Analytical study of pregnant heifers importation project as one of the systems tool to improve milk production for small holders

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Agriculture Economic Research Institute Agricultural Research center

2 Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research center

3 Dept. of Agricultural Economics , Faculty of Agriculture , Ain Shams University , Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the success of the project of imported pregnant Holstein heifers allocated to small holders in the governorates of Menoufia and Bani Suef and identifying the most important variables and factors affecting the productivity of these dairy cows during the milking season, also identify the most important problems facing holders.
The study concluded that importing pregnant heifers is very important to improve milk production in Egypt, in addition, to improve the standards of living of small and medium animal holders. However the lack of conducting a pre-study to identify the holders with the best conditions to raise imported Holstein cows, obstructed the project in achieving its goals, where:
- 82.7% of the holders in the study stated that this experiment was not successful and that they won’t participate in a similar study in the future.
The study showed concrete success as 17.3% of the holders in this study, those holders with three or more animals and they have the ability to provide management and raising for imported heifers. In addition to the absence of an insurance system for imported cows with holders, the lack of financial resources to purchase adequate amount of animal fodder in addition to the absence of veterinary services and extension, as well as advanced milk collection and marketing systems for holders, all that affected the project and its planned goals.

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