into five strata according to the total number of cows in the herd: up to 10, 11-20, 21-50, 51-100 and over 100. It was possible to observe that half of the milk produced in the micro-region originated from herds with more than one hundred cows, although these represent only 22% of the strata. The average size of properties was 201 ha, with 102 ha used as pasture, mostly with Brachiaria grass. The average milk production was 130 L d-1 , varying from the rainy to the dry seasons. Only half of the producers sell the milk to dairy plants. Dairy farming in the micro-region of Imperatriz presents low technological level and low land, livestock and pasture productivity.