Appropriate Management of Dairy Farm Members for Dairy Farmers According to the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy Chaiyaphum Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research paper were 1) to study the management of dairy farm members; 2) to study the problems and obstacles in the management of dairy farm members for dairy farmers according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy; and 3) to find an appropriate approach to the management of dairy farm members for dairy farmers according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. It was a mixed methods research. A sample group was collected from 145 members of a dairy farm as well as an in-depth interview with 10 executives from related agencies. The research instrument was a checklist questionnaire. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The results of the research found that 1) in overall management, the farm standard components were at a high level in all aspects (  = 4.30, S.D. = 0.31). When considering each aspect, dairy cattle feed was at the highest level ( =5.05, S.D.=0.45), followed by farm management at a high level ( = 4.17, S.D.=0.28), milk production and farm data recording at a high level ( = 4.15, S.D.=0.28), animal health and farm environment at a high level ( = 4.09, S.D.=0.23) and location of the dairy farm, water resources and animal welfare at a high level ( = 4.09, S.D.=0.23) with the lowest average, respectively; 2) problems and obstacles were 2.1) in terms of policies, the government sector had a lack of budget, integration, and farm standards, 2.2) on the elements of farm standards, health, data recording and the location of the dairy farm, water resources and animal welfare were still inadequate; and 3) management approaches were to optimize the size of  farm, comply with benchmarks and develop knowledge according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy.