Farm Management and Socio-Economic Structure of Cattle Enterprises in Eastern Anatolia: A Case Study of Selim District, Kars Province

This study investigated the socio-economic characteristics of cattle farms in the Selim district of Kars province. A face-to-face survey was conducted with 350 cattle farm owners selected by random sampling method. Frequency analysis was used to interpret the data obtained. The majority of the farmers in the district were above 40 years of age, while the share of farmers younger than 40 years was only 19.7%. The share of the farmers with primary school (34.4%) or secondary school (33.5%) education was considerably high. A large majority of the farmers in the district had over (68.5%) 20 years of cattle farming experience while only 6.0% had less than 10 years of experience. It was found that 76.8% of the enterprises in the district had 5 or more people in the family. Crossbreds of European and indigenous cattle breeds were quite common (72.3%) in the district. Simmental was determined to be the most commonly raised European breed (44.8%). The 30.9% of enterprises had cattle between 20-30. The majority (50.6%) of the enterprises had 10-20 lactating cows. It was found that 50.9% of the farmers engage in both meat and milk production in their enterprises, while 48.0% engage solely in milk production. It was determined that 52.0% of the enterprise owners in the district were members of associations and cattle breeders' association was the most preferred (90%) among the farmers. High feed prices (98.3%) and diseases (33.1%) were indicated as the major problems by the farmers. In addition, credit support (88.3%), supply of quality breeding stock animals (34%), veterinary services (39.4%) and support in marketing of the products obtained (25.1%) were the main expectations of the farmer from the government.