¹Department of Livestock Economics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafkas University, TR-36100 Kars - TURKEY
²Göle Vocational High School, Ardahan University, TR-75700 Ardahan - TURKEY DOI : 10.9775/kvfd.2018.20471 In this study, it was aimed to find the differences in the levels of knowledge and calf care-feeding practices in dairy cattle farms in the province of Kars in Turkey which is an important region in terms of the living cattle stock in Turkey, and the economic losses due to calf mortality in Turkey. The material of the study was constituted by the data obtained from the interviews conducted with 108 dairy cattle business owners in the central villages of Kars. During the interviews, the data on 0-180 day old diseased and dead calves were collected from the business owners in 2016 and 2017. In this study, economic losses due to calf mortality were determined by taking into account the calculation methods in the literature. In the study, it was determined that 281 (24.65%) of 1140 calves had various diseases in 2017 and 63 (5.52%) of them died. In the study, the total expenses of treatment, medicine, and care for 281 diseases calves in 2017 were calculated approximately as 11.346 TRY ($3.190). It was calculated that an average of 156.32 TRY ($43.95) was spent per animal and the economic loss due to calves that died was estimated as 4.597 TRY ($1.293). As a result, training studies aimed at increasing producer knowledge levels in minimizing calf diseases and deaths are important. Keywords : Calf mortality, Economic loss, Treatment and medicine expenses