Economic assessment of potential efficiency gains in typical lamb production systems in the alpine region by using local resources

Gazzarin, Christian; Benni, Nadja El

doi:10.1016/j.smallrumres.2020.106066

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…On the other hand, the margin for improvement brought about by the efficiency scenario stands out in all cases. This is consistent with previous research carried out in different EU regions (Bohan et al, 2018;Gazzarin and El Benni, 2020), which finds that there is a positive correlation between increased prolificacy and improved economic performance. While the average expected gross margin is more likely to be higher than within other scenarios, uncertainty surrounding expected gross margin is high as well.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Resilience of extensive sheep farming systems in Spain: strategies and policy assessment

Caredio¹

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European extensive sheep farming is undergoing several challenges and negative trends, which are threatening the capacity of sheep systems to generate income and provide public/private goods/services. This is particularly evident in the marginal and rural areas of southern EU, affected by gradual depopulation, abandonment, and transitions to more intensive and specialized sectors. Concerns over the survival of extensive sheep farming are basically due to the wide range of ecosystem services and socio-economic functions delivered by sheep systems, above all in those marginal areas where other productive activities are unfeasible. In order to find new solutions to overcome existing challenges, and anticipate the emerging ones, novel comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches to assess the farming systems' capacity to keep delivering their important functions are required. Within this broad scope, in recent years great importance has been attached to the resilience theory and its adaptations to agrifood systems. Most recent advances in resilience research in the EU have provided theoretical and analytical frameworks to assess the resilience of farming systems. Such approaches demonstrate remarkable potential, and worth being applied further.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Resilience of extensive sheep farming systems in Spain: strategies and policy assessment

Caredio¹

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“…This positive result of nutritional supplementation on economic return was also described by Santos et al (2018), who stated that nutritional supplementation of ewes and lambs promoted an increase in the animal stocking rate and had a positive economic return. Supplementation nutrition also provides a high level of ewe reproductive performance, which brings a significant economic return (Atsan et al, 2007), and profitability is mainly affected by revenues which, in turn, is mainly affected by productivity (Gazzarin and Benni, 2020). The increase in any performance indicator has a greater impact on production profitability than any increase in the prices of inputs used in the diet (Raineri et al, 2015b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic performance of high-energy diets and supplementation with chromium propionate or calcium salts of palm oil in ewes’ production

Brochine¹,

Brochine²,

Nacimento³

et al. 2022

Revista Brasileira De Zootecnia

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The experiment aimed to analyze the economic viability of using highenergy diets and the supplementation of chromium propionate or calcium salts of palm oil in the diet of ewes from the late gestation until the end of lactation. Seventy-two ewes of Santa Ines × Dorper crossbreeds were allocated to five treatments: CTL (n = 14) with 100% of NRC recommendation for metabolizable energy per kg dry matter intake (ME/kg DMI), LOW (n = 14) with 90% ME/kg DMI, HIGH (n = 15) with 110% ME/kg DMI, Cr (n = 15) HIGH diet plus chromium propionate, and FAT (n = 14) HIGH diet plus calcium salts of palm oil. Based on the performance data, a short-term analysis was performed for a module of 1000 ewes, evaluating costs, revenues, and profitability, and long-term analysis was performed by an additional cash flow of 120 months. The CTL and FAT treatments were not viable due to higher costs and lower revenues, and they also had a negative net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). The LOW treatment, despite lower costs and positive profitability, had a negative NPV (-$872.90) and IRR (1.85%) that was below the discount rate, making it unprofitable in the long run. The HIGH and Cr treatments were considered feasible because they had lower unit costs and higher profitability, in addition to a high NPV ($64,894.11 and 104,902.05, respectively) and a higher IRR (9.03% and 13.65%, respectively) than the discount rate. The use of high-energy diets, with added chromium propionate, promoted better performance and, consequently, better economic return.

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“…Sheep farming in the Alpine regions has become a means of conserving landscapes and biodiversity, and represents the concept of multi-functionality, a key principle in EU agricultural policy (EEA 2010;Gazzarin and El Benni 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given that pasture is subject to seasonal availability, alternative rearing methods need to be studied. Fattening lambs indoors on appropriate diets over longer periods could be a means of extending the period in which lamb can be produced thereby increasing the economic sustainability of mountain sheep farms (Bhatti et al 2019;Gazzarin and El Benni 2020). However, animals of these native breeds have not been selected for this type of production, so their growth rates and carcass characteristics, and the quality of their meat need to be evaluated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance, carcass conformation and meat quality of suckling, weaned and heavy lambs, and culled fattened ewes of autochthonous alpine sheep breeds

Bittante

Pellattiero

Cecchinato

et al. 2021

Italian Journal of Animal Science

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Several local sheep breeds of the Alpine regions are in danger of extinction as a result of mountain farms being abandoned. Three fattening trials were carried out on 4 breeds of the Veneto region (Foza, Lamon, Alpagota, and Brogna) on a total of 115 ewes and suckling lambs, weaned lambs and heavy lambs slaughtered at 1356 ± 267, 104 ± 24, 219 ± 26, and 342 ± 14 d of age, respectively. The results confirmed that the adoption of total mixed diets resulted in good in vivo and post mortem performances of culled ewes (64 kg slaughter weight, 48% dressing percentage), suckling lambs (21 kg, 50%), weaned lambs (30 kg, 42%) and heavy lambs (61 kg, 48%). Carcass compactness and fatness increased with the age of the lambs, whereas the proportions of lean meat and bone decreased. Meat lightness and cooking losses decreased with age, whereas redness and chroma increased. The meat quality of culled ewes was like that of heavy lambs. Carcass conformation and composition (aside from size traits), and the quality of the meat differed little among the four Alpine breeds. These results show that local breeds are potentially valuable sources of lamb and mutton meat across different seasons, paving the way for strategies to develop and promote the meat with the involvement of high-quality restaurants and meat retailers. HIGHLIGHTSCompared to outdoor grazing, the adoption of indoor diets resulted in good in vivo and post-mortem performances of ewes, suckling lambs and heavy lambs. Autochthonous Alpine breeds are potentially valuable sources of high-quality lamb and mutton across different seasons of the year. This potential could be exploited in developing a prestigious product aimed at high quality restaurants and butchers. The subsequent demand for the product would, in turn, contribute to the survival of the local sheep breeds of Alpine regions.

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Economic assessment of potential efficiency gains in typical lamb production systems in the alpine region by using local resources

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Resilience of extensive sheep farming systems in Spain: strategies and policy assessment

Resilience of extensive sheep farming systems in Spain: strategies and policy assessment

Economic performance of high-energy diets and supplementation with chromium propionate or calcium salts of palm oil in ewes’ production

Performance, carcass conformation and meat quality of suckling, weaned and heavy lambs, and culled fattened ewes of autochthonous alpine sheep breeds

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