GENERAL VIEW OF RUMINANT PRODUCTION IN AYDIN – TURKEY

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the situation of sheep, goats and cattle production in the Aydin province. Sheep and goat management systems in Turkey evolved through thousands of years of adaptation and adjustment to the natural resources, climate, topography and the ever-changing production environments. There are three general systems, the sedentary, transhumant and nomadic. Turkey is one of the leading sheep raising countries of the world. Sheep and goats are traditionally raised on smallholder farms in Turkey. The hair goats, sheep and cattle population of Turkey had been decreased by 35.4%, 35.4% and 7.6% between in last 15 years respectively in Turkey. The small ruminant production in Aydin is carried out by the farmers having the flocks including sheep and goats of which the number is between 50 and 150. When comparing the average head number of the flocks in the Aydin province is bigger than Turkey average of 20 to 50 head. Intensive dairy cattle production is also widely performing in the Aydin province. The numbers of hair goat and sheep in the Aydin province are 58,109 head and 118,953 head respectively, while cattle number is 278,163 head in 2007. The decrease has been 49.8% and 40.6% for hair goat and sheep population respectively, while a 21.5% increasing has been observed on the cattle population in the Aydin province in the last 15 years. The total milk production of the Aydin province is 350 925 tons in 2007 that consist of 1.137% sheep milk, 0.783% hair goat milk, 98.071% cattle milk and 0.007% buffalo milk. The meat production is 2,327 tons in the Aydin province, which consists of sheep, goat, cattle and camel percentages of 15.267%, 4.234%, 80.408% and 0.089% respectively. The total hide number of the Aydin province is 191.512, and 61.111%, 15.594%, 23.275%, and 0.018% of the hide production consists of sheep, goat, cattle and camel respectively. All the camel meat and camel hide production of Turkey are provided from the Aydin province. The number of sheep and especially goats in the Aydin province has decreased year after year in Turkey in general, but the cattle number is raised for the last 15 years. The reasons for reduction in the number of sheep and goats in the Aydin are due to the lack of importance to small ruminant production as a result of agricultural policies, the individual production without organization and decrease of available pasture areas over the time.