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Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140
DOI 10.1007/s11250-006-4274-y
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A survey to identify economic opportunities for smallholder
dairy farms in Bangladesh
M. Shamsuddin · W.J. Goodger · M.S. Hossein ·
Azizunnesa · T. Bennett · K. Nordlund
Accepted: 18 October 2005
C
Springer 2006
Abstract Identified economic opportunities for plan-
ning interventions greatly increase farmers’ compli-
ance with an extension programme. We investigated
opportunities for interventions to increase dairy farm-
ers’ income in four areas of Bangladesh, including the
districts of Mymensingh, Khulna-Satkhira, Sirajgonj-
Pabna and Chittagong. The data were collected from
1440 dairy farms at a one-day visit and were summa-
rized as the difference between management targets
and each herd’s calculated management indices. The
average number of lactating cows, feed cost as a per-
centage of income from milk, milk sold as percentage
of milk produced, lactating cows as a percentage of ma-
ture cows, and lactating cows as a percentage of total
cattle variedfrom1.5to3.4,from52.5%to92.1%,from
78.7% to 92.6%, from 81.9% to 86.7% and from 34.3%
M. Shamsuddin (
) · M.S. Hossein · Azizunnesa
Field Fertility Clinic, Department of Surgery and
Obstetrics, Bangladesh Agricultural University,
Mymensingh, Bangladesh
e-mail: m.shamsuddin@gmail.com
W.J. Goodger · T. Bennett · K. Nordlund
Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary
Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison,
Wisconsin, USA
Present address:
Azizunnesa
Department of Medicine and Surgery, Chittagong
Government Veterinary College, Pahartali, Chittagong,
Bangladesh
to 37.7%, respectively. The average age at first calv-
ing, calf production interval, lactation length, and milk
production were 35.0–44.3 months, 14.0–17.6 months,
249–286 days and 3.5–7.2 litres, respectively, depend-
ing on the locality. The average cost for producing 100
litres of milk was 18.9–35.1 US dollars. The production
cost increased when daily milk production per cow de-
creased (r
2
= 0.43–0.55). Management improvements
directed towards increasing average milk production
per cow per day, increasing lactation length, decreasing
age to first calving, and decreasing calf production in-
terval could expect to yield an average income increase
up to a range of 676.3–1730.6 US dollars depending on
the milk-producing area.
Keywords Economic opportunities · Mixed farming ·
Market oriented · Milk production · Small-scale
Abbreviations
BDT Bangladesh taka (1 USD = 58 BDT)
EOS economic oppurtunity survey
INR Indian rupee
USD US dollar
Introduction
In Bangladesh, milk is the most important livestock
product of smallholder crop–livestock farmers. In-
creased mechanization of crop production has resulted
in a gradual reduction in the need for draft animals. This
Springer
132 Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140
has created an opportunity for increasing the number of
dairy farms. The number of dairy farms was only 2490
in the year 1990–91 and increased to 29 600 by 1997–
98 (Anon, 2000a). Milk production increased from 1.29
million metric tons in 1987–88 to 1.74 million metric
tons in 2001. Owing to this increased production, the
importation of milk powder has decreased from 55 000
metric tons in 1991–92 to 17 000 metric tons in 2001.
However, current domestic milk production is inad-
equate to meet the demand. The per capita availability
of milk was 41.2 ml/day in 2000 compared to the daily
requirement of 250 ml (Miah and Mandal, 2002). Milk
production in Bangladesh needs to grow by 4.2–5.6%
per annum to meet the increased demand of an ex-
pected 1.6% population growth by 2010. Given the
prospect of such a high growth rate in the dairy industry,
there is an opportunity for recruitment of many small-
holder producers and others involved in milk process-
ing and marketing. Dairy farming generates more regu-
lar cash income, while dairy production, processing and
marketing generate more employment per unit value
added than do crops (Asaduzzaman, 2000; Omore
et al., 2002).
If such a high growth rate in the dairy industry of
Bangladesh is to be achieved, several factors need to be
addressed. These includethepoorgeneticbaseofcattle,
feed shortages, widespread infectious and production
diseases, and inefficiencies leading to low productivity.
Farm owners havelargelyoverlooked the economic im-
portance of these factors. Identification of the general
areas of management where intervention is possible
and needed is of utmost importance for profitable dairy
farms. An economic opportunity survey (EOS) ranks
the problem areas with regard to the amount of poten-
tial income if the problems were solved. Also, with
involvement of the farmers in the survey, increased
intervention compliance is more likely. Our purpose
was to carry out an EOS on 1440 dairy farms in four
agroecological zones representing the dairy industry
of Bangladesh, and to rank the identified management
factors on the basis of their potential opportunity for
economic gain.
Materials and methods
An EOS was conducted on 1440 farms representing
the dairy industry of Bangladesh in four agroecologi-
cal zones, based on land type, soil pH, temperature and
rainfall (Table 1). The zones were Old Brahmaputra
floodplain, Ganges tidal floodplain, Karatoya-Bangali
floodplain and Chittgong coastal plain. The areas be-
longed to the administrative districts of Mymensingh,
Khulna and Satkhira, Pabna and Sirajgonj, and Chit-
tagong, respectively.
In Mymensingh, crop production is the main source
of livelihood and per capita income is low. Dairy farm-
ing is mostly of subsistence type because capital invest-
ment is not possible. The soil of Khulna and Satkhira
has a sodium ion concentration of 2.56–5.12 g/L. Ow-
ing to close proximity to the Bay of Bengal, the area
is flood prone and the infrastructures are poorly devel-
oped. Socioeconomic conditions are similar to those
of Mymensingh, except in Kulna Metropoliton area,
where living standards are slightly better. The land
of Sirajgonj and Pabna is submerged under floodwa-
ter during the monsoon season. A major part of this
area has access to the Bangladesh Milk Producers’
Table 1 Land type, soil pH and annual temperature, humidity and rainfall variations in different districts of Bangladesh
Project area
Geoclimatic parameters Mymensingh Khulna-Satkhira Sirajgonj-Pabna Chittagong
Land type
a
Medium high Medium low Medium low High
Soil pH 5.5–7.5 4.5–5.5 5.4–7.5 4.5–6.5
Temperature (
◦
C)
b
Minimum 11.7–25.6 12.1–26.1 10.1–26.0 13.9–25.2
Maximum 24.8–32.9 25.9–35.0 24.6–35.9 26.0–32.3
Humidity (%)
b
67–87 68–87 58–87 62–87
Rainfall (mm)
b
8–395 8–346 5–288 5–744
a
Land type is classified on the basis of the depth of seasonal flood. High land, medium high land and medium low land
indicate <30 cm, 30–90 cm and >90–180 cm flood depth, respectively (Anon, 1997)
b
Meteorological information is an average of 51 years data
Springer
Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140 133
Cooperative Union (BMPCU) Ltd. ‘Milk vita’ is the of-
ficial trade name of BMPCU. Dairy farming is the ma-
jor means of livelihood here because most farmers can
cultivate only one crop per year (usually, three crops are
cultivated per year in other areas of Bangladesh). Many
farmers cultivate high-yielding fodder. Chittagong is
the largest commercial city of Bangladesh. Living stan-
dards are higher than in the other areas studied. Dairy
farming is commercial and intensive here.
Preparation of the survey schedule
The field survey was conducted from March 2001 to
June 2002. The surveyformwas designed by the School
of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin Madi-
son, USA and referred to as the Economic Opportu-
nity Survey (EOS) form. A Microsoft Excel spread-
sheet was programmed to enter and record data from
the EOS form. The programming was done in collab-
oration between the Field Fertility Clinic, Bangladesh
Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh and
the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wis-
consin Madison, USA. The survey form had five sec-
tions: farm milk production on the day before the visit;
expenses of cattle health care and management; inven-
tory of herd culls and death; calf production per cow;
and summary of herd management.
Data collection
Because the project focused on the development
of the small-scale market-oriented dairy industry in
Bangladesh, farms that sell the majority of the milk
produced were selected. They were visited once, and
information was recorded by interviewing the farmers.
If available, farm records were reviewed to obtain ad-
ditional information and, if required, the animals were
examined. All the prices and expenses were recorded
in Bangladesh taka (BDT); however, after calculation,
the figures for the economic opportunity and milk pro-
duction cost were converted to US dollars (USD) (1
USD = 58 BDT) .
Setting the targets
The 20th and 80th percentiles of the management in-
dices listed in Table 2 were calculated using the data
from surveyed farms of the individual regions. Then
the performance targets were identified for each region
using the 20th or 80th percentile from farms depending
on the index. Finally, the performance targets were en-
tered in individual farm data to calculate the economic
opportunity for different regions according to methods
described in the next section.
Calculation of management indices
Age at first calving. The age at first calving was
recorded in months and calculated by subtracting the
birth date from the first calving date. The economic
opportunity for age at first calving was calculated as
follows:
(Herd average age at first calving − target age at
first calving) ×(cost of feeds per month ×number
of first lactation cows in the herd)
Average calf production interval. Average calf produc-
tion interval was expressed in months and calculated as
the intervalbetweentwo successive calvings of the cow.
Table 2 Performance targets using the 20th or 80th percentile based on farms from each respective region of Bangladesh
Target
Management indices Mymensingh Khulna-Satkhira Sirajgonj-Pabna Chittagong
1. Milk sold as percentage of milk produced 90 90 98 90
2. Calf mortality (%) 4 9 10 7
3. Age at first calving (months) 40 35 37 33
4. Calf production interval (months) 15 14 13 16
5. Lactation length (days) 304 289 282 304
6. Lactating cows as percentage of total cattle 50 50 40 40
7. Milk production (litres/cow per day) 5 7 9 8
8. Feed cost as percentage of income from milk 50 50 30 30
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134 Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140
The economic opportunity for calf production interval
was based on the number of calves born in the past year
and was calculated as follows:
{[(Herd calf production interval/target calf pro-
duction interval) × number of calves born in past
year] − number of calves born past year}× value
of newborn calf.
The values of male and female calves were averaged.
This economic opportunity took no account of any ef-
fect of change in annual milk production.
Lactation length. Lactation length was expressed in
days and was calculated by subtracting the date of first
milking from the date the cow went dry. The economic
opportunity for average lactation length was calculated
as
{[(milk per lactating cow on one day) × (value
of milk per litre)] × average lactation length ×
(targeted lactation length/herd average lactation
length) × 0.85)] − {[(milk per lactating cow on
one day) × (value of milk per litre)] × average
lactation length)}
To correcting for overestimation because milk produc-
tion would be less during the lean period, the lactation
length was multiplied by 0.85 (Nordlund et al., 2002).
Lactating cows as percentage of total mature cows and
total cattle. All the animals, including lactating cows,
dry cows, pregnant heifers, growing heifers, suckling
and milk-fed male and female calves, mature bulls and
steers, with their present values were recorded. The
percentages of lactating cows out of the total of mature
cows and of all cattle were calculated respectively as
follows:
Lactating cows as a percentage of total cows =
total lactating cows in a herd/total mature cows
(i.e., lactating + dry cows) × 100
Lactating cows as a percentage of all cattle in herd
= total lactating cows in a herd/total cattle in the
herd (i.e., cows +heifers +males +calves) ×100
Feed cost. The total feed (kg), both forages and concen-
trates, given to milking cows during the whole day of
the visit were determined by interviewing the farmers.
Any left over at the end of the day was also determined
and subtracted from the total given to determine total
feed consumed by the cows. The cost (BDT) of feed
was determined by summing the average prices of for-
age and concentrate per kg fresh weight. Feed cost as
percentage of income from milk was calculated as
{[(Cost of feeds fed to lactating cows on one
day/number of lactating cows)/milk (litres) per lac-
tating cow on one day] ×price of 1 litre of milk ×
100.
Milk yield The average milk per lactating cow on one
day and average milk production on one day per farm
were recorded. The average price (BDT) achieved of 1
litre of milk sold on the day before the farm visit was
recorded. The economic opportunity for milk produc-
tion was computed as
(Local target milk per lactating cow on one day −
herd average milk per lactating cow on one day) ×
number of lactating cows × 365 days × price of
milk per litre
Milk production cost In addition to the information col-
lected using EOS forms, we interviewed farmers to
record the costs (BDT) of building cattle houses and
their repairs for one year and the longevity of such
houses. The building cost was divided by the longevity
of the house to determine the yearly depreciation val-
ues. Interest rate per year on money on deposit was
found by inquiring of a bank. The number of labour-
ers (family and hired) and costs of labour, including
salary, food, clothing and lodging, covering 12 months
preceding the date of visit were recorded by asking
farmers. Generally, family labourers spent 25% and
hired labourers spent 50% of their working hours in
dairying. Data on average feed cost per cow on one day
were converted to one year by multiplying by 365. The
milk production cost per litre (BDT) was determined
as
{Average feeding cost for lactating cows during
one year + labour cost per year (family labourers
× 0.25
+ hired labourers × 0.5) + housing cost
(yearly depreciation of the house building cost +
repair cost for one year +interest on average value
of housing of running year) + average health care
expenses and AI per year [(veterinary services +
medicines + AI)/total number of cattle] / 365} /
average amount of milk production (litres) in one
day
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Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140 135
Milk production cost was finally expressed as USD/100
litres milk.
Calf mortality Calf mortality, defined as death up to one
year of age and those born dead, during the previous 12
months was recorded. The gross economic opportunity
from survivability of calves was estimated as
Total number of calves born alive or dead over
a period that covers a year preceding the date of
visit ×(farm’s percentage calf mortality - tolerated
mortality of calves) × average value of male and
female calves
Statistical analysis
The collected information was recorded utilizing Mi-
crosoft Excel 2000. A custom-designed workbook was
created to record the data from five sections of the EOS
form on four sheets. A macro was designed to transfer
the data from the farm data workbook to a summary
worksheet containing multiple farm data. We calcu-
lated the 20th, 50th and 80th percentiles of the vari-
ables studied. Because the data were nonparametric,
Kruskal–Wallis test was used to test the null hypothe-
sis that the districts did not differ between each other
with respect to the parameters studied (Altman, 1991;
Anon., 2000b). Mann–Whitney test was used to deter-
mine whether the differences between sources of eco-
nomic opportunities were significant (Altman, 1991;
Anon. 2000b). Data were plotted taking the milk pro-
duction (litre/cow on one day) and cost of milk produc-
tion (USD/litre) as X and Y axes, respectively.
Results
Herd inventory
The average numbers of cattle in different categories
in the four regions are shown in Table 3. The farms
were biggest in Sirajgonj-Pabna, followed by those in
Chittagong, and were smallest in Mymensingh.
Management indices
The average values of management indices are shown
in Table 4. Considerable variations exist between re-
gions. Some of these—feed costs as a percentage of
income and percentage of milk sold—were statistically
different. Table 5 shows more health and productivity
Table 3 The average number (range) of cattle in different management categories in surveyed farms of four regions of
Bangladesh
Inventory indices Mymensingh Khulna-Satkhira Sirajgonj-Pabna Chittagong
Total lactating cows 1.5 (1–6) 2.2 (1–22) 3.4 (1–20) 2.8 (1–18)
Total mature cows 1.9 (1–9) 2.7 (1–25) 4.2 (1–24) 3.5 (1–21)
Total replacement heifers 1.5 (0–10) 2.0 (0–13) 3.7 (0–22) 2.6 (0–15)
Total male cattle 1.2 (0–6) 1.4 (0–9) 2.5 (0–17) 1.9 (0–12)
Total head of cattle 4.6 (1–22) 6.0 (1–47) 10.5 (2–63) 8.0 (2–43)
Number of farms 433 309 412 286
Table 4 Average management performance indices (range) in the surveyed farms of the four regions of Bangladesh
Management indices Mymensingh Khulna-Satkhira Sirajgonj-Pabna Chittagong
Feed cost as percentage 67.0
b
(10–200) 92.1
a
(20–300) 52.5
c
(20–200) 66.7
b
(14.5–284.4)
of income from milk
Milk sold as percentage 78.7
c
(30–100) 84.2
b
(30–100) 92.6
a
(50–100) 80.2
c
(40–100)
of total produced
Lactating cows as percentage 86.7 (20–100) 84.3 (30–100) 84.3 (20–100) 81.9 (30–100)
of total mature cows
Lactating cows as percentage 35.7 (10–100) 37.7 (10–100) 34.3 (10–80) 34.6 (10–60)
of total cattle
a,b,c
Values with different superscript letters in the same row differ significantly from each other (p < 0.01)
Springer
136 Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140
figures. Variations are considerable between regions,
and again some of these are statistically significant.
Calf mortality was zero in 92%, 83%, 72% and 80% of
farms surveyed from Mymensingh, Khulna-Satkhira,
Sirajgonj-Pabna and Chittagong, respectively. The av-
erage calf mortality for the respective districts was
4.1%, 9.0%, 9.8% and 7.2%.
Milk production costs
The milk production cost was highest in Mymensingh
followed by Chittagong and Khulna-Satkhira, and low-
est in Sirajgonj-Pabna (p < 0.01; Table 6).
Economic opportunity
The average economic opportunity was 676.3, 868.2,
1730.6 and 1209.0 USD per farm per year for My-
mensingh, Khulna-Satkhira, Sirajgonj-Pabna and Chit-
tagong, respectively (Table 7). The economic opportu-
nity was highest for the average milk production per
cow on the day before the visit (503.4–1052.5 USD)
and lowest for calf production interval (8.0–9.0 USD)
(p < 0.05).
The milk production cost was greatly influenced
by level of milk production (Figure 1). The milk pro-
duction cost decreased if average milk production per
cow on the day increased (r
2
= 0.432–0.548; p <
0.05). Farms that produced on average 7 litres or more
milk from a cow on one day had production cost of
0.20 USD/litre, regardless of the region.
Discussion
The present study showed that farmers’ income could
be substantially increased if the milk production by
individual cows and their lactation length could be in-
creased and the age at first calving could be reduced
(Table 7).
Increasing milk production relies heavily on ap-
propriate feeding practices for cows with genetic po-
tential. Cattle feed in Bangladesh is rice straw based
with limited-availability forages in certain seasons,
and milling by-products are the only feed supplements
(Shamsuddin et al., 2002). Forage conservation and
improvement of the nutritional value of crop residues
could be the most appropriate options to increase milk
Table 5 Average reproduction and production indices (range) of cows on the surveyed farms of the four regions of
Bangladesh
Management indices Mymensingh Khulna-Satkhira Sirajgonj-Pabna Chittagong
Age at first 44.3
a
(28–61) 40.2
b
(30–75) 40.8
b
(25–65) 35.0
c
(28–45)
calving (months)
Calf production 17.6
a
(12–38) 15.4
c
(12–24) 14.0
d
(11–32) 17
b
(11–27)
interval (months)
Lactation 285
a
(122–571) 251
b
(123–365) 249
b
(141–395) 286
a
(198–396)
length (days)
Milk production 3.5 (1–17)
d
4.8 (1–15)
c
7.2 (2–17)
a
5.1 (1–14)
b
per cow per day (litre)
a,b,c,d
Values with different superscript letters in the same raw differ significantly from each other (p < 0.01)
Table 6 Average expenses (USD) (range) to produce 100 litres of milk in the four regions of Bangladesh
Cost of milk production Mymensingh Khulna-Satkhira Sirajgonj-Pabna Chittagong
Health care 0.07 (0.0–0.6)
d
0.4 (0.1–3.1)
b
0.2 (0.0–1.7)
c
0.5 (0.02–2.4)
a
Feed 21.1 (5.0–67.2)
a
22.1 (5.9–81.7)
a
13.8 (4.6–52.6)
c
20.0 (5.0–78.4)
b
Labour 13.4 (0.9–75.9)
a
8.3 (0.4–53.9)
b
4.4 (0.6–23.9)
c
13.3 (1.2–63.2)
a
Housing 0.5 (0.03–1.8)
b
0.7 (0.02–5.9)
a
0.5 (0.03–2.7)
b
0.8 (0.04–4.7)
a
Total 35.1 (6.9–109.0)
a
31.5 (7.6–106.9)
b
18.9 (5.8–66.7)
c
34.6 (7.7–119.3)
a
∗
1 USD = 58 BDT
a,b,c
Values with different superscript letters in the same row differ significantly from each other (p < 0.01)
Springer
Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140 137
Table 7 Average economic opportunities (USD) (range) for a farm during one year in the four regions of Bangladesh
Source of opportunity Mymensingh Khulna-Satkhira Sirajgonj-Pabna Chittagong
Age at first calving 292.5
b
257.4
b
561.1
b
265.1
b
(27.5–951.7) (19.9–911.9) (39.8–3209.0) (21.9–2526.2)
Calf production interval 13.4
d
11.8
c
13.0
c
14.2
d
(0.8–183.9) (1.1–77.6) (2.3–78.2) (1.7–96.5)
Lactation length 94.2.
c
258.1
b
552.3
b
206.0
c
(1.4–787.9) (5.3–1676.6) (31.6–2976.7) (1.2–1962.6)
Milk production 594.9
a
737.6
a
1298.4
a
1078.6
a
(50.3–2454.3) (50.3–4531.0) (37.8–5097.4) (85.6–5940.7)
Total economic opportunity 676.3 868.2 1730.6 1209.0
(3.4–3098.5) (4.1–4934.2) (56.9–8605.3) (6.9–6037.2)
a,b,c,d
Values with different superscript letters in the same column differ significantly from each other (p < 0.05)
production or reduce its production cost. Our pilot
study showed an additional income of 0.3 USD/cow
per day in a farm with 14 lactating cows if 10 kg/day
Napier grass silage was added to rice straw during a
4-month period of the monsoon when forages are not
available (unpublished data). With regard to genetic
potential, many attribute the advantages of indigenous
over exotic animals to their superior adaptation to local
conditions (Shamsuddin et al., 2002). However, the in-
digenous cattle are of low production potential. More
productive animals and alien breeds and their crosses
are less tolerant to diseases, heat and humidity. There-
fore, a 12-month feed planning cycle including for-
age production and conservation and concentrates with
good nutritional value is needed for higher-yielding
animals to deliver their genetic potential and thereby
to increase individual cow’s milk production.
The lactation length was shorter in Sirajgonj-Pabna
and Khulna-Satkhira, where the calf production inter-
val was also found to be shorter (Table 5). The shorter
lactation period may be due to poor nutrition manage-
ment of pregnant but lactating cows, calf death, lack of
an udder health programme and cattle genetics (Alam et
al., 1994; Vaccaro et al., 1999). Poor nutrition of cows
in these regions may result from unavailability of feed
when needed. During the monsoon in Sirajgonj-Pabna
and the dry season in Khulna-Satkhira, green forages
are not available. Because of poor feeding, the produc-
tion falls so low that the cow might as well be dry in
terms of the costs of feeding additional concentrates.
Alam and colleagues (1994) stated that local cows
reared with less nutrition and attention in Bangladesh
often exhibited a short lactation length. Some breeds of
zebu cows, for instance Shahiwal, spontaneously wean
calves and stop milking within a short time after con-
ception (Islam et al., 2002). Pregnant cows tend to cease
lactation earlier than non-pregnant cows. Bos indicus
and the crosses between Bos indicus and Bos taurus
are managed with calves at their side to stimulate milk
letdown (Vaccaro, 1999). Thus, the death of a calf often
results in the cessation of milk production.
Milk production cost was high on many farms and
differed between the regions (Table 6). The produc-
tion cost was inversely related to the average amount
of milk a cow produced on one day (Fig. 1). Aver-
age milk yield per cow on one day needs to be in-
creased substantially in all regions to achieve a milk
production cost equal to that of India (5.20 INR; 1
USD = 42 INR; Gupta and Agarwal, 1996). Further,
dairy processors in Bangladesh usually pay 0.25 USD
for a litre of milk at their collection centres. This means
that the farm should produce a litre milk for less than
0.25 USD. According to our data, this can only be
achieved if farmers can consistently produce on aver-
age 7 litres of milk per cow on one day, provided feed
costs per cow do not increase. Better nutrition to in-
crease individual daily milk production but also to help
shorten intervals between calvings may nevertheless be
necessary.
The expenses for animal health care seem minimal
compared with other expenses in this study. Windsor
(2002) has shown that countries that invest more in
animal health earn more from livestock. The author
highlighted the contribution of livestock to Botswana’s
economy, where a large investment is made in animal
health care. More investment in animal health care,
especially to reduce the mortality of cattle and the inci-
dence offootand mouth disease, mastitis, anoestrus and
Springer
138 Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140
Fig. 1 Relationship
between milk production
per cow (litres) on one day
and milk production cost
(USD) in four regions of
Bangladesh
repeat breeding, might increase production and thereby
decrease total milk production cost in Bangladesh.
Feed cost is the major recurring expenditure on a
dairy farm. Feed costs represent approximately one half
of the total costs in most livestock operations (Kennedy
et al., 1993). The feed cost as a percentage of in-
come from milk was lowest in developed dairy areas
and highest for subsistence-type dairying in this study.
Small numbers of lactating cows with low milk pro-
duction and high feed costs are responsible for higher
feed cost as a percentage of income from milk in My-
mensingh and Khulna-Satkhira. In Satkhira-Khulna,
lack of suitable cropland and fodder cultivation leads to
the increased price of cattle feed. On the other hand, a
low milk price due to the unorganized market network,
low local demand and lack of facilities for milk preser-
vation have decreased income and thereby increased
feed cost to about 90% of income from milk. Feed
costs need to be reduced. Alternative feeding systems
such as the introduction of urea - molasses blocks as a
substitute for concentrates may be helpful in reducing
the feed cost (Bandla and Gupta, 1997).
In the regions studied, lactating cows formed a high
percentage of mature cows (Table 4). Nordlund and
colleagues (2002) indicated that in herds with calv-
ing intervals of 13 months and dry periods of 60 days
with annual turnover rates of about 35%, lactating cows
are expected to be approximately 85–90% of all cows.
Smith (1985) reported lactating cows as a percentage
of all cows as 48%, 62%, 64%, and 66% from a variety
of countries in South America. The high percentage
of lactating cows out of total cows in this study re-
sulted partly from the fact that we included a majority
of farms that had only one to three cows. Therefore,
a farm with one, two or three lactating cows as their
only mature stock produced a figure of 100% cows in
lactation. On the other hand, the lactating cow as a
percentage of total cattle is quite low. In Bangladesh,
calves are reared with dams because suckling stimu-
lates milk letdown. Farmers also rear their bull calves.
The sale price of a well-grown bull augments the
farm income. Therefore, the distribution of cattle cat-
egories on a smallholder dairy farm in the crop–
livestock farming system of Bangladesh is likely to dif-
fer fromthat on a farm in countries withdevelopeddairy
industries.
The calf mortality was generally low and the ma-
jority of the farms did not experience any calf deaths
during a period of one year previous to the date of
survey. The average calf mortality was lower than or
close to the target for individual districts, indicating
that the farmers in fact do not have a goal for reduc-
ing calf mortality. Therefore, the economic opportunity
figures for calf mortality were excluded in calculating
the total economic opportunity for individual regions
(Table 7).
Springer
Trop Anim Health Prod (2006) 38: 131–140 139
From a large government dairy farm, Samad and col-
leagues (2001) reported a 9.2% mortality of calves up to
6 months old. However, the management of this farm
was different from that of small private dairy farms
we studied. Earlier, Rao and Nagarcenkar (1980) re-
ported 7.9% death of calves within 6 months after birth
in India. In Bangladesh, calves are regularly fed with
colostrum ad libitum. The colostrum provides essen-
tial antibodies that help calves develop immunity and
thereby reduce calf mortality (Le Blanc, 1986). How-
ever, poor feed and health management of replacement
heifers and genetic factors–the cattle population in the
present study was either zebu or crossbred between
zebu and Holstein-Friesian—perhaps resulted in the
delayed age at first calving (Table 5). Effective calf
and young stock health care and feed supplementation
programmes are needed to reduce this.
The economic opportunity from the calf production
intervalin thisstudy was low. This isbecause it included
only the value of additional calves that would have been
born from a shorter interval. No attempt was made to
estimate the additional milk yield per annum that could
be expected to result from shortening of the interval be-
tween calvings, as the data available did not allow this.
The economic opportunity is a measure relative to
a target based on the production level of the best 20%
of surveyed farms selected on the basis of individual
best measures of performance. This means, in all areas,
that farmers in the 20th percentile and 50th percentile
ranges will earn more if they can achieve the measures
of indices achieved by the 80th-percentile farmers. This
helps the farmers to take appropriate measures and re-
searchers and policy makers to design correct interven-
tions. The EOS can be used to motivate farmers because
they can see the best way to earn more money and take
example from their neighbours who are more profitable
than they are.
Acknowledgements Grateful acknowledgement is made of fi-
nancial support received from the United State Department of
Agriculture, Washington DC, USA, the Ministry of Science and
Information Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh and the Interna-
tional Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.
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´
Etude visant `a identifier les opportunit´es ´economiques des pe-
tites fermes d’´elevage de vaches laiti`eres dans le Bangladesh
R´esum´e – Les opportunit´es ´economiques identifi´ees pour les
interventions de planification augmentent consid´erablement
l’adh´esion des fermiers `a un programme d’extension. Nous
avons ´etudi´e les opportunit´es d’intervention pour augmenter
le revenu des ´eleveurs de vaches laiti`eres dans quatre r´egions
du Bangladesh, y compris dans les districts de Mymensingh,
de Khulna-Satkhira, de Sirajgonj-Pabna et de Chittagong. Les
donn´ees ont ´et´e recueillies de 1440 fermes laiti`eres lors d’une
visite d’une journ´ee et elles ont ´et´er´esum´ees comme ´etant la
diff´erence entre les cibles de gestion et les indices de gestion
calcul´es pour chaque troupeau. Le nombre moyen de vaches
allaitantes, le coˆut de l’alimentation `a titre de pourcentage du
revenu d´eriv´e du lait, le lait vendu `a titre de pourcentage du lait
produit, les vaches allaitantes `a titre de pourcentage des vaches
adultes et les vaches allaitantes `a titre de pourcentage du b´etail
total ont vari´e de 1.5 `a 3.4, de 52.5 `a 92.1%, de 78.7 `a 92.6%, de
81.9 `a 86.7% et de 34.3 `a 37.7% respectivement. L’ˆage moyen
au premier vˆelage, l’intervalle de production des veaux, la dur´ee
de l’allaitement et la production de lait ont ´et´e de 35.0 `a 44.3
mois, de 14.0 `a 17.6 mois, de 249 `a 286 jours et de 3.5 `a 7.2 litres
respectivement, en fonction de la localit´e. Le coˆut moyen de la
production de 100 litres de lait a ´et´e de 18.9 `a 35.1 dollars US.
Le coˆut de la production a augment´e lorsque la production de lait
par vache avait diminu´
e(r
2
= 0.43–0.55). On pourrait s’attendre
`a ce que les am´eliorations de la gestion orient´ees vers une aug-
mentation de la production moyenne de lait par vache par jour,
une augmentation de la dur´ee de l’allaitement, une diminution de
l’ˆage jusqu’au premier vˆelage et une diminution de l’intervalle
de production de veaux produise une augmentation du revenu
moyen jusqu’`a une plage de 676.3 `a 1730.6 dollars US en fonc-
tion de la zone de production du lait.
Estuio para identificar las oportunidades econ´omicas de las
granjas lecheras de peque˜nos productores en Bangladesh
Resumen – El identificar las oportunidades econ´omicas para
planificar intervenciones incrementa en gran manera la sum-
isi´on de los granjeros al programa de ampliaci´on. Investig-
amos las diferentes oportunidades de intervenci´on para incre-
mentar el ingreso de los granjeros lecheros en cuatro ´areas de
Bangladesh, incluyendo los distritos de Mymensingh, Khulna-
Satkhira, Sirajgonj-Pabna y Chittagong. Los datos fueron recopi-
lados a partir de 1.440 granjas lecheras, en visita de un d´ıa, y re-
sumidos como la diferencia entre los objetivos de la gesti´on y los
´ındices de gesti´on calculados de cada reba˜no. El n´umero prome-
dio de vacas en orde˜no, el coste alimenticio expresado como
porcentaje de ingreso proveniente de la leche, la leche vendida
como porcentaje de la producida, las vacas en orde˜no como por-
centaje de vacas maduras, y las vacas en orde˜no como porcentaje
del ganado total variaba de 1.5 a 3.4, 52.5 a 92.1%, 78.7 a 92.6%,
81.9 a 86.7% y 34.3 a 37.7%, respectivamente. La edad media
en el primer parto, el intervalo entre partos o intervalo de pro-
ducci´on de becerros, la longitud de la lactaci´on y la producci´on
de leche fueron de 35.0 a 44.3 meses, 14.0 a 17.6 meses, 249 a
286 d´ıas y 3.5 a 7.2 litros, respectivamente, dependiendo de la
localidad. El coste medio por producir 100 litros de leche fue de
18.9 a 35.1$ de EE.UU. El coste de la producci´on incrementaba
cuando decrec´ıa la producci´on de leche diaria por vaca (r
2
=
0.43–0.55). Las mejoras en la gesti´on destinadas a aumentar la
producci´on de leche media por vaca y por d´ıa, incrementar el pe-
riodo de lactaci´on, disminuir la edad en el primer alumbramiento
y disminuir el intervalo entre partos, esperaba producir un incre-
mento del ingreso medio del orden de 676.3 a 1.730.6 $ EE.UU.
dependiendo de la zona de producci´on de leche.
Springer