This study aimed at determining the total losses associated with the season, transportation distance, and slaughter age during the transportation of broilers from poultry farms to slaughterhouses in Turkey. All data and parameters were statistically analyzed and the change in total loss during transportation was evaluated by two-way analysis of variance to determine which factors or variables affect this change. Total transportation losses were compared among the four seasons of the year, two slaughter ages (younger broiler, 31-39 days of age; older broilers 40-46 days of age) and three distance ranges (short, ≤50 km; medium, 51-150 km; and long, ≥151 km). Total losses of 259.40 g, 307.35 g, and 350.14 g were determined for short, medium and long distances, respectively, indicating that losses increased with transportation distance (p<0.05). Broilers slaughtered at a younger age presented lower total losses than those slaughtered at an older age (p<0.05). When seasons were evaluated, the highest total loss was determined in the summer, which was not statistically different from that calculated for autumn, whereas total transportation losses in spring and winter were found relatively lower. The study showed longdistance transportation in the winter considerably increased total losses to levels similar to those obtained in the summer.

This research aimed at assessing the financial effects of the 2005 to 2006 highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks on Turkish broiler enterprises. The data were obtained from an interview survey carried out in 499 enterprises randomly selected from 14 provinces that accounted for 79% of the national broiler production. The research revealed that the contracted broiler producers lost on average 1.38 cycles of production and their management fee reduced by 14.7% in 8 mo after the outbreaks. As a result, the broiler production and the enterprise income declined by 34.8 and 44.3%, respectively. The bank loan of the producers rose by 161%. A total of 93% of the producers did not do any other supplementary work during the idle production period in spite of the fact that broiler production was the only business of 36% of them. Furthermore, more than half of the producers (56%) stated that they were considering expanding their business, but suspended this idea due to the outbreak. Approximately 87% of the producers increased the biosecurity measures after the outbreaks. The nationwide effects of the avian influenza outbreaks on the contracted broilers farms were estimated to be US$100.8 million (US$7,967/broiler house). The futures of the contracted broiler producers are fully dependent upon those of the integrated firms. Any negative effects on the latter appeared to be transferred directly to the former. However, the government neglected the integrated firms in the avian influenza compensation programs.

This research assessed the direct economic effects of the 2005-06 HPAI outbreaks on contracted turkey producers in Turkey in 2007. The data were obtained from 71 randomly selected, contracted turkey farms (producing 23% of the national turkey meat in Turkey in 2005) from five provinces for four integrated firms, which account for 67% of the national turkey production. Each farm was visited once for an oral interview conducted by the authors in 2007, using a questionnaire survey. The financial data before and after highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreak periods were obtained from available financial records. Changes in production and economics parameters before and after the HPAI H5N1 outbreak periods were compared. In the analyses, the "before the HPAI H5N1 outbreak" period was stated as October 1, 2004, to May 31, 2005, whereas the "after the HPAI H5N1 outbreak" period was stated as the 8-mo between October 1, 2005, and May 31, 2006. The research revealed that changes in the technical parameters (number of hired labor, feed conversion rate, mortality rate, and the length of fattening period) were not found to be statistically significant at P > 0.05. However, there were severe effects of the HPAI H5N1 outbreaks on the economic parameters of the turkey production. The contracted turkey producers lost on average 0.9 cycles (38%) of production, and their management fees were reduced by 9.3% in the 8 mo after the outbreaks. As a result, the production level and enterprise income declined by 36% and 39%, respectively. About 93% of the producers did not do any other supplementary work during the idle production period; 59% of the producers had to use on average 4970TL (US$3200) from their personnel saving during the HPAI H5N1 outbreaks. About 62% of the producers stated that they had been considering expanding their businesses, but suspended the idea because of the outbreak, and 80% of the producers increased the biosecurity measures after the outbreaks. The futures of the contracted turkey producers are fully dependent on those of the integrated firms. Any negative effects on the latter appear to be directly transferred to the former. However, the government neglected contracted producers in the HPAI compensation programs.

Özet: Bu araştırmada, Türkiye'de faaliyet gösteren özel sektöre ait 6 adet sığır kesimhanesinde uygulanan zaman etüdü ve ölçümler sonucunda elde edilen veriler kullanılarak sığır kesim aşamalarındaki standart zamanların tespit edilmesi ve araştırma kapsamına alınan mezbahalarda; sığır kesim hattı etkinlikleri, karkas/adam-saat cinsinden ortalama işgücü verimlilikleri ve verimsiz geçen sürelerin karşılaştırmalı olarak ortaya konması amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın materyalini, özel sektöre ait 6 adet et sanayi işletmesinden, anket yoluyla ve iş ölçüm tekniklerinden zaman etüdünün sığır kesim hattında uygulanması sonucunda elde edilen veriler oluşturmuştur. Verilerin değerlendirilmesinde, zaman etüdü analiz yöntemi kullanılarak her işletme için kesim aşamalarında kronometre vasıtasıyla ölçülen fiili sığır kesim zamanları, temel ve standart zamanlara dönüştürülmüştür. Araştırma sonucunda, A, B, C, D, E ve F olarak sınıflandırılan mezbahalarda ortalama işgücü verimlilikleri sırasıyla 1. A research on cattle slaughtering line efficiency and measurement of labour productivity at the slaughter stages in private sector slaughterhouses in Turkey Summary: This study was carried out to determine the standard times on the cattle slaughter stages using the data that have been obtained as a conclusion of time study and measurements applied on 6 beef slaughter plants which are owned by the private sector and to investigate the cattle slaughtering line efficiencies, average labour productivities in carcass/man-hour and their unproductive times elapsed in these slaughterhouses taken under the scope of the research in Turkey, as comparative. The materials of the research comprised the primary data obtained from questionnaire surveys and the time measurements related to work study applications at the cattle slaughtering line in 6 private sector meat industry enterprises. At the assessment of the obtained data, the actual cattle slaughter times measured by chronometer each of the enterprises slaughter stages were converted to the basic and standard times, by using time study analysis. As a result of the research, the average labour productivities at the slaughterhouses which classified A, B, C, D, E, F were calculated as 1.47, 1.85, 1.46, 1.51, 1.19 and 1.21 carcass/man-hour respectively. On the other hand, the average exit velocity from slaughtering of the beef carcasses were measured 61. 08, 80.50, 176.57, 72.76, 264.38 and 118.75 seconds, the quantity of carcass production on the slaughtering line per hour were 44.21, 38.88, 11.74, 37.83, 8.35 and 19.34 pieces and practical slaughtering capacity at the private sector slaughterhouses were 331.6, 291.6, 88.0, 283.7, 62.7 and 145.1 head/day respectively. Furthermore, under this study realized at the slaughtering line of cattle in these slaughterhouses, the standard cattle slaughtering time were determined as 10.14, 48, 9.11,01, 12.52,31, 12.14,64, 17.47,83 and 10.57,11 min/sec respectively.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the factors such as economic crisis, some speculative comments regarding broiler sector (hormone usage, antibiotic residual etc.) and HPAI outbreak upon the prices of chicken meat in Turkey in recent years, and to reveal the chicken meat/feed price alterations that occurred in 1994-2006 period. A whole chicken retail prices and broiler feed prices that were obtained from TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute) and BESD-BİR (Poultry Meat Producers and Breeders Association) consist of the material of the study. The current prices were converted into real prices by using the index which was constituted in order to eliminate the impact of the inflation on the price data. In addition to this, seasonal price fluctuations which occurred depending on the consumption demand were examined. As a consequence, it was determined that chicken meat production increased average 13.5% during this period yearly, but production level decreased by 10.5% in 2001, and increased only by 1.7% and 2.6% in 2005-2006 years respectively according to the previous years. Furthermore, it was ascertained that the average current prices of the chicken meat and feed increased by approximately 55 times and 53 times respectively. However, real prices decreased by 30.1% and 32.9% between 1994 and 2006 respectively. In conclusion, it has been thought that socioeconomic , psychological, and seasonal factors have an important role upon the chicken meat prices as well as supply-demand equilibrium in the market. Within this scope, the applications with reference to seasonal demand, input prices, consumer preferences, animal health and efficient production planning directed to the export of the integrated firms which have been in this sector are very important.