Impact of farm size on milk quality in the Brazilian dairy industry according to the seasons of the year

ABSTRACT: Milk produced in Brazil has been seen as having poor quality and is associated with a large number of small farms. However, there are few studies demonstrating lower quality of milk of small properties. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the relationship between production scale on dairy farms and milk quality, how it behaviors throughout the year and set goals to improve quality according to each strata. A total of 21,917 analysis of 409 farmers conducted from January 2005 to December 2014 were used. To study the database, the properties were divided according to monthly average daily milk yield: 10 to 100; 100 to 200; 200 to 500; 500 to 1,000; and 1,000 to 5,000L of milk day-1. The data showed that dairy farming is predominantly carried out on small-scale production properties; however, the highest volumes are produced by a small number of producers. Additional data reveals that milk quality can vary because of distinct factors as nutritional condition and feed supply. Quality of the milk produced should be a matter of concern for the entire milk-production chain, because it still has problems such as high total bacterial count, high somatic cell count and low solids.