Mixed livestock production

The common characteristics of mixed livestock farms in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey are that they are small both in land area and animal numbers. In Egypt 61 % of small farms keep both cows and buffaloes. In Turkey 75 % of the farms raise both cattle and small ruminants, the majority of the latter being sheep. In Tunisia 71 % of the cattle and 66 % of the sheep population are in farms smaller than 100 ha. The proportions of exotic cattle in the aforementioned countries are 3.9 %, 40 % and 15.7 % respectively in the total cattle population.