Opportunities for Modernization of Dairy Farms in the Cattle Production

The purpose of the paper is to identify the opportunities for modernization and restructuring of dairy cow farms. In the national livestock, the dairy cow production is one of the main directions in the cattle keeping, taking into account that 97% of the cattle herd is milk oriented. Regarding the determined quota for Bulgaria, as a commitment in the EU accession from 979 000 tons cow milk, the available number of the cow herd from 350 000 heads currently arduously will be retained. However, it does not mean that easily and flaccidly must be destroyed 150-200 000 cows, which nowadays are reared in small households, do not meet and comply the requirements of Regulation № 853/2004 of European Commission or of the Order № 30/2001 of EC concerning "veterinary, sanitary and hygienic requirements for raw milk production, establishment and work of milk-processing establishments, production and delivery with thermo-processed milk and dairy products". The farms that meet the above-mentioned requirements shown in the EC documents, according to the official statistical departments are merely 1 562, yielding 246 242 t cow milk, which accounts for 20% of the total production of such milk. If this number of met EU standard farms remains solely, the country will not obviously fulfil the quota and may not provide enough milk input to the milk-processing plants. Therefore, it is very urgent through the derogation, expiring in the end of 2009, the process of modernization of even a part of farms to be speeded up in order to be lifted up the production of qualitative milk input. Abreast with those measures, alternatives of dairy cattle should be sought. Such opportunity is the development of meat cattle, which apart as an alternative should be views and as a necessity, taking in mind the state of the meat production in the country. In this relation, several issues arise up that must be solved in order to avoid the blunders and faults occurred in the dairy cattle production. These faults that should be considered concern the following: what to be farm size, where and how to keep the animals between the three options (plains, or in the hilly and mountainous regions), what to be the breeds in order to achieve higher intensity thus higher efficiency of the production. Furthermore but not at the last importance, in order to be effective this production, prominent role is reposed to the State policy.