Determination of the Optimum Farm Organizations in the Livestock Farms Dependent on Natural Rangelands: the Case of Erzurum Province

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the optimum farm organization (ofo) in the farms dependent on natural rangelands in erzurum province. study villages were selected purposively from those of which rangeland quality degrees (rqd) were determined previously. in determination of the sample size, stratified sampling method was employed. study data belonged to 2004-2005 production year and were obtained from the face to face farmer interviews resulted in 99 completed questionnaires. in analysis of the data descriptive statistics methods and linear programming method were employed. according to the results, 16,5% of rangeland quality brought about 5313 tl gross margin difference between the farms. the first and third farm groups were obtained the highest and lowest gross margins respectively. in ofos, crop pattern was formed to support animal production. according to ofo’s, an increase can be achieved in gross margins of the farms by 71,2%, 93,1% and 132,2% in the first, second and the largest groups respectively. about 64% and 48% of the barns were not utilised in the first and second group of farms respectively as full capacity was achieved in the largest group. this suggests that the smaller the farm size the more viable the small ruminant production.