Abstract
Sheep breeding is an important means of livelihood for the population living in the mountain and hilly regions of the country. The object of the present study is to analyze the economic efficiency of breeding dairy sheep in the mountain and hilly regions of Bulgaria. Object of the study are 2 models of farms with 100 ewes from the dairy type and the relevant categories lambs and rams. We compare and analyze two levels of milk productivity - 70 l per lactation in the first farm and 100 l per lactation in the second farm. The whole grain and roughage necessary for feeding ewes are calculated while hay is self-provided. The average fertility per ewe is 115%, the average wool yield is 2.2 kg and the repair of the flock is 20%. Incomes and costs are estimated at current prices for the 2013 - 2014. It was found that in the terms of the present study we may draw the conclusion that in case the farmer is not getting subsidy from the State Fund "Agriculture" will be efficiently to raise only ewes that have milk productivity 100 l per lactation; in support of the farm subsidies by the State Fund "Agriculture" and the two levels of milk production is appropriate breeding of dairy sheep in the mountainous and hilly regions of the country; in order to improve the economic efficiency farmers should pay attention to increasing the fertility of ewes and protection of the new-born lambs as well as increasing of milk productivity of ewes.
Highlights
Sheep breeding is an important means of livelihood for the population living in the mountain and hilly regions of the country
The object of the present study is to analyze the economic efficiency of breeding dairy sheep in the mountain and hilly regions of Bulgaria
The quantity of concentrate mixture needed for reaching milk production rate of 100 l per lactation increased 8.75% compared to the quantity necessary for the rate of 70 l
Summary
Sheep breeding is an important means of livelihood for the population living in the mountain and hilly regions of the country. The favorable climate and forage conditions appear to be economic incentive for developing this industry because of the rich pasture available, which helps reducing the costs for feeding animals. In these regions there is a strongly declined demographic structure and, namely, ageing and depopulation of the villages. One of the factors for some overcoming this process is creating conditions for development of the small and medium-sized agribusiness. Because of the crisis in sheep-breeding is mostly economic, it can be overcome only by using economic mechanisms and by creating better conditions for the sheep farms to work
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