• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 1994

The annual income (gross margin) in 1989/90 of a sample of 274 farmers in seven milk cooperatives was analyzed in the sugar cane, cassava, and horticulture areas in East Java. On average dairying contributed 42%, crops 29% and off-farm revenue 29%. Dairy income was highest in the cassava area, where it compensated for the low crop income, and lowest in the sugar cane area. Farm area and average milk yield per day per cow correlated positively with farmer's income, whereas crop income increase significantly with farm area and with the number of cows. The level of total cost per cow had a negative impact on dairy and with the number of cows. The level of total cost per cow had a negative impact on dairy and on total income. Government officials and other professionals engaged in dairying had a significantly higher total income than those with their main occupation in dairying, cropping or working as farm labourers. Uneducated farmers obtained a significantly larger income through crops, whereas farmers with tertiary education obtained more income through off-farm work, This study suggests that more attention must be paid to the actual use of labour and the improvement of the dairy output/cost ratio.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.571-582
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• 1994

Three livestock/crop demonstration-cum-training farms have been established on plots of half, one and two acres, typical of the "Kandyan Forest Garden System" Vegetables, bananas, pepper, coffee, coconut and fruit trees are widely spaced, for intercropping with grass, and have been surrounded with live fences that also provide fodder for livestock to increase the family income. Each unit is operated by a selected employee and his family under a monthly incentive scheme based upon the gross margin. On these farms the technical parameters in dairying are better than elsewhere in the Mid-Country. Economic performance over 1985-1992 showed that dairying contributed most to the total gross margin of the half, one and two acre units, i.e. 31, 63 and 69%, respectively. Next came crops (29%, 37% and 19%), poultry (22%, 0% and 9%), and goats (18%, 0% and 3%). In the three farms the cash income per Sri Lankan Rupee spent was 1.5, 4.6 and 2.1, respectively. The overall ratio was 3.2 for dairying, 1.1 for poultry, 4.5 for goats and 9.9 for crops. Actual family labour in the three farms was 548, 548 and 639 days, compared to the 270, 330 and 440 days anticipated in the initial feasibility study. The average incentive payments, which were 20% (half acre), 61% (one acre) and 133% (two acres) of the parastatal salary of the employee, were only insufficient for the extra labour applied in the half acre unit. Dairying and goats proved to be attractive cash earners with a domestic fuel were important benefits. Poultry did little to improve farm income.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 1994

The indonesian government wishes to increase farmers' by encouraging dairy farming. Since 1980, imported dairy cattle have been distributed on credit. Survey data from 1990 were used to study the average milk sales per cow and the economic parameters of dairy production of a sample of farm households on seven milk cooperatives East Java Province, in three agro-ecological areas, oriented to sugar cane, cassava and horticulture, respectively. in general, dairy production proved not to be economically attractive as returns to labour were similar to the rates for agricultural labour. The returns showed marked differences among the three areas studied. They were highest in the horticultural area. Analysis of the dairy units according to size showed a tendency for inputs as well as revenue per cow to decline as herd size increased. It is argued that a further increase in milk production in East Java can be stimulated by raising the farm gate price of milk, or by expanding dairy production into suitable, new areas.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.429-434
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• 1999

In this study the financial performance of small scale dairy farms participating in the government subsidy programme and the impact of this government intervention on the number of animals owned, production and consumption of milk and labour employment in the farm households have been examined. After receiving the subsidy, dairy farmers expanded their herd size. The major changes occurred in the ownership of calves, heifers and cows in all categories of farms. Significant increases in production and consumption of milk as well as in labour employment were observed. The rates of increase for all the parameters studied were much higher in farms adopting cross breeding compared to those in only local-breed farms. The analysis showed that dairying was a profitable business. However, profitability was greater with cross-bred than with local-bred animals.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 1997

Hokkaido, as center of Japanese dairying, 3.48 million tons of raw milk which was about 40% of total production in Japan were produced from 11,400 farms in 1996. The average herd size and the annual volume of milking per head in Hokkaido were 78 head, 7,200kg, and the quality of raw milk also is much better than that of other area in Japan. Raw milk having less than 100,000/ml in viable count and less than 300,000/ml of somatic cell count were 99.6%, 93% respectively. In spite of producing large amount of high quality milk, only 26% of total amount was processed as market milk and 76% was used for making dairy products like butter, cheese and milk powder. Therefore, because of big difference in price between the raw milk for market milk and for dairy products. the income of dairy farms are much less comparing to other parts of Japan, where most of the raw milk are consumed as market milk.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1709-1717
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• 2009

This review presents a series of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to assist Asian smallholder dairy farmers in identifying the possible causes for their poor farm performance and profitability. When assessing farm profitability, these indicators can be split into two types, those diagnosing problems with feeding management and those indicating poor herd management. As home grown forage is generally cheaper to source than purchased forage, the more produced on farm, the better. Too many stock on limited land is a common feature on Asian dairy small holdings. Unlike other classes of livestock, milking cows have very high nutrient requirements, therefore high quality forages and concentrates are essential for profitable dairying. Milk income less feed cost is one of the simplest and easy to measure indicators of farm profitability and is also quick to respond to small changes in farm practices. Problems with herd management can be diagnosed using measures such as the proportion of cows actually milking in the herd or their peak yield and persistency of production. There are also simple indicators of herd reproductive performance and of health and growth of young stock that assist in searching for the underlying causes of poor farm profitability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 1994

This study was conducted to compare the of rearing native and cross-bred dairy cows and returns received from them. For this purpose, 144 cows of 132 household from 24 villages were randomly selected. of them, 96 were native cows and 48 were cross-bred cows. The study revealed that among the structure of cost components, labour charge occupied the major share in the total cost of milk production per litre. The total cost of rearing native and cross-bred cows was Tk. 14,155 and Tk. 19,854 per annum, respectively. The average net cost of milk production per litre was Tk. 14.12 for native cows and Tk. 0.52 and for cross-bred cows were Taka 3.40. The benefit-cost ratio of milk per litre was higher (1:1.33) in cross-bred cows than native ones (1:1.04). The study further showed that in comparing with bulk line cost, the price of milk per litre received by the farmers was higher in cross-bred cows than native cows. Therefore, the study recommends dairying with cross-bred cows as encouraging and viable commercial enterprise in Banfladesh.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2004

This study evaluated the impact of an AI heifer calf rearing scheme on dairy stock development, in a coconut grazing and a peri-urban smallholder dairy production system in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. The heifer rearing scheme included free advice on calf rearing, drugs, acaricides, minerals and subsidised concentrates for 30 months. The farmers in the coconut growing area integrate dairying with their plantation, they sell their milk to the main processors. The peri-urban farmers are intensive milk producers, who sell their milk at informal markets. To estimate the effect of the heifer rearing scheme on dairy replacement stock development, scheme farmers were compared with farmers who did not participate in the scheme. Calf mortality was twice as high in non-scheme farms (23-28%) as in scheme farms (12-14%). The scheme had a positive effect on weight development and scheme heifers calved 4.5 months earlier than non-scheme heifers. The calf rearing package is cost effective in both farming systems, however, the required cash inputs are a major constraint. The costs per in-calf heifer under the scheme are much lower than the production of such animals by either multiplication in state farms or importing them. The coconut grazing system showed the highest potential for producing surplus dairy stock.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.161-164
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• 1999

Dairy performances of Pabna cows and its crossbreds with Sahiwal (SL) and Friesian (F) in the Baghabarighat dairying area of Bangladesh were evaluated. Four SL and three F sires were used for the crossbreeding. The exotic sire effect of individuals on their daughters were also evaluated in this study. It showed that the genetic group had a significant (p<0.05) effect on birth weight, age at first heat, calving interval, lactation length and lactation yield. The lowest birth weight (17.9 kg), longest age at first heat (39.2 m) and calving interval (16.3 m) shortest lactation length (199 d) and lowest lactation yield (728 L) were found in Pabna cows. The highest birth weight (22.5 kg). shortest age at first heat (25.5 m) and calving interval (13.7 m), longest lactation length (253 d) and highest lactation yield (1936 L) were found in the F crossbreds. Within the same breed, the effect of individual sire was significant (p<0.05) on age at first heat, lactation length and lactation yield. Individual sire effects of SL bulls differed significantly (p<0.05) but F sires had a non-significant (p>0.05) effect on calving interval in their progeny. The fat % and SNF % in milk and number of services required for conception did not differ (p>0.05) among inter-and intra- breed sire groups.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.8-12
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• 2005

Response in a modified reciprocal recurrent selection scheme for egg production was evaluated considering variable family sizes and genetic correlation between purebred and crossbred half sisters. The criteria of selection of purebred breeders included pullet's own performance, purebred full and half sisters and crossbred half sister's performance. Heritability of egg production of crossbreds (aggregate genotype) and purebred's was assumed to be 0.2 and genetic correlation between purebred and crossbred half sisters ($r_{pc}$) as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 1.0, -0.1, -0.2, -0.3, -0.4, -0.5 and -1.0. Number of dams per sire to produce purebred and crossbred progenies assumed to be 5, 6, 7, 8, while number of purebred female progeny ($N_p$) and crossbred progeny ($N_c$) per dam were considered to be 3, 4, 5 and 6 in each case. Considering phenotypic variance as unity, selection indices were constructed for different combinations of dams and progeny for each value of $r_{pc}$. Following selection index theory, response in crossbred and purebred for egg production was computed. Results indicated that response in crossbreds depended mainly on crossbred family size and also on magnitude of$r_{pc}$ irrespective of its direction, and response was greater with large crossbred family size than the purebred families. Correlated response in purebreds depends both on magnitude and direction of $r_{pc}$ and was expected to be greater with large purebred family size only. Inclusion of purebred information increased the accuracy of selection for crossbred response for higher magnitude of$r_{pc}$ irrespective of its direction. Present results indicate that desirable response in both crossbred and purebred performance is a function of $r_{pc}$ and family sizes. The ratio of crossbred and purebred family sizes can be optimized depending on the objective of improving the performance of crossbreds and/or of purebreds.