INTRODUCTION: Livestock production and associated products offer substantial opportunities for economic growth and poverty reduction for rural households in Zambia. However, smallholder livestock producers are often characterized by low livestock market participation. Among the many reasons cited in the literature are producer remoteness from the main urban market centers and poor road infrastr...

A study was carried out on 117 smallholder dairy cattle herds in Kikuyu Division of Kiambu District Kenya between April 2004 and December 2004 to determine the incidence of periparturient conditions (downer cow syndrome, dystocia, milk fever and retained placenta among others) in smallholder dairy cattle herds and the associated factors (plausible predictor variables; age, parity and management...

AIM Cows on smallholder dairy farms (SDF) in developing countries such as Kenya typically produce volumes of milk that are well below their genetic potential. An epidemiological study was conducted to determine reasons for this low milk production, including limited use of best management practices, such as suboptimal nutritional management. METHODS An observational cross-sectional study of 1...

Livestock kept or produced in smallholder farming systems are an important component of the agricultural economy in the developing world. The role of livestock on smallholder farms varies widely, providing draught power for crop production or as a production activity for subsistence needs or market sale under systems ranging from extensive pastoralist to intensive, peri-urban feeder and dairy s...

A cross sectional study was conducted during October and November 2006 on 69 smallholder dairy farms with lactating cows in Mvomero and Njombe districts Tanzania, to determine the prevalence of mastitis and to assess the milk quality on the study farms. Clinical mastitis was investigated using clinical changes of udder and milk at animal level. Cow-side California Mastitis Test (CMT) and microb...

In order to determine the safety of milk produced by smallholder dairy goat farms, a farm-based research study was conducted on commercial dairy goat farms to compare the microbiological quality of milk produced using 3 different types of dairy goat production systems (intensive, semi-intensive and extensive). A survey of dairy goat farms in and around Pretoria carried out by means of a questio...

Fair Trade (FT) markets have been introduced as a mechanism to improve the economic livelihoods of smallholder farmers by translating consumers’ “ethical demand” into higher prices for producers. Unlike other certification mechanisms such as organic, dolphin-friendly, and shade grown that intend on affecting the production process, FT explicitly seeks to deliver rents to producers via the price...

The aim of this study was to investigate the prerequisites for dairy production at smallholder farms in Southern Vietnam and to identify the strengths and weaknesses in management at farm level. Data on milk production, management routines and heat stress were collected during farmer interviews and field observations on 120 smallholder dairy farms. Individual milk samples were taken from 360 co...

This study was carried out to determine the association between some milking factors and milk quality in dairy cows. While questionnaires collected from a total of 50 smallholder farms in Bafra and Samsun, number of milkers (NM), milking duration (MD), care frequency for milking machine (CMM) and age of milking machine (AMM) were used as milking parameters. Milk quality was measured by somatic ...