Sheep farming business in Uşak city of Turkey: Economic structure, problems and solutions

Abstract

The current study was conducted to reveal the current states, structural features and primary problems of the sheep raising businesses in the city of Uşak. The study group of the current study is comprised of 429 sheep raising businesses selected through stratified sampling (provinces) and a questionnaire consisted of 112 items was administered to these businesses. Through the items in the questionnaire, data were collected about the general features of the businesses and their owners, the state of grazing lands, mating of sheep, birth, milking, clipping, health protection, marketing of animals and the states of tools and equipments in the businesses. The findings of the study have revealed that 82.2% of the owners of the sheep raising businesses are elementary school graduates, their average time of being involved in the activity of sheep raising is 9.8 years, 90% of their shepherds are from the family members, 23.5% of them practice additional feeding before mating and the most preferred method for mating is free insemination with 89%. Of the owners of the businesses, 81.1% learned sheep raising from their elders; for 54% of them sheep raising is the sole source of income and 25.6% of them are engaged in sheep raising to support their families. The main problems of the sheep raisers were found to be the high cost of feed, the low prices paid for their products, inadequate and poor quality grazing lands and animal diseases. In order to make sheep raising more attractive, the prices of the products should be increased, grazing lands should be improved, the genetic structure of the herd should be enhanced, the amount of land area where feed crops are cultivated should be extended and suitable credit conditions should be provided. On the other hand, they need to be informed about sheep mating, lamb growing, stock, milking hygiene, general sheep feeding practices and marketing.

Economic Assessment of the Productive Parameters in Meat Sheep Production Using Discrete Event and Agent-Based Simulation

“…The low herd health contribution to production costs is a reality in the LAPOC/UFPR sheep production environment, which has satisfactory standards and herd health control. Health protection programmes are sometimes understood as extra costs related to sheep production; however, an increase in lamb deaths can lead to higher losses (Demirhan, 2019). In a study carried out on representative commercial farms with respect to meat lamb production, Raineri et al (2015b) noted the use of anthelmintics as one of the factors that least impacted the production costs of sheep farming, which is in agreement with our findings.…”

“…Raineri et al (2015a), upon analysing the elasticity of meat sheep production costs in a feedlot in Brazil, reported higher contribution margins (63%) and an elastic, positive feed increase. In Turkey's provinces, Demirhan (2019), through a questionnaire, found that the main problems identified by sheep producers were the cost of feed. Thus, the adequate management of feed costs seems to be relevant for sheep production.…”

Economic and Financial Sustainability Dependency on Subsidies: The Case of Goat Farms in Greece

“…According to previous empirical findings, variable costs accounted for almost two-thirds of total expenses and fixed costs accounted for about 50% of capital expenses [25,26]. Another feature of the sector is the low prices paid for milk and meat [27]. Goat farming is labour intensive, as it requires high labour input [28].…”

Analysis of Toxic Effects of Fluoride on Ovine Follicular Granulosa Cells Using RNA-Seq

“…Ovine are prevalent in numerous fluoride-affected regions worldwide, sparking increased attention to fluoride because of their growing economic importance [3]. For example, in India and Turkey, which have rich and diverse ovine germplasm resources, fluorosis continues to be a major obstacle for the ovine industry [31,32].…”