Structural Characteristics of the Japanese Black Calf Raising in the Handa Central Area of Kyushu

The objective of this study is to analyze the structural characteristics of the Japanese Black Calf raising in the Handa Central Area of Kyushu. A large scale agricultural development project is now progressed in the area that covers 4 districts such as Shonai,Yufuin,Kokonoe and Kusu in Oita Prefecture. In this study, special attention has been focused on, (1) production cost and feed utilization, (2) profitability and productivity and (3) comparative aspects with the Japanese Brown Calf raising of the Aso district in Kumamoto Pref. The data used in this study were farm records of the Kusu and the Aso districts for the period 1976-80 from the Survey on Production Cost of Japanese Calves conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFFJ). The results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1. Almost 94 percent of beef cattle producers in 1980 followed the cow-calf system of cattle raising. But most of cow-calf operations were small scale and tota1 number of cows has decreased since recently. 2. Cow-calf operaters tended to use a shorter raising period than operators in other regions up to 1 month or shorter. Calf price per kilogram was higher than Japanese Brown Calf but lower than national average level. 3. About 48 percent of the production cost per cow has been accounted for by family labor cost and it was higher than any other region. This was caused by large labor use for feed processing. 4. On feed utilization, cow-calf operators preferred to purchase crops, rice bran and wheat bran rather than commercial mixed feed. This feeding system was contrastive to other regions which largely depended on commercial mixed. The preference for crops,rice bran and wheat bran in this area seemed to be caused by their low prices. But it increased the labor hours after all, since these items were manually mixed or processed by family labor with inefficient implements. 5. In 1980, average income per cow was 148,338 yen which was higher than the Aso district (90,310 yen) and the national average level (147,477 yen). But, labor earning per day was only 2,276 yen which was higher than the Aso district (1, 512 yen) and lower than the national level (3,936 yen). Labor earning per day in this area became small in response to large labor hours, whereas income was in the highest level. 6. Cow-calf raising in this area was found to be characterized by labor intensive and capital saving methods, whereas that in the Aso district was characterized by capital intensive and labor saving methods. In labor productivity, this area was inferior to the Aso district. In order to increase the profitability and the labor productivity, cow-calf operators should make effortsto save labor hours by the scale enlargement. Also for this, enlargement of pasture and the investment of capital in farm machineries and associated implements are necessary.