A research on the present situation and potential improvement of dairy cattle farming in Izmir province

The study was conducted to determine both the present situation of dairy cattle farms in Izmir and breeding, feeding habits of dairy cattle in these dairy farms. The research material is composed of data for the years 2010-2013 obtained through series of surveys carried out in 464 dairy cattle farms in Izmir province and districts. In this study that carried out research studies using the sampling methods and conducted survey in dairy farms of İzmir, it was seperated to four groups that cattle assets of dairy farms. First group of dairy farms have 1 to 15 heads, second group have 16 to 50 heads, third group have 51 to 100 heads and fourth group have over 101 heads. It was included that 11,2 % of the farms had 1-15 heads, 47,8 % had 16-50 heads, 24,9 % had 51-100 heads and 16,1 % had over 101 or more heads of cattle. The average number of cattle per farm was 66,3 heads whereas the average number of dairy cows was found to be 24 heads. The amount of concentrate given to dairy cows on a daily basis was 1-13 kg per head and the daily milk yield of per cow was 17,3 liters. Daily milk production obtained from the cows on these farms was 3-15 liters in 37,5 %, 16-25 liters in 57,5 % , 6-30 liters in 4,3 % and over 31 liters in 0,6 %. It was observed that the price of milk, delivered to different buyers, did not change according to quality of milk in 80,8 % of the dairy farms. 36,6 % of the farms sell their milk to milk collectors, 25,4 % to local dairies, 22,2 % to cooperatives and 13,4 to milk factory, whereas 2,4 % of the farms market their milk product themselves. It was found that the average selling price for milk in farms was 0,82 TL and the average fodder price paid by the farmers was 0,80 TL/kg. Consequently, the milk-fodder parity was calculated as 1,03. It was seen that farmers mostly planted corn silage, wheat, wetch, barley, clover, oat, ryegrass, turnip respectively, where carried out research studies using the sampling method and conducted questionnaires. As for the feed plantations on these farms, 40,5 % was allocated to corn silage, 15,7 % to wheat, 11,4 % to wetch, % 6 to barley, 5,7 % to clover, 5,1 % to oat, 3,6 % to ryegrass, 3,3 % to turnip. The following feeds were used alternately during the feeding, not at the same time. An investigation of the organization of the dairy farms has revealed that 98,5 % of the farms are registered members of the Cattle Breeders Association of Izmir. It has been determined that 98,1 % of the farms use artificial insemination, 0,6 % used natural service and 1,3 % used both breeding techniques during mating periods. Major problems suffered by farms include high feed costs (27,9 %), low milk prices (23,8 %) and high input costs such as electricity, diesel oil, water etc. (14,8 %). Keywords: Dairy cattle, dairy cattle farms milk production, artificial insemination, Izmir.