$1 million dairy farm investment

In contrast there are a growing number of large farms in Tire County, including Mehmet Doğan’s 200 ha Titar Farm, which supplies 10% of Tire Sűt’s milk.

Mr Doğan has invested $1 million USD into the farm’s modern dairy facilities, which currently houses 1,000 Holsteins imported from Germany. The all-year housed herd is milked three times a day and yields average 30 litres per cow per day. His aim is to increase the herd size to 3,000 cows. 

Mr Doğan is paid 1.20 Turkish Lira (TL) (30ppl), and receives an additional 0.09 TL (0.02ppl) subsidy for every litre produced. He receives a further 50 TL (£12.50) per head annually for producing milk to EU standards and 60 TL (£14.80) per head per year for compliance with TB and brucellosis herd health status standards.

His costs of production are a hefty 0.95 TL per litre (23ppl), which is high, because he buys in most of the herd’s feed, favouring to preserve the farm’s lucrative almond and olive orchards which extend to over 15,000 trees. 

Mr Doğan’s plans don’t end at the dairy; when the herd reaches 3,000 head, he will start trading in-calf heifers and young bulls and he plans to set up a 20,000 head beef fattening unit and abattoir, sourcing live cattle from Uruguay and Australia. This will be followed by establishing a 5,000-bird egg production unit and agri-tourism units.