Abstract:

Objective: This research was carried out to determine the situation, problems, and solution proposals of water buffalo breeding in Amasya province. Materials and Methods: In this study, data obtained from face-to-face surveys with 69 producers who are members of Amasya Province Buffalo Breeders' Association and who are within the scope of the Anatolian Buffalo Breeding in Public Hands project were used. Results: Most of the producers participating in the survey are male, between the ages of 41-50 and engaged in farming activities with a maximum of 4 people. The producers are mostly primary school graduates, and most of the they stated their reasons for making buffalo breeding as livelihood, habit, and contribution to livelihood. Majority of the enterprises are capacity for less than 20 animals, closed, concrete type barn floor, tied stall and bedding is not used. Generally, ventilation in barns is provided by chimneys and doors/windows. Tiles were used as roofing material and concrete feeders were used as manger material in the barns. Manure in the barns is mostly cleaned by hand and stored next to the barn. Mostly automatic and trough waterers are used in enterprises, urban water as mains water is used as water source and animals are mostly given free water twice a day. There is no separate birth chamber in any of the enterprises, calves are mostly housed together with the mother in the barn. Most of the litter is used in the calf compartments. The most important expectations of the producers from the project are the increase in milk prices and decrease in feed prices with buffalo support. Conclusion: As a result, it is seen as a necessity to increase the current project budget further or to take measures to reduce input costs, especially feed prices. However, due to the fact that breeding requires a long process, existing projects should be continued for longer years effectively to increase the yield characteristics such as low milk, meat and reproductive yield of Anatolian buffaloes.

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