The objective of this study was to characterize and to analyze the room for manoeuvre in time in dairy production systems (DPS). Two interviews were conducted in twenty DPS in the Northern region of Paraná, Brazil, with the following objectives: to know the management and practices involving the herd, the land area and the commercialization; and to qualify and evaluate the work organization. In order to build the variables, the repertory grid method was used, and for the typology, the graphic methodology of Bertin adapted to small samples was used. The results showed that the room for manoeuvre in time of the DPS, quantified in hours available per year, varied between the farmers and was related to routine work and seasonal work durations, as well as the autonomy of farmers to perform both works. The routine work was related to the number of cows, but was also explained by the herd management, by the transport equipment for the feed and by the workforce composition. Four types of work organization were identified between sampled DPS, based on room for manoeuvre in time and how they were built. Knowing the room for manoeuvre time and its variables, it is possible to guide the farmers to adjust their dairy production system in order to have more time available for other activities or to develop the dairy production system.

A propriedade agrícola é cada vez mais reconhecida como um objeto de estudo complexo. Isso se torna importante quando nela se intervém para fornecer um conselho de orientação ou uma ajuda à gestão, ou, num quadro mais amplo, no âmbito de um plano de desenvolvimento rural. Nos estabelecimentos leiteiros das frentes pioneiras da Amazônia, cuja diversidade de funcionamento é particularmente marcante, a modelagem da diversidade, graças à construção de tipologias, representa uma etapa importante para a organização do desenvolvimento agrícola. A partir do caso das explorações leiteiras no município de Uruará, na frente pioneira da Transamazônica, foram identificados cincos principais tipos de sistemas de produção de leite e trajetórias desses. A combinação dessas duas tipologias levou a caracterizar as principais dinâmicas possíveis dentro da diversidade dos sistemas leiteiros, representando as principais evoluções entre os tipos de propriedades. Os resultados salientam a importância de fatores socioeconômicos na implementação e desenvolvimento da atividade leiteira. Nesse contexto, as propostas formuladas devem favorecer a integração da produção leiteira, a sua permanência e a melhoria das condições de produção.

The farm is each time more recognized as an object of complex study. This if becomes important when the farm is the object to supply an advice of orientation or an aid to the management, or the scope of a plan of agricultural development. For the dairy farms in agricultural borders of the Amazon, characterized by an important diversity of operation mode, the modeling of the diversity with the elaboration of typologies is an important stage for the organization of the agricultural development. From the case of dairy farms in Uruará municipio, situated on the Transamazonian frontier region, five main types of systems of milk production and theirs trajectories had been identified. Associating these two typologies, it was possible to identify the main dynamics within the diversity of the dairy systems, which represent principal evolutions between groups of farms. The results emphasize the importance of socioeconomics factors for the installation and the development of the dairy production. Inside this context, proposals can be formulated to promote the beginning of the dairy production, its stability and the improvement of the conditions of production.