Causes of cows and heifers discarding of family farming ranchers of Jacaré dos Homens- A / Causas de descarte de vacas e novilhas dos pecuaristas da agricultura familiar de Jacaré dos Homens- AL

In family farming, there are still barriers that prevent the producer from making a punctual disposal, we can mention: the lack of zootechnical knowledge; low capital available for replacement of bovine females and maintenance of farms. Thus, the objective of this study was to study and survey the main causes of discarding of dairy cattle females from the family farming herd of Jacaré dos Homens-AL. A quantitative exploratory research was conducted in the rural area of the municipality, applying 40 questionnaires to characterize the dairy producer. The questionnaires contained information related to zootechnical indexes, among which, the cause of discard of dairy cows and heifers, forms of replacement, among other aspects correlated to dairy activity. The main causes of discard reported by the producers were: reproductive problems, present in 37.5% of the properties, drought and food scarcity that prevailed in 27.5% of the cases, mastitis and other causes that include low milk production, advanced age and income increment, affecting 10% each, respectively.