Net commercial off take at the community (or wider) scale refers to the net sales from that community or region. It focuses on the number of animals being bought and sold and not on animal by-products (like milk or eggs).

The composition of the herd can be indicative of the production objective and the productivity of the herd. A study in Botswana (Behnke 1987) found that commercially oriented herds had fewer oxen (which are prime animals for selling for meat) than herds used primarily for accumulation (whether as insurance or as a cultural priority).  That study found herd composition to be a better indicator of commercialization than net sales because of the frequency of emergency sales when crops failed.

Animal productivity can be assessed as production per animal (e.g., eggs per chicken per month), production density (quantity per unit farm land), or total production (e.g., kg of meat). Production per animal is listed at the “plot” scale. The farm scale is where production density is listed (production per land area). The total production per household is listed at the household scale. To estimate community or landscape scale production (or wider), sampling is an important issue. Moss et al.

Farmer ratings can be used to evaluate a new breed or how a management practice or technology has affected production, even without estimating the actual changes in production. These ratings can be carried out as a participatory exercise where farmers identify the important attributes and rate the alternatives by these attributes. Separating the analysis by type of farmer or by gender may provide useful information about how various groups perceive the alternatives and what attributes they prioritize.