Estimation of economic opportunities per cow in smallholder cattle farms in Zabol area

In this study 429 smallholder dairy farms in 44 villages of the Zabol county included 1728 lactating cows and 3759 head of total herd during February 2015 to March 2016 were recorded to assess the estimate economic opportunities per cow. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from last year information, direct recording during visit the farm and interview with the smallholder farmer. The number of 5 economic indices calculated using revenue and expense for each farm. The economic opportunity is the amount of additional revenue that could be obtained if farmers could improve various productivity indexes to meet reasonable targets. The economic opportunity estimated as the amount of difference between average herd and reasonable target multiplied by the value of one unit change in the variable in Rials. The sum of economic opportunities per cow per year estimated as 19.68 million Rails included 8.13 million Rails (37.73%) for average daily milk production per cow, 6.47 million Rails (32.51%) for average age at first calving, 3.58 million Rails (20.58%) for average lactation length, 0.82 million Rails (5.33%) for average calf production interval and 0.67 million Rails (3.85%) for average calf mortality, respectively. There was significant variation between different levels of season, breed, rearing system and herd size for the performance of economic opportunities indices. The results obtained in this study can be used in planning to improve the performance economic indices to improve productivity and economic efficiency in smallholder cattle farms.