Características Socioeconómicas De Las Unidades De Producción Caprinas En El Municipio De Ixtacamaxtitlan, Puebla

The main objective of this study was to characterize the socioeconomic characteristics of goat production units in the municipality of Ixtacamaxtitlán, Puebla, a municipality located in the northern part of the state of Puebla. The project began with the selection of four communities belonging to the municipality of San Francisco Ixtacamaxtitlán: Ejido Mexcaltepec, Calpanería Atezquilla, El Mirador, and Ixtacamaxtitlán; these communities have populations of no more than 1,600 inhabitants. Sixteen family-type goat production units (UPCF) were surveyed, recording their experience as goat producers, age, land tenure, rangeland and production system used, herd management, zootechnical purpose, feeding, reproduction, preventive medicine, health and marketing of their goats. Regarding the results: the educational level of the 16 goat producers was found to be as follows: 31% had completed primary school, 50% had completed secondary school, and 19% had completed high school. Land ownership consisted of small plots of land, including ejidos (communal landholdings) and small private properties. Of the 855 goats comprising the 16 herds studied, 85% are females (727), of which 350 began their first breeding at an average age of 11 months across the entire active population. These goats were sold for meat, using a fattening management system, and were marketed as marinated barbecue (mixiote) at a price of 29.2 USD/kg