Economic Opportunity Survey of Small Dairy Farms in the Southwest Part of Iran

In this study 495 smallholder dairy farms in 52 villages of different township in southwestern province of Iran (Chaharmohal and Bakhtiari province) included 1321 lactating cows and 2811 total mature cows (lactating and dry) during winter 2009 to summer 2010 were used to estimate economic opportunities insmallholder dairy farms. Questionnaire survey was used to collect data from last year information, recorded information, direct recording during visit the farm and interview with the small holder farmers. 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 total of economic opportunities per farm per year estimated as 2009.68 US $ included 1354.85 US $ (57.94% total) for average daily milk produce per cow, 475.52 US $ (26.07% total) for average lactation length, 75.04 US $ (4.00% total) for average age at first calving, 37.52 US $ (8.98% total) for average calf production interval and 66.75 US $ (3.00% total) for average calf mortality, respectively. The considerable variation observed for economic opportunities, percent of total and total of economic opportunities in different townships, seasons, breeds and size of herds. Thus, increasing the average daily milk production per cow and averagelactation length, as well as decreasing average age at first calving and average calf production interval could affect profit and productivity.