Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
KAHRAMANMARAS SUTCU IMAM UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF NATURAL SCIENCES, cilt.18, sa.2, ss.60-68, 2015 (ESCI)
This study was carried out to reveal the present status of sheep farms in Nigde, to detect basic priority problems and to offer some solutions to these problems. In this study, total of 96 sheep farming enterprises were chosen by stratified sampling method to represent the entire province as an example. A survey was conducted to obtain information regarding mating, lambing, milking, shearing, marketing milk and meat, grazing animals status, tools and equipment of sheep enterprises and health protection and feed utilization status. The results of analyzes showed that a large portion (68.8%) of sheep breeders were primary school graduates, while 99% of sheep farms raised only Akkaraman breed 1.0% of them raised only Merino breed, average duration of sheep breeding was 25.7 years, family labor was commonly (63.5%) used as shepherd, the average number of sheep per farm was 314.5 head and the enterprises had also 7.9 head cows, 38.1 head goats, 1.9 horses and 5.2 heads cat and dog. Besides, it was informed that 86.4% of breeders had learned sheep breeding from their ancestors, sheep farming was only source of income for 82.3% of them and was enjoyable job for 10.4% of them. It was also determined that sheep breeding was maintained in highland (40.6%), in highland and settled down (19.8%), in settled down (38.6%), and in nomadic (1.0%) system in Nigde. The 97.9% of sheep enterprises is a member of Nigde Sheep and Goat Breeders Association. Breeders expressed that high feed prices, insufficient pastures area and poor pastures quality were priority problems. They reported that needs to be done to increase in marketing price, improvement of pasture and sheep flock genetic, also increasing the forage crops cultivation area for profitable sheep breeding.