Zootechnical profile of the dairy farms in southern Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Minas Gerais State (MG) and especially its southern portion, plays an important role in milk production nationwide. This study characterized the livestock profile in 40 dairy herds in southern MG. Information obtained through interviews was used to construct a database and describe the variability present in the group, highlighting what is typical in this sample in order to reach conclusions. The farms evaluated have a median total area of 110 ha (interquartile range/DI = 223 ha), 82 total cows (DI = 98 animals) with 62 in milk (DI = 80 animals), mean daily milk production of 20 ± 7.4 L/cow and median production of the herd of 1350 L (DI = 1725 L). In most of the farms (60%) replacement animals are reared in semi-intensive systems; twice daily milked is most common (87.5%) using milking machinery with a pipeline 72.5%), and artificial insemination (AI) is practiced (65%). Regarding animal health, a significant proportion of the producers have not adopted a health management protocol including such practices as burying placentas (7.5%) and aborted fetuses (52.6%). These results indicate that there is great heterogeneity in milk production procedures used in southern MG and that most of the milk is supplied by small farms, based on family labor and use of technologies such as AI and mechanical milking.