The comparison of dairy farms in different scales regarding milk production cost and profitability in Turkey: a case study from Hatay Province

The objective of this study is to analyse the members of the Hatay Dairy Cattle Breeders' Association in economic terms. In the study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 112 producers. The grouping of the dairy farms was done considering the number of milking cows. Farms owning 1 to 9 head milking cows (46,4%) are regarded as the first group enterprises while those with 10 to 20 heads milking cows (29,5%) are the second group enterprises; with 21 to 50 heads milking cows (16,1%) are the third group enterprises and finally with 51 and above heads milking cows (8%) are the fourth group enterprises. The total labor forces are as 3,11, 3,06, 3,95 and 5,07 person (average 3,39 person); total land uses are as 33,43, 77,00, 88,71 and 167,00 da (average 65,89 da); total gross production values are as 28122, 49832, 83023 and 315906 USD (average 66467 USD); gross product values are as 35736, 58158, 92204 and 343982 USD (average 76187 USD); total costs are as 23957, 40029, 60302 and 228478 USD (average 50968 USD); variable cost rates in total costs are as 74,38%, 82,12%, 79,07% and 75,70% (average 77,52%); fixed cost rates in total costs are as 25,62%, 17,88%, 20,93% and 24,30% (average 22,48%); production costs per liter raw milk are as 0,275, 0,285, 0,290 and 0,305 USD (average 0,283 USD) and milk sale prices including primes are as 0,325, 0,328, 0,345 and 0,370 USD (average 0,333 USD) for the group I, II, III and IV dairy enterprises respectively. The results demonstrated that the per liter milk sales price was higher and the cost of per liter milk production was lower in the dairy enterprises having higher number of milking cows (group IV) than the other groups.