What are the Characteristics of Commercial Dairy Farming?

i. An activity of the temperate latitude based on the utilisation of permanent pastures.

ii. A most advanced efficient and capital-intensive type of farming.

iii. The business of keeping animals is labour intensive and offers great scope for intensive employment of labour than any other agricultural systems.

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iv. The productivity is very high in dairy farming regions..

v. High degree of commercialisation is the rule in all regions of dairy farming. A scientifically run dairy farm yields high returns. A greater emphasis is placed on the improvement of herds.

vi. Dairy farms produce milk and milk related products. Some dairy farms specialise in products other than milk.

vii. Dairy farmers usually do not sell their products directly to consumers. Instead, they generally sell milk to wholesalers, who distribute it in turn to retailers. Retailers then sell milk to consumers in shops or at home.

Distribution

i. Dairy farming accounts for the most farm acreage in the northeastern United States and northwestern Europe.

ii. In northwestern Europe, dairy farms occupy coastal and low-lying meadowlands of abundant precipitation, warm summers, and cool and cold winters (50° to 60°N latitudes).

iii. Other regions of dairy farming are the eastern states of the southeastern part of Australia and the North Island of New Zealand (30° to 40°S latitudes).

iv. Besides, there are numerous minor dairy regions in the western United States, eastern Argentina, middle Chile, the Republic of South Africa, eastern Japan and western Russia.