Changes and Sustainability of Small Ruminant Breeding in Muş Province in the Last 30 Years

Abstract

In this study, present situation, the changes and problems in the last 30 years in sheep and goat breeding in Muş province and future developments were discussed. In Muş, 52.5% of the population lives in rural areas and most of them earn their lives by animal production. The province has high potential for sheep and goat breeding, and it ranks 15^th in Turkey in terms of sheep and goat asset. The ratio of meadows and pasture to the total area (49.7%) is considerable above the Turkey average (18.8%). In most of the enterprises, animal breeding has been carried out with native sheep and goat breeds by pasture feeding. It was calculated that the meadow-pasture areas could meet 40.1% of the maintenance requirements of the animal in the province. Muş province has an important forage production potential and ranks 4^th in alfalfa production in Turkey. However, while the stock of sheep and goats in the province was 1,642,020 in 1990, it decreased by 23.9% in 2021 to 1,250,000. The decline in the asset of sheep was 27.2%. In Muş, as in all of Turkey, a significant part of the barns are inadequate in terms of animal welfare. The most important problem regarding the pasture areas is that the mistakes in grazing managements. In order to ensure sustainability in sheep and goat breeding, incentives should be provided to prevent migration from rural areas, decrease in population and workforce, and efforts should be made to reduce input costs and increase the added-value of the products obtained. On the other hand, it was thought that the transition to organic animal breeding and the organization in this regard would create an opportunity to survive of small family-owned businesses.