Structural Characteristics of Sheep and Goat Farms in Siirt Province

This study was aimed to investigates structural and demographic and social characteristic of sheep and goat farms in siirt province which are; location of farm, altitude, animal race and number, government support, being member of cooperative and unity. research material was obtained from a survey which carried out in 286 farms located in siirt city center and 6 districts. as for location, just 8.7% of farms were in centrum, however most of the farms as their intensity were being in pervari (25.5%), şirvan (19.9%) and eruh (18.2%) districts respectively. the average altitude of the villages where farms located was 1134 m altitude, and 44.8 % of farms were mountain villages, 29% in slope villages and 24.5% in lowland villages. only 1.7% of the farms were doing migratory livestock. the average age of the farmers was 47.3 years old. the educational status rate was observed as 61.2% graduates from primary school and followed by illiterate (26.2%), graduates from secondary school (10.1%), but only 2.4% of the farmers were graduated from high school. the average number of sheep and goat per farm was 146.15. the average land ownership per farm was 38,27 da. and 70 farms did not have any land ownership. it was found that the contribution of children and women on production was significant (p <0.01). the contribution ratio of children and the female was 71% and 90.2 % respectively. it was found that 97.2% of the farmers were satisfied with the breed they raised, 40.6% of the farmers were just doing livestock production, while 59.4% were working in the trade, crop production, and government jobs. structurally farms in siirt province is generally located in mountain villages, average land owned is 38.27 da. most of the farmers educated at primary level and intensive child and women contribution to the productionare common. it was determined that in order to do a more rational animal husbandry and to increase the production in these farms, more educated people encouraged and technical improvement and technical knowledge for farmers are required.