Search

Copyright of Revista Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria is the property of Agrosavia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: A country farm has purposes different from a company; however, since the former pursues an economic goal, knowing the cattle management indicators could be useful. Aim. To determine the existence of strategic management elements on a dual-purpose cattle farm in southwestern Holguin province. Materials and Methods: A case study was conducted on a cattle farm with a dual-purpose zootechnical flow. Organizational management was characterized through a check list by means of a balanced scorecard for cattle raising. Results: The work system was divided into purposes. The dairy herd had a strategic role, whereas the growing-fattening herd has a tactical role. The increase of return rate by cattle head was chosen according to the vision and strategy. The financial perspective was based on the rate of conception, which is not financial. For customer perspective, the percentage of cattle that qualifies for a particular category, with the first category covering 80% of the annual animal sale, was chosen. In the internal process perspective, unit cost was used, which in face of environmental constraints requires innovating management. The formation and growth perspective comprised the rate of conception, which is unrelated to the skills of the work teams. Conclusions: The farm has practical underlying strategic management elements, and shows no distinct farmer rationality, which help reflect on institutional innovation and social learning in this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To characterize the beef production in the entrepreneurial sector in Southwest Holguín, from a case study. Materials and Methods: Two workshops were conducted with the workers of the Entrepreneurial Basic Unit Carlos Sosa Ballester, from the Calixto García municipality, in Holguín, in order to identify, through brainstorming, the problems faced by beef production and their possible solutions. The restrictions were grouped according to the experts' criterion in the evaluation areas method, tools, human resources and productive environment. The percentage represented by each evaluation area with regards to the fundamental problem, from the weight of its contribution, was calculated. Results: The prevailing criteria about the restrictions of state cattle fattening place, first, the productive environment (27,2%) and are focused on the problem with the zootechnical flow, which does not supply the farm with animals. In order of importance, it is followed by the restrictions that are related to the application of tools (26,4%). With regards to the method (24,4%), the deficient feeding of herds and the bad planning of processes constitute the two restrictions found in the process. They refer, finally, to the ones linked with human resources, concerning the fluctuation of labor force, which represented 22% of the limitations. Conclusions: Beef production of the entrepreneurial sector in southwest Holguín is limited by the zootechnical flow, herd feeding, process planning and employee retention, which are determinant to face the adverse factors of the ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To characterize cattle production of the farmer sector in southwest Holguín, Cuba Materials and Methods: A case study of the Cooperative of Credits and Services Ignacio Agramonte y Loynaz, Calixto García municipality, was conducted. For such purpose, two workshops were carried out, where through the elaboration of the cause-effect diagrams and Pareto's diagram, as well as the evaluation of the acceptance degree, the problems and their possible solutions were identified. The limitations were grouped according to the researchers' criterion in the evaluation areas, referred to the work methods, tools used and link with the environment. In addition, the percentage represented by each evaluation area with regards to the occurrence of the fundamental problem was calculated, from the weight of its contribution. Results: Cattle husbandry in southwest Holguin shows as fundamental problem the deterioration of productive indicators. Its limitations are related, first, to the utilization of tools (35,0%). In order of importance, it is followed by the ones concerning the environment (33,0%); while the use of methods had lower representation (32,0%). Problem selection was statistically validated for the deficit of medicines, lack of wire, insufficient area and lack of water, with Kendall's concordance coefficients W higher than 0,5. The inadequate genotypes had a low concordance coefficient, with high significance (p < 0,01). Conclusions: The main problems of the farmer sector in the cattle husbandry activity in southwest Holguín are subjective. They are related to the lack of methods and tools to improve the productive results of the farms, even when the environment is little favorable for animal production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]