The objective of this study was to characterize small and medium-sized dairy
producers in Araguaína, Aragominas, Piraquê, Santa Fé do Araguaia, Wanderlândia
and Xambioá municipalities, through the socioeconomic survey of farmers and their
properties, zootechnical indexes, management and reproductive, sanitary and food
management. Fifty - one farmers were interviewed, all participating in the Growing in
the Field - Pecuária Norte extension project, developed by SEBRAE, a unit in
Araguaína. Data collection was performed from July to November 2017, through a
direct survey, using a standard questionnaire previously prepared for this purpose, the
set of data obtained were processed in the program Microsoft Excel, which was
calculated on the average of the characteristics studied. Data analysis was performed
through descriptive statistics and discussed by region analyzed and the average of the
participants, being the heterogeneity of the results within the regions, the determining
factor for the choice. According to the information gathered in the present study, the
milk producers were classified between middle and senior age, presenting a relatively
good level of education, considering that the majority were self-declared literate, or,
with full secondary education, and region C stood out for such a category. Producers
were still considered as long-lived in the activity, having only 5.88% with less than 1
year of experience, there is also an expressive number of settled producers, in which,
among the municipalities studied, Aragominas is more representative in this respect.
The efficiency of land use for dairy farming was considered low, so that farmers used
up to 50% of their property, but did not exceed production of 75 L / day. Dairy farming
was considered the main income-generating activity of the farms assisted by the
program, in which zootechnical control was the most adopted among the interviewees.
Manual milking, performed once a day and with the presence of the calf on foot, was
considered the most usual of the interviewees. Regarding dry food management,
rainfed pasture with or without voluminous supplementation was the most used, and
forage cane was the main complementary source. The dairy herds were considered to
be poorly structured due to the low representation of dairy cows in the herd, but with
an individual production higher than the national average in some regions, however,
far from ideal. It is worth mentioning that the producers included in the program are
efficient in the production of milk, however, as in every activity, there are the
bottlenecks that need and must be improved, thus, placements need to be taken so
that the productive and economic indexes of the properties served are improved,
resulting in the maximization of the activity in question.
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