ANALYSES OF OPERATIONAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN SELECTED DAIRY FARMS

Dairy farms are an essential component of livestock production in Türkiye. This article aims to show the current situation onthese dairy farms and incredibly show the technical and operational conditions in milking technology. We researched 32 dairy farmswith 6 to 681 lactating dairy cows. The milking technology on these farms corresponds to the usual structure of milking equipment onTurkish dairy farms. It includes bucket milking, pipe-line milking systems, tandem milking parlour, herringbone milking parlours andside-by-side milking parlours. To analyse the current situation, we used a calculation on the model, with evaluation criteria: the totaltime required for milking and the final direct specific costs. Evaluation of existing milking systems showed the possibilities of reducinghuman labour costs by optimizing the work activities. Larger farms characterize by more progressive milking technology, higher milkyields, and lower specific costs.