AN APPROACH TO DEVELOP THE CATTLE RAISING SYSTEM OF BAN HANG HONG FATTENING COMMUNITY ENTERPRISES, THAT CHOENG CHUM SUBDISTRICT, MUEANG DISTRICT, SAKON NAKHON PROVINCE

Abstract

The objective of this research is to study the challenges and to explore suitable approaches for enhancing beef cattle rearing community enterprise system of the Home Hak Hang Hong beef cattle rearing in That Choeng Chum sub-district. The research findings as follows:

The problems in developing a community-based beef cattle rearing enterprise are identified in three areas: (1) Production: Farmers need to learn and develop their experience in beef cattle rearing, breed selection, feeding, healthcare, vaccination and disease treatment. The most problem is the cost on beef cattle rearing, followed by healthcare and disease prevention, food source issues, and breed selection and breeding issues respectively. (2) Marketing: Problems arise in local market pricing due to pressure from local traders. Marketing problem of selling beef cattle at a fair price as the highest concern. (3) Management: Since the Home Hak Hang Hong community enterprise was established only two years ago and has a few members thus management problems have not been encountered.

The way to develop a suitable beef cattle rearing system within the community enterprise included: (1) Production: It is crucial to source high-quality roughage, learn how to produce feed, have experienced mentors for newcomers, conduct visits to share knowledge and techniques in beef cattle rearing, utilize livestock manure for composting and both personal use and income generation, and leverage local indigenous knowledge to ensure the good health of cattle. (2) Marketing: Establish direct connections with higher-level markets, connect with the provincial community enterprise network (Tawapi), and establish standardized GFM-compliant beef cattle, collect and distribute high-quality beef cattle to members, promote rearing of breeding stock through loans from BAAC and communicate to instill consumer confidence in production standards. (3) Management: Focus on good governance, continuous learning and knowledge exchange among members by using participatory action research, develop information and financial systems, training venues and demonstrate roughage feed production for future learning and improvement.

The recommendations for the development as follow, (1) Production: The Home Hak Hang Hong community enterprise should collaborate more with academic institutions such as universities or the Department of Livestock Development to enhance the quality of knowledge in beef cattle rearing and promote ongoing development. (2) Marketing: place greater emphasis on communication through social media to increase consumer awareness. (3) Management: study and learn from the success stories of other community enterprises in managing their operations. Apply these lessons and connect with local resources by incorporating community enterprise development plans into the community master plan, local government organization plans, and related agencies.