Milk is used as fresh and also in different forms by-product like as cheese, butter, yogurt etc. The demand for milk is increasing in Pakistan due to high population growth (Hussian, Ghafoor & Saboor, 2010).
Dairy cattle are the main source for producing the milk in the Pakistan. This source produces 62% of milk by buffaloes and 34% of milk by cows (Zia et al., 2011). The annual milk production from cows increased 7.46 to 9.40 million tonnes and milk production from buffaloes increased 14.96 to 21.33 million tonnes during 1996-2006 (Zia et al., 2011). Globally, Pakistan is the 2nd largest buffalo milk producing country (Hussian et al., 2010). The milk production is increased by 36 percent from last ten years (Zia et al., 2011). Almost 80% of milk is produced in rural areas…show more content… Breeds or genetics potential
Pakistan has breeds with the low genetic potential bull (AGRIHUNT, 2011) but Sahiwal cow and Nili-Ravi buffalo are best with breed’s potential in the country. Such kind of animals is in fewer numbers at smallholder farms and medium farmers that contribute the big share of heads in the milk production. These pure breeds are declining in Pakistan day by day due to the insufficient breed improvement system (AGRIHUNT, 2011). Sufficient dairy farming production and relevance of a specific breed have a positive impact on the economy of the dairy farming system (Khan et al., 2013).
Peri-urban dairy farms are located around the all big cities such as Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Karachi, and Gujrat in the country. For example of cattle colony (Karachi) which consist of 250,000 milk animals (Afzal, & Naqvi, 2004). Peri-urban dairying is gaining popularity but the subsistence farming is decreasing in Pakistan. However, high population growth is also challenging for dairy farming to meet the milk demand of the country but unfortunately, grazing land, rangeland, and crop production areas are decreasing (Khan et al.,