Efficiency of the Membership of Dairy Farms in a regional cattle-breeding organization in Turkey

The data used in this investigation were collected on the one hand from enterprises which were members of a cattle-breeding organisation in the province of Canakkale and on the other from enterprises located in this province that did not belong to any cattle breeding organization. In this study, the enterprises were compared in respect of their technical and scale-related efficiency, paying particular regard to output. Although membership resulted in significantly higher average lactation length as well as higher productive life for the cattle (P <0.05), there were no significant differences between member enterprises and non-member enterprises in respect of their technical and scale efficiency (P> 0.05). However, bigger enterprises, with more than 10 livestock units, displayed on average greater technical efficiency than smaller enterprises. The results indicated that the cattle breeding organization was not effective. Technical consultation would have an important role to play in increasing the effectiveness of the cattle breeding organization.