Following the Chinese Central Government's recognition of the health benefits of consuming milk (particularly in the milk for school childrens' programme) and the importance of the overall dairy industry, the national herd has nearly doubled in number since 2002 to 12 million head and is anticipated to grow even further to a projected 15 millionhead by 2015.
In order to improve productivity, the Chinese government have set a number of goals and has stated a preference for Holstein-Friesian cattle. These goals have been quantified through various means, including the 'Program on Nutrition of Chinese Residents', that includes increasing per capita demand for raw milk to 30 kg by 2015, increasing the production of raw milk to 45 million tonnes by 2015 and increasing the dairy cattle inventory to 15 million head by 2015, from the current herd size of 12 million.
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| CCL tagged Heifer, Tarraville, September 2006, AE758. | CCL Heifers, Tarraville, September 2006. |
