Economic Analysis of Dairy Cattle Farms in Izmir Province of Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to cover the economic analysis of dairy cattle farms in Turkey. The research data were obtained from face-to-face surveys of 102 dairy farms selected from the region by stratified random sampling method in 2014. Farmers are divided into three groups according to the number of cows they have. According to the results of the study, as the farm size increase, daily milk yield per dairy cattle, milk production in the lactation period, and milk sales price increase. There are also positive relationships between farm size and forage planting area and the proportion of forage planting area within the total planting area. Moreover, the most common forage of cattle breeders in the province was the silage corn with 48.7%. Feed costs accounted for a remarkably high proportion of total variable costs (70.1%). The Benefit-Cost Ratio was 1.60 and increasing with the farm size.