Application of the technico-economic analysis for characterizing, making diagnoses and improving pastoral dairy goat systems in Andalusia (Spain)

Andalusia is the second goat milk-producing region in Europe and therefore pastoral goat systems are important. In order to maintain these types of systems it is necessary to know precisely how they work and what actions can be taken to improve them. In this study the authors have set out the following objectives: (i) to characterize and analyze the viability of pastoral dairy goat systems in Andalusia, (ii) to use the results of this characterization and analysis to suggest improvements to these systems and (iii) to evaluate the suitability of the FAO-CIHEAM set of indicators for dairy goat systems linked to grazing. After carrying out a multivariate analysis using data collected in 18 farms during 2006, results point to 69.3% of variance, which is explained by two principal components (PC). The first includes Number of goats present, Milk yield per goat per year, Proportion of milk produced in autumn, Concentrate consumed per goat per year and Total labor per 100 goats. The second has Total area per goat, Scrubland area per goat and Forage consumed per goat per year. Based on these two principal components, farms have been classified into three groups, each of them using different strategies to maintain economic viability. The FAO-CIHEAM set of indicators for sheep and goat production systems is valid when analyzing pastoral dairy goat systems in Andalusia. However, some indicators need to be adjusted, particularly those pertaining to certain technical and economic aspects of grazing areas and seasonal variations. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.