Cattle and Calf Raising Practices in Dairy Cattle Farms: The Case of Erzurum Province Ispir County

In this study, a face-to-face survey was conducted with 394 farmers to reveal the cattle and calf raising practices performed in cattle enterprises in Ispir county of Erzurum province. Proportional values were obtained by carring out frequency analysis on the obtained data in IBM SPSS statistics for Windows (SPSS 20.0.). Most of the breeders (75.6%) stated that bellowing behavior is the primary sign to determine the heat cows and 66.5% reported that their cows were inseminated in estrus two months after birth. It was also determined that in most of the enterprises (72.1%) heifers were inseminated at 24 months of age, and 26.6% at 18 months of age. It was found out that in 64.2% of the enterprises the cows were dried off two months before the birth. In 72.1% of the farms, pregnant cows were vaccinated against septicemia. In Ispir county, breeders were determined to have deficiencies in receiving veterinary health services. In 96.2% of the farms, calves were vaccinated against septicemia and all of the breeders performed umbilical cord care to the calves after birth. It was also determined that in 99.3% of the farms, colostrum was fed to the calves and farmers (75.4%) allowed the calves to consume this colostrum by sucking their dams. In81.7% of the enterprises, calves were weaned at the age of 4-6 months. As a result, it was revealed that some deficient practices are applied in cattle and calf breeding in cattle farms in Ispir county of Erzurum province, and there are serious deficiencies in animal health and receiving veterinary health services. In order to develop cattle breeding in the county and to carry out animal husbandry under more scientific conditions, it was revealed that a planned farmer training activities should be carried out in cooperation with relevant institutions and organizations.