In order to determine the current status of milking characteristics, hygiene and health protection practices in Saanen goat farms in Turkey, data were obtained from 92 farms through surveys in Çanakkale province. The farms are grouped according to the number of animals as small-scale (25-75 heads), medium-scale (76-150 heads) and large-scale (151 and overheads). As a result of the data observed, it has been seen that the majority of the farms (63.04%) had primary education and only 8.69% had education at the university level. While 44 farms have a milking machine or milking system in their farms, the other 48 farms use the hand milking. The 72.8% of the farms stated that they did not receive any training on milking hygiene and milking machines. Breast diseases are among the most common health problems in the farms (61.9%), followed by, digestive system diseases (8.6%), bacterial diseases (5.4%), foot diseases (2.1%) and viral diseases (4.3%), respectively. The prevalence of mastitis which is the leading cause of breast disease differs statistically in terms of scale (p < .05). In this period, the scale of the farms increased and the use of machine milking became widespread in dairy goat farms. Considering that Saanen breed goats, which have high milk yield, are also sensitive to diseases and are delicate breeds, it is important for the farmers to be educated and informed about breeding, herd management, and milking hygiene practices in order to increase milk production and quality and to prevent economic losses. HIGHLIGHTSThe current status of milking hygiene and practices was evaluated. Mastitis was the most common disease (39.1%) observed in Saanen goat farms. To prevent economic losses due to diseases, farmers should be trained on hygiene and management practices. ARTICLE HISTORY

This study aimed to determine the heterogeneity that exists in water buffalo husbandry systems in Marmara Region, Turkey. A questionnaire containing a total of 60 indicators was submitted to 52 farmers. A Principal Component Analysis was performed to reduce original variables into a simplified and latent structure, which was characterized by six orthogonal components: milk productivity, economic efficiency, roughage management, dual-purpose farming, concentrate supply, and fodder production. An ANOVA model was applied to the six components to investigate the effects of the province, investment levels, grazing type, milk production, and profitability. Differences in milk productivity, roughage management, concentrate supply, and fodder management were significant according to the province and grazing type, which indicated a difference in intensification levels among the cities. Economic efficiency and dual-purpose farming differed significantly for milk production levels as well as milk productivity, and economic efficiency differed for profitability levels. We found a tendency regarding the impact of roughage management on profitability. The results conclude that profitability was associated with improving the milking traits of buffaloes and roughage management of the farms.

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Implementation of policies aimed at agriculture and animal husbandry, agricultural supports are used as an important tool. Since the proclamation of the Republic, livestock sector of Turkey has entered into a number of changes and improvements. The data used in this study were collected from Turkey Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), reports of drafting convention in sector, the five-year development plans and literature. It has been determined that there is not enough share from the subsidies within the agricultural policies applied in the livestock sector in terms of periods. Support for the sector was also insufficient in terms of credit and financing supply in animal husbandry. It was observed that there was no significant development in animal production in planned development periods. In macroeconomic planning of the sector, input-output relationship could not be considered on a sectoral basis according to the development goals. It has been seen that technical and economic integration such as health, breeding, production, cultivation, fattening and product evaluation is not taken into consideration adequately in planning. Today, the most important problem of the sector is high quality, sufficient roughage and concentrate feed supply and low yield per unit animal. However, real policy in supporting livestock should ensure that product / feed price ratios to maintain profitability in production. In order to achieve a certain increase in animal production, the support provided by the state and the price policy are important. Price policy has an important share in increasing production both in quantity and quality. The enterprises operating in animal husbandry are under the economic grip of the sellers and buyers, who are limited in number during the production stage. In this respect, the organization of the producer and the development of the marketing infrastructure, support and encouragement by the state may play an important role in solving the problems.