Economic analysis of different dairy farm sizes in Burdur province in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the economic structure of different dairy farm sizes in Burdur province in Turkey. Data were acquired by conducting a survey on 132 dairy farms selected by the stratified random sampling method. Dairy farms were divided into three groups according to their sizes and were analyzed accordingly. It was found that production cost decreased and profit increased as animal unit per farm increased. Production costs per animal unit for the first, second, and third group were 2 634.09, 2 252.01 and 1 930.52 YTL, respectively (1 USD = 1.42 YTL), whereas the net profit was -267.36, 25.95 and 405.99 YTL, respectively. When the average profit of all farms was considered, it was found that the profit was not high enough to sustain a farm household's living. In the study area the retail sale price of 1 kg of milk was 0.468 YTL and production cost of 1 kg milk was 0.455 YTL. Hence it could be said that the profit margin (0.013 YTL/kg), defined as the difference between these two prices, was small. It was found that besides milk production, the cattle value appreciation increased farm income.