Effects of Farm Size and Raw Milk Quality on Farm Gate Milk Prices in Dairy Cattle Farms within the Province of Izmir, Turkey; Path Analysis Approach

The study has two main objectives; first to determine raw milk quality and farm gate milk prices at variously scaled dairy farms within the province of Izmir; second to determine the effects of raw milk quality and farm size on farm gate milk prices. For November 2005, 285 farms and for May 2006, 375 farms could be included in the study (the data was collected from milk collection centers, which agreed on revealing their records to the researchers). Averages for November 2005 were: fat ratio, 3.75%; non-fat dry matter, 8.61%, 99,676 bacteria mL(-1). For May 2006, values for the same averages were: 3.58% for fat; 8.50 for non-fat dry matter and 58 314 bacteria mL(-1). Direct and indirect effects (internal relationships of milk quality and farm size) of milk quality and farm size on received milk prices have been calculated through the approach of path analysis. According to the results of calculations, the effect of farm size is 50.3% and it is the highest. Number of fat ratio and bacteria have 3.2% and negative effects by 3.5%, respectively. Since, dairy farms in Turkey are small scaled and scattered the cost of collecting milk at milk collection centers rise. Therefore, scale efficiency is of great importance on farm gate milk prices. In this respect, apart from precautions in order to improve milk quality, the importance of farmers investing on expanding their farm sizes (daily milk delivery) and subsidies being paid to be expansion oriented, turn out to be having great importance. Additionally, compulsory milk quality analyses and increased monitoring at milk collection centers are considered necessary.