Naslov
Cattle production prospects in Croatia

Autori
Štoković, Igor

Izvornik
Book of Abstracts "Veterinary Science and Profession"

Vrsta, podvrsta
Ostale vrste radova, ostalo

Godina
2011

Ključne riječi
cattle; milk; beef; Croatia

Sažetak
Cattle production was always the most important part of livestock production in Croatia. Unfortunately, nowadays we are faced with serious problems in that sector. Cattle number is falling (from 1.040.000 in 1975 to 447.000 in 2009). Number of households selling milk is reduced for almost two thirds, from 58.715 in 2003 to 19.902 in 2010 and nowadays is even less than 16.000. Milk production fell from almost one billion liters to a little bit more than 600.000 liters. Croatia was exporter of so called “baby beef” which was and still is appreciated on market. The cattle production sector was based on Simmental breed (in 2001 around 75% to 65% in 2010). Croatian cattle production for decades was based on small units. Even nowadays more than 80% of cows are kept in small holds from 1 to 10 cows per herd. The Worlds mean dairy herd size is around 2-3 cows. For last 20 years cattle production was criticized for too many small production units and lots of efforts was put into enlargement without many thoughts about it. Unfortunately, trends are negative and when looking at number of households selling milk we can for at least some time expect negative trends. New data showed that more and more people are moving to the cities while in the same time rural depopulation is happening. Besides that, people in cities receive larger salaries while people living out of the agriculture are earning less and less money. If we take these facts into account, even less people worldwide will stay with agricultural production. Europe is facing enormous problems with rural depopulation and lots of money is invested in programs of rural development. In western countries milk and beef are not considered as luxury products but every day necessities. Taking into account more and more people earning more money will try to buy milk for less and less not knowing what amount of work is behind one liter of milk. Hardworking people from rural areas will move to cities and there will be not enough people involved in agricultural and cattle sector. So we can expect after a short time of milk prices going down that milk prices will rise. Simultaneously, less cattle is producing more milk which is possible with cattle selection improvement and improvement of production technology. Even a breed composition is shifting from dual purpose breeds, like Simmental, to specialized breeds for milk production like Holstein-Friesian breed. Vets working with cattle are faced with decline in cattle number and loss of farms and have to change their attitude towards the service offered to the cattle owners. They need more specialization and in the same time more depth in one species from various aspects. Specialized breeds need more attention and better herdsman knowledge. Otherwise production will not be economically viable. We are joining EU in year 2013 and we are already faced with quota system which will end in year 2015 that is also why we are facing tremendous challenges in front of us. So now we are facing rural depopulation, social issue of working places lost in agriculture, more dependence on import of agricultural products and devastating impact of huge farms on environment which is very easy to see in some developed EU countries. Taking into account the definition of sustainable livestock production and all of the mentioned above serious efforts should be put into education and technological modernization of production, especially of high quality products with local origin. Dairy sector should shift to small scale dairy herds based on high knowledge – low input technology. This way we could keep more people working in cattle sector which could enlarge number of cows and milk and beef production.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Veterinarska medicina

POVEZANOST RADA