Current situation of beef cattle production on household farms in some districts of Lam Dong province

The objective of this study was to assess the current situation of beef cattle production in households in some districts of Lam Dong province. Ninety household beef cattle farms (HBCFs) were chosen from Cat Tien, Don Duong and Duc Trong districts (10 households/commune and 3 communes/district) to perform the survey using pre-printed questionnaires and direct interviews on a cross-section study model and the Participatory Rural Appraisal method. Results showed that beef cattle husbandry householders have an extensive experience in beef farming with 36.7% having 11 - 15 years of experience (P < 0.01), although their educational levels were low, with 31.1% at the primary level (P < 0.01). There were 7.3 cattle/household in the total number of herd and and a beef cattle group of 4.7 cattle. Most households operated a husbandry scale from 1 - 5 cattle/household comprising 60.00% of the total herd (P < 0.01) and 69.32% of the beef cattle group (P < 0.01). High-yielding breeds dominated the current beef production systems in HBCFs, in which BBB cross-breeds accounted for 57.95% and 76.84% of households and total cattle, respectively; Charolais cross-breed accounted for 25.00 and 12.6%, respectively (P < 0.01). There was a high level (92.22%) of husbandry and management method as tied stall form (P < 0.01). Additionally, 76,14% of HBCFs applied fattening procedure for beef cattle before selling to abattoirs (P < 0.01), but artificial insemination application in HBCFs was just 48.86% (P = 0.763). The average daily gain of the beef herd for whole husbandry and fattening periods reached 580.3 and 696.4 g/day, respectively. Briefly, these results suggest that there are some limitations in beef cattle production on household farms for developing sustainably high-yielding beef cattle farming in Lam Dong. Therefore, there should be more application of scientific advancements to improve the present situation.