THE STATE IN THE SECTOR OF MILK PRODUCTION IN EUROPEAN UNION AND IN OUR COUNTRY

The paper gives an analysis of the state in milk production from the aspect of total produced quantities of milk and total purchased quantites of milk by the diaries in EU. The number of farms engaged in cattle production has been analysed, along with the farms engaged in milk production. Trend in development of cattle breeding in EU is going in the direction of decreasing the number of farms raising the breeding stocks of dairy cows and to the simultaneous increase in the number of cows per farm for milk production with constant increase of the quantity of milk produced per cow. In 2008 the number of cows per farm in EU27 was on average 9.8 cows, in EU25 on average 16.6 cows, with great variation among member countries observed. Average milk yield in total cow population in 2008 in EU15 was 6646 kg, in EU25: 6357 kg and in EU27: 6133kg. In Serbia the average milk yield in registered cows of Simmental breed is about 4500 kg, and in Holstein Friesian breed around 8700 kg. It is important to emphasize that in Serbia there is a far less number of cows under controlled milk yield (around 5.5% Simmental cows in total number), and that there is a decline observed in the number of cattle in Serbia in the last decade per average rate of 2-3 % annualy.