This paper describes an approach that has been employed for evaluating and increasing the adoption of livestock improvement technologies that is based on the principles of farming systems and participatory research. The approach involved four main steps; (1) benchmarking the current farming system; (2) identifying constraints to cattle production and strategies to address them; (3) desktop modelling of the production, labour and financial impacts of selected strategies; and (4) on-farm testing and extension of best-bet strategies. The approach has resulted in: (1) sustained adoption of a package of best-bet technologies by the 30 participating smallholder households with an unambiguous intention to continue these practices into the future; (2) positive production, social and economic impacts; and (3) significant adoption/adaption of the livestock improvement technologies by other households exposed to the practices. A follow-on suite of projects is currently scaling this approach out to other regions in Eastern Indonesia and researching the mechanisms and impacts of technology diffusion from the best-bet households to successive generations of scaleout households. The project is also working closely with local institutions to raise awareness of the approach and to incorporate the associated principles and techniques into their standard operating procedures. This is being supported by a significant investment in local capacity building, both of smallholders and supporting agencies.