Orhan Yilmaz

Domestic livestock resources of Turkey

Water buffalo are an ancient component of Turkey’s domestic livestock resources. Commonly referred to as the Anatolian buffalo the animal is part of the Mediterranean group which includes Syrian, Egyptian and Southeast European animals. Once quite numerous, there have been drastic reductions in their numbers since the 1970s due to intensification of dairy activities, agricultural mechanization and changing consumer preferences. The main areas of distribution are in northwest Turkey in the Marmara and Black Sea Regions. Buffalo are kept in small herds by livestock and mixed crop–livestock farmers. Milk is the main product, meat is largely a by-product of the dairy function and provision of the once-important draught power is now a minor output. Buffalo milk is used to prepare a variety of speciality products but output of both milk and meat is very low in comparison to cattle. Conditions of welfare and health status are not optimal. Internal parasites are a constraint on productivity. Some buffalo are being used for conservation grazing in the Black Sea area to maintain optimal conditions for bird life in a nature reserve. Long neglected by government there are recent activities to establish conservation herds, set up in vitro banks and undertake molecular characterization. More effort is needed by government to promote buffalo production and to engage the general public in conservation of their national heritage.

The domestic livestock resources of Turkey: cattle local breeds and types and their conservation status

Los 10,6 millones de cabezas de ganado de Turquia comprenden un amplio abanico de razas y tipos; sin embargo, estos estan sufriendo una mayor erosion por el uso indiscriminado de genotipos foraneos. La estructura de la agricultura es tal que la mayoria de las explotaciones estan orientadas a la subsistencia, de pequeno tamano, manteniendo muy pocos animales y llevando a cabo una inversion minima. Las razas autoctonas se han desarrollado para satisfacer estas condiciones y, en general, estan muy bien adaptadas al medio en que se desarrollan, a una alimentacion pobre y desequilibrada y a diferentes enfermedades. A lo largo de los ultimos 80 anos se han producido grandes modificaciones del acervo genetico, motivo por el cual muchas de estas razas se encuentran en peligro de extincion o han llegado a extinguirse. Este trabajo describe algunas de los principales recursos geneticos de los animales domesticos que quedan y su estado conservacion. Actualmente el gobierno es consciente del peligro de empobrecimiento o de la perdida de esta importante parte de la biodiversidad y, para ello, ha puesto en marcha programas de conservacion y preservacion de varias razas autoctonas. Tanto el gobierno como los centros de investigacion, asi como los productores, deben trabajar conjuntamente para asegurar que el acervo genetico local se mantenga, y poder contribuir asi al desarrollo de la biodiversidad y a la produccion sostenible del ganado.

The domestic livestock resources of Turkey: inventory of pigeon groups and breeds with notes on breeder organizations

The pigeon is one species among the numerous domestic animal types that contribute to the economy of Turkey as food and work, and provide diversion and pleasure for the nations people. Pigeons are kept at the household level, usually in small numbers, by many hundreds of thousands of Turkish families, yet they have been subject to little study. This paper collates much of the information available (almost all in the Turkish language) to provide a brief history of the bird in Turkey. An inventory of the nine groups and 72 breeds that have been identified is presented. Some of these breeds are international in status, some are widespread in Turkey and some have only local distribution; many breeds have synonyms which are used in their areas of distribution. There is little government or academic support for pigeon breeders. The private Pigeon Breeders Association of Turkey and the Turkish Pigeon Federation are umbrella organisations for a number of breed clubs. In an initial attempt to standardise the national pigeon genetic resources, two of the more widespread breeds have been registered with the Animal Breeds Registration Committee of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

The Domestic Livestock Resources of Turkey: Status, Use and Some Physical Characteristics of Mules

Mules are known to have been used as carriage and riding animals in Mesopotamia and Anatolia as early as the beginning of the second millennium BC but may have been first bred in Anatolia in the Third Century BC. They have thus contributed to Turkey’s cultural, social and economic heritage for more than 4,000 years and were an ancient component of its guild of domestic animals and overall biodiversity. Once bred country-wide most mules are now introduced “illegally” to the southeast and east from Iraq and Iran. Mules are now bred only in one small area in north-central Turkey close to the Black Sea. The major role as a pack animal has been usurped since the mid-twentieth century by increasing use of motor transport and numbers have declined rapidly since the early 1980s. In 2009 about 51,500 mules remained in Turkey, mainly distributed in discrete areas in the extreme southeast, the centre-south, the northwest and the centre-north. In the southeast the main role is in cross-border trade (much of it described as smuggling) whereas in other areas mules are used in support of pastoral and farming operations. Mules in Turkey are of various colours but are generally large and strong compared to those found in many other countries. Pressure on numbers will continue and will exert a negative effect on a part of Turkey’s national heritage and domestic animal biodiversity.

Some Morphological Characteristics of Kangal Dogs Raised in Various Parts of Turkey. I. Body Measurements

In this PhD Thesis, data of some morphological characteristics of Kangal Dogs raised in various parts of Turkey were analyzed. Data collected from 432 male and 303 female, total 735 dogs were examined at 3 different groups as sheep breeders, civil and official dog breeding farms. Collected data were analyzed for sex, coat colour, style of breeding, national and local regions using methods of ANOVA and Duncan. Means of adult weight, withers height, height at rump, body length, heart girth circumference, cannon circumference, ear length, head length, muzzle length, head circumference, limb length, tail length, head width, chest width, abdomen width, chest depth, haunch width at Kangal Dogs were found as 45.9 kg; 74.8, 73.8, 84.5, 86.2, 13.2, 13.5, 30.7, 12.6, 53.8, 35.6, 47.8, 14.3, 19.7, 15.9, 31.6, 22.7 cm respectively. It could be concluded that the real examples of Turkish Kangal Shepherd Dogs could be found in a place where dogs raised by sheep breeders rather than raised at official or civil breeding farms.