Restiyana Agustine et al./Animal Production. 25 (1): 40-50, Maret 2023 Accredited by Kemendikbudristek Dirjendiktiristek No 225/E/KPT/2022. E-ISSN 2541-5875 40 Factors Determining Smallholder Farmers to Upscale their Cattle Business Restiyana Agustine 1 , Mujtahidah Anggriani Ummul Muzayyanah 2 *, Ahmad Romadhoni Surya Putra 2 and Endang Baliarti 3 1 Doctoral Program of Animal Science, Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2 Department of Livestock Socio-Economics, Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 3 Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia *Corresponding author email: m_anggriani_um@ugm.ac.id Abstract. The maintenance of beef cattle in Indonesia is mainly carried out by smallholder farmers, so to meet national demand, beef cattle population needs to increase. While the government-initiated programs to increase e cattle population are many, studies to analyze smallholder farmers’ interest to improve their cattle size remain limited. This study aims to analyze factors influencing the interests of smallholder farmers in improving their beef cattle business. The variables were farmers’ age, gender, education level, family size, land ownership, beef cattle ownership, monthly income level, and cattle breed. The potential obstacles farmers faced to increase their beef cattle business were investigated. Conducted in Blora, Grobogan, Kebumen, Klaten, and Rembang Regencies, Central Java Province, this study purposively selected 287 beef cattle farmers aged 15-24 years as study respondents. The collected data were then subjected to binary logistic regression analysis using Stata 16. The findings showed that farmers’ motivation to increase the population of cattle they raised was influenced by their age and monthly income. The older the farmers, the less probable they were interested in improving their business. Farmers earning >IDR 1,000,000.00-3,000,000.00 per month showed probability of interest in increasing their business by growing beef cattle population. Keywords: beef cattle, binary options, farmers’ welfare, rural development Abstrak. Pemeliharaan sapi potong di Indonesia mayoritas dilakukan oleh peternak rakyat. Saat ini, populasi sapi potong Indonesia belum mampu memenuhi kebutuhan nasional. Pemerintah hingga saat ini membuat program peningkatan populasi sapi, namun belum ada kajian yang menganalisis sejauh mana minat peternak rakyat untuk meningkatkan jumlah sapi yang dipeliharanya. Sehingga, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis faktor- faktor yang mempengaruhi minat peternak rakyat untuk meningkatkan sapi yang dipeliharanya. Adapun peubah yang digunakan, antara lain usia peternak, gender, tingkat pendidikan, jumlah anggota keluarga, luas lahan yang dimiliki, kepemilikan ternak sapi potong, tingkat pendapatan per bulan, dan bangsa sapi yang dipelihara saat ini. Selain itu, studi ini akan mengkaji kendala yang mungkin dihadapi oleh peternak dalam usaha untuk meningkatkan skala usahanya. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Kabupaten Blora, Grobogan, Kebumen, Klaten, dan Rembang, Provinsi Jawa Tengah. Penelitian ini melibatkan 287 peternak sebagai responden. Pengambilan sampel menggunakan purposive sampling dengan kriteria responden adalah peternak sapi potong yang minimal telah memasuki usia muda dan produktif (15-24 tahun). Data yang telah didapat selanjutnya dianalisis menggunakan regresi logistik biner menggunakan software Stata 16. Hasil penelitian menyebutkan bahwa usia peternak dan pendapatan per bulan menjadi faktor yang berpengaruh terhadap keinginan peternak untuk menambah populasi sapi yang dipelihara. Semakin tua usia peternak maka probabilitas minat untuk meningkatkan usaha akan semakin berkurang. Peternak dengan pendapatan > Rp 1.000.000,00 hinga Rp 3.000.000,00 per bulan memiliki probabilitas minat untuk meningkatkan usaha dengan menambah populasi sapi potong. Kata kunci: kesejahteraan peternak, logistik biner, pengembangan pedesaan, sapi potong Introduction Raising beef cattle has been a livelihood for rural communities in Indonesia for many years (Widi, 2015). The beef cattle business in Indonesia is 90% managed by smallholder farmers, of which 6.5 million farmers live in rural areas (Agus and Widi, 2018; Mayulu et al., 2010). Smallholder farmers in Java usually own and manage 2 to 4 head of beef cattle and integrate their livestock with crop business (Widi, 2015). Smallholder farmers account for 65-70% of domestic beef production (Asikin et al., 2020; Setianto et al., 2014). For them, cattle serve as a source of income, an asset, an indicator of one’s