Economical and technical performance of an intensive dairy cattle barn in a semi-arid zone in Morocco

• Published in: Agricultures (Montrouge) Vol. 10; no. 1
• Main Authors: Srairi, M.T. (Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan 2, Rabat (Maroc). Departement des Productions Animales), El Khattabi, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: 01.01.2001
• Subjects: ALIMENT CONCENTRE POUR ANIMAUX; ALIMENTACION DE LOS ANIMALES; ALIMENTATION DES ANIMAUX; ANALISIS ECONOMICO; ANALYSE ECONOMIQUE; ANIMAL FEEDING; CONCENTRATES; COSTOS DE PRODUCCION; COUT DE PRODUCTION; CRIANZA INTENSIVA; CULTIVO DE TEMPORAL; CULTURE PLUVIALE; DAIRY COWS; ECONOMIC ANALYSIS; ELEVAGE INTENSIF; FARM INCOME; FOURRAGE; INTENSIVE HUSBANDRY; MAROC; MARRUECOS; MILK PRODUCTION; MOROCCO; PIENSOS CONCENTRADOS; PRODUCCION LECHERA; PRODUCTION COSTS; PRODUCTION LAITIERE; RAINFED FARMING; RENTA DE LA EXPLOTACION; REVENU DE L'EXPLOITATION; SEMIARID ZONES; VACAS LECHERAS; VACHE LAITIERE; ZONA SEMIARIDA; ZONE SEMI ARIDE
• ISSN: 1166-7699

The economic profitability and the technical performance of an intensive dairy cattle barn with 70 Holstein cows and 100 ha of land in a rainfed agricultural zone of Morocco (central region of Ben Slimane) has been studied from September 1994 to August 1997. Results showed that annual breeding practices are heavily affected by weather changes, especially rainfall. In this semi-arid zone (average annual rainfall of 396.6 mm), each drought has huge consequences on the availability of forage, thus influencing the expected economic results. The 1994/1995 drought of the century (only 147.2 mm over the year), induced massive use of concentrates and high rates of culling in order to maintain a nucleus of productive cows. In such a situation, the gross margin per kg of milk decreased to 0.33 Moroccan Dirham (Dh). Whenever rainfall is adequate, as illustrated by the 1995/1996 campaign (515.6 mm), forage production is possible, and even if concentrates are still used massively, economic profitability is much higher (0.79 Dh per kg of milk). Average milk production per cow per year was about 4,915.6 +/- 403.1 kg. This result is quite steady from year to year, as the stockbreeder adopts strategies to cope with drought, such as buying concentrates or culling cows. Milk yields per cow are satisfactory, as lower production has been recorded in suburban systems with less use of concentrates. Reproduction performance is fairly good, with an interval between calving of 404.9 +/- 88.7 days. However, frequent problems of heat delay services after calving were noticed, and some effort should be made in this direction. No significant differences were found between artificial insemination and natural mating. This result is contrary to the expectations of the stockbreeder who still believes that inseminators lack experience but it confirms previous observations concerning delays of insemination. The annual average calf mortality rate is high (9.6 %) and this trend certainly affects the economic profitability of the farm. It was shown that milk reaches 56 % of total sales, whereas calves, heifers and culled cows represent 37 %. This situation does not correspond to intensive dairy cattle production, but is very representative of rainfed agricultural zones, as stockbreeders prefer to diversify their sources of income in order to be less affected by climatic hazards. Feed is the most important production cost (72.9 % of total expenses) due to the amount of concentrates in total feed consumption, particularly during drought periods. All together, the results show the economic vulnerability of dairy production to climatic hazards and thus raise questions about dairy production sustainability in non-irrigated areas of Morocco