Present situation and structural characteristics of farms which are members of Cattle Breeders Association of central district of Igdır province

This research was conducted to examine the structure and current situation of agricultural enterprises from Cattle Breeders Association of Igdir Province (CBAIP). With this purpose, 164 member farms from 26 villages and 5 neighborhoods were chosen via simple random sampling and data were gathered by face-to-face survey. The relationship between categorical variable pairs was tested by statistics of Chi-square and Likelihood Ratio Chi-square (G) and given in percentages. Smallholders were younger than 50 years old, had more than ten years of farming experience and a school degree in percentages of 54.3%, 79.3% and 93.3%, respectively. The land assets of farms of less than 50 roods, more than 50 roods, dry land and irrigated land were 56.1%, 43.9%, 14.6%, 86.4%, respectively. Forage cultivation and silage production were 75.6% and 70.1% respectively. 15.9% of the farms had less than 10 cattle and 84.1% more than 10. While Foot-and-mouth disease and Foot-and-mouth disease + Mastitis were detected 50.6% and 22% respectively, 4.9% were disease-free. 74,4 % of smallholders provided mating for heifers at 15-18 months old; however, 9.1% considered body weight and 16.5% declared no criteria for mating. 50.6 % of cows were mated during the first heat while 49.4 % were mated 45 days later. 61.5% of calves were weaned at 3-4 months while 39.5% were weaned after 5 months. Barns were built with briquette, stone and other building materials in percentages of 45.0%, 36% and 19.0% respectively. Consequently, farmholders should be informed about registration, animal breeding, increasing productivity, marketing and organization.