Characterization of cattle production systems in the municipality of Platón Sánchez, Veracruz, Mexico

Abstract

The research was conducted in order to characterize the cattle production system in the municipality of Platón Sánchez, Veracruz, Mexico. The study was carried out in the second half of 2015 under a qualitative approach in which criteria were established to determine the essential characteristics of the cattle production systems of the municipality; for that purpose, a group of cattle producers registered in the cattle census (SAGARPA) was sampled, and as an associated variable the number of heads of cattle with each producer was considered; The producers were stratified according to the number of animals and the cattle ranchers interviewed were randomly selected. It was found that more than 70% of the owners of livestock companies are over the age of 51 and 57% of them have at least undergraduate studies. Regarding the size of the production units, 48% have areas under 60 hectares and only 12% exceed 161 hectares. 45% of the farms are dedicated to milk production using extensive grazing as the main method of grazing. The most used forage species are, first, with 30% the star grass of Africa; secondly the brizanta grass and the rest in diverse species fodder own of the region. The technological level of the system is low, so it is necessary to implement training programs in areas of nutrition, reproduction, forage, mainly.