Sheep farming business in Uşak city of Turkey: Economic structure, problems and solutions

The current study was conducted to reveal the current states, structural features and primary problems of the sheep raising businesses in the city of Uşak. The study group of the current study is comprised of 429 sheep raising businesses selected through stratified sampling (provinces) and a questionnaire consisted of 112 items was administered to these businesses. Through the items in the questionnaire, data were collected about the general features of the businesses and their owners, the state of grazing lands, mating of sheep, birth, milking, clipping, health protection, marketing of animals and the states of tools and equipments in the businesses. The findings of the study have revealed that 82.2% of the owners of the sheep raising businesses are elementary school graduates, their average time of being involved in the activity of sheep raising is 9.8 years, 90% of their shepherds are from the family members, 23.5% of them practice additional feeding before mating and the most preferred method for mating is free insemination with 89%. Of the owners of the businesses, 81.1% learned sheep raising from their elders; for 54% of them sheep raising is the sole source of income and 25.6% of them are engaged in sheep raising to support their families. The main problems of the sheep raisers were found to be the high cost of feed, the low prices paid for their products, inadequate and poor quality grazing lands and animal diseases. In order to make sheep raising more attractive, the prices of the products should be increased, grazing lands should be improved, the genetic structure of the herd should be enhanced, the amount of land area where feed crops are cultivated should be extended and suitable credit conditions should be provided. On the other hand, they need to be informed about sheep mating, lamb growing, stock, milking hygiene, general sheep feeding practices and marketing.