322 research outputs found
Role of self-sufficiency, productivity and diversification on the economic sustainability of farming systems with autochthonous sheep breeds in less favoured areas in Southern Europe
Traditional mixed livestock cereal- and pasture-based sheep farming systems in Europe are threatened by intensification and specialisation processes. However, the intensification process does not always yield improved economic results or efficiency. This study involved a group of farmers that raised an autochthonous sheep breed (Ojinegra de Teruel) in an unfavourable area of North-East Spain. This study aimed to typify the farms and elucidate the existing links between economic performance and certain sustainability indicators (i.e. productivity, self-sufficiency and diversification). Information was obtained through direct interviews with 30 farms (73% of the farmers belonging to the breeders association). Interviews were conducted in 2009 and involved 32 indicators regarding farm structure, management and economic performance. With a principal component analysis, three factors were obtained explaining 77.9% of the original variance. This factors were named as inputs/self-sufficiency, which included the use of on-farm feeds, the amount of variable costs per ewe and economic performance; productivity, which included lamb productivity and economic autonomy; and productive orientation, which included the degree of specialisation in production. A cluster analysis identified the following four groups of farms: high-input intensive system; low-input self-sufficient system; specialised livestock system; and diversified crops-livestock system. In conclusion, despite the large variability between and within groups, the following factors that explain the economic profitability of farms were identified: (i) high feed self-sufficiency and low variable costs enhance the economic performance (per labour unit) of the farms; (ii) animal productivity reduces subsidy dependence, but does not necessarily imply better economic performance; and (iii) diversity of production enhances farm flexibility, but is not related to economic performance.Publishe
Effects of sex and farming system on carcass and meat quality of suckling lambs from Ojinegra breed
El presente trabajo pretende caracterizar la calidad de la canal y de la carne de cordero lechal de la raza
Ojinegra de Teruel. Para ello se utilizaron 64 corderos lechales, 32 de cada sexo, procedentes de 4 explotaciones
comerciales. Los resultados mostraron que la edad al sacrificio, el rendimiento de la canal,
las medidas objetivas de la canal y el color instrumental de la grasa y del músculo R. abdominis estuvieron
afectados por la explotación de origen (P<0,05). Por el contrario, el sexo tuvo escaso efecto sobre
los parámetros estudiados. En cuanto a la composición quÃmica de la carne, ni la explotación ni el
sexo tuvieron efecto sobre ella (P>0,05). La composición de ácidos grasos intramuscular estuvo más afectada
por la explotación que por el sexo, registrándose un efecto significativo de la explotación sobre
el contenido de ácido oleico, ácido α-linolénico, ácido linoleico conjugado (9c-11t), el grupo de ácidos
grasos poliinsaturados n-3 y la relación de ácidos grasos poliinsaturados n-6/n-3 (P<0,001). Sin embargo,
el sexo solo afectó al contenido de ácido linoleico conjugado en la carne (P<0,05). De este trabajo se
puede concluir que la calidad de la canal y de la carne de los corderos Lechal de raza Ojinegra está determinada
por el factor explotación, mientras el sexo es un factor no determinante. Por ello, para obtener
un producto comercial homogéneo, serÃa necesario definir las condiciones técnicas de producción.The aim of this study was to characterize carcass and meat quality of suckling lambs from Ojinegra de
Teruel sheep breed. Sixty-four suckling lambs, 32 from each gender, belonging to 4 different commercial
farms were used. Slaughtering age, objective carcass measurements and instrumental fat colour and
Rectus abdominis muscle colour were affected by the farm (P<0.05). These parameters were seldom affected
by the suckling lamb gender. Farm and gender had no effect on chemical composition of meat.
The farm had greater influence on intramuscular fatty acid profile than gender. Oleic acid, α-linolenic
acid, linoleic conjugated acid (9c-11t), polyunsaturated fatty acid group n-3 and polyunsaturated fatty
acid relation n-6/n-3 differed among farms (P<0.001). However, the gender had only effect on linoleic
conjugated acid (P<0.05). In conclusion, meat and carcass quality of Ojinegra suckling lambs relies mainly
on management and feeding system of the dam, instead of gender. It would be mandatory to establish
technical production rules in order to obtain a homogeneous meat productmanejocolortexturacomposición quÃmicaácidos grasosmanagementcolourtexturechemical analysisfatty acids profilePublishe
Greenhouse gas emissions of Spanish sheep farming systems: allocating between meat production
A qualitative research on Spanish farmers and citizens perceptions of ecosystem services provided by mountain livestock farming
There is a strong debate nowadays on the public goods derived from certain agro-ecosystems and their
valuation for establishing payments for ecosystem services (ES). In this context, we carried out a qualitative
research on the spontaneous knowledge of ecosystem services and the perceptions of farmers and citizens on
relationships between mountain farming and the environment. Five focus groups (2 with farmers and 3 with
citizens; n=33) were organized in north-eastern Spain. Discussions were guided according to 5 general
questions on links between pasture-based mountain livestock and the environment, lasted around 1.5 hours,
were video recorded and transcripts were written for text analysis. Ideas or items from discussions were
interpreted and organized according to the type of ES participants referred to (provisioning, regulating,
habitat, cultural).
The ES that were mentioned and discussed a greater number of times were (in descending order): aesthetic
(landscape/ vegetation); gene pool protection (biodiversity maintenance); disturbance prevention (forest
fires); lifecycle maintenance (nutrient cycling, photosynthesis); raw materials (firewood, forage); water
purification/ waste management; spiritual experience; recreation/ tourism; soil fertility/ erosion prevention;
and culture/ art. Differences between farmers and citizens were observed: farmers gave more importance to
regulating (in particular, prevention of forest fires and soil fertility) and provisioning (raw materials) ES,
mainly related to their own farming activity or local circumstances; whereas citizens gave more importance
to cultural (aesthetic landscape/ vegetation, spiritual experience, recreation/ tourism and culture/art) ES,
showing in general more global concerns.
This study constitutes the base for a quantitative research on valuation (including monetary valuation) of ES
derived from mountain farming systems in Mediterranean and North-Alpine areas.
Keywords: public goods, sustainability, valuation, focus groups.Publishe
Percepciones de ganaderos y ciudadanos sobre las relaciones entre la ganaderÃa de montaña y el medio ambiente. Un estudio cualitativo
Publishe
¿Cómo afecta el número de fetos y el sistema de explotación al estado nutricional de las ovejas de carne?
¿Cómo afecta el número de fetos y el sistema de explotación al estado nutricional de las ovejas de carne?
En España, la mayorÃa del ganado repro¬ductor deaptitud cárnica pertenecea razas depequeño-mediano, formato con moderados niveles deproducción, lo quepermitirÃa diversificar las alterna¬tivas dealimentación eincluir diversos recursos forrajeros en la ración sin penalizar los resultados productivos. En general, la ración suministrada al rebaño debemostrar un equilibrio del binomio calidad-precio y cubrir adecua¬damentesus necesidades fisiológicas; es decir, debepermitir la expresión del máximo potencial productivo a partir dela óptima funcionalidad delas carac¬terÃsticas digestivas diferenciales del rumiant
Food, energy or biomaterials? Policy coherence across agro-food and bioeconomy policy domains in the EU
The European Union (EU) envisions a shift towards a bioeconomy to address challenges such as reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, managing natural resources sustainably and food security. As a result, biomass will become an increasingly important resource in the bioeconomy. This will require careful and sustainable management especially because biomass comes from a wide variety of economic sectors and is governed by different policies. The bioeconomy will, therefore, require coherence between many different policy domains. However, little is known how policy goals in these domains interact and how these interactions may play out in different contexts. Hence, this study aims to assess coherence between bioeconomy and agro-food policies by assessing the interactions between bioeconomy and agro-food goals (i.e. trade-offs, synergies) as well as revealing knowledge gaps. Utilising qualitative content analysis, a survey and focus groups, we find that bioeconomy policy goals and agro-food policy goals are largely considered to be consistent, when considering coherence scores only, and that synergies outweigh trade-offs, both in quantity and in strength. However, all bioeconomy policy domains show some trade-offs with agro-food policy. We furthermore find disagreement (i.e. range of scores) and uncertainty in scientific knowledge-base, particularly concerning waste and bio-based industry. Disagreement surrounds the feasibility of some policy goals, such as decoupling economic growth from the environment. We conclude that a shift towards a bioeconomy will have to acknowledge the interactions between different policy goals across the different sectors and avoid ‘silo-thinking’. This can be achieved through addressing vagueness in policies and allowing integrated policies to embrace uncertainty.publishedVersio
The battle for biomass: A systematic review of food-feed-fuel competition
We review 75 studies on the competition for biomass and production resources such as land, water, labour and capital across food, feed and fuel production. We identified seven factors that are key to the availability and effective use of biomass and production resources. These ranged from ones related to production, such as crop yields to ones related to policy. Many of these factors resulted in trade-offs across different uses of biomass. Studies had different perspectives (e.g. economic, biophysical) on setting priorities for biomass and suggested different solutions to address competition (e.g. marginal lands). To connect these perspectives we suggest a framework that prioritises biomass and production resources for the use of human food before its use as feed or bioenergy.<br/
Milk production and lamb growth in Ojinegra sheep breed
El presente trabajo pretende caracterizar la capacidad productiva de las ovejas de la raza Ojinegra a dos niveles de condición corporal (CC; BAJA, ≤ 2.50 vs. ALTA, > 2.50) y evaluar el crecimiento de sus corderos para la producción de corderos del tipo lechal (10-12 kg de peso vivo a 45 dÃas de edad máxima). Para el ensayo se utilizaron 58 ovejas Ojinegras de Teruel con parto en invierno. La ración provista fue de 1 kg de pienso al dÃa y paja de cereal a voluntad. Se registró el peso vivo peso (PV) de ovejas y corderos semanalmente durante las seis semanas de lactación, y la CC de las ovejas en el parto, a mitad de lactación (3ª semana) y al destete (6ª semana). De estas ovejas se eligió al azar un grupo de 22 ovejas para llevar a cabo el estudio de la producción de leche y concentraciones de metabolitos en sangre relacionados con el balance energético (ácidos grasos no esterificados, AGNE, y β-hidroxibutirato, BHB). Los resultados mostraron que el PV de la oveja Ojinegra (49,0 ± 1,5 kg) se vio afectado por la semana de lactación (P 0,05). Los contenidos de AGNE y BHB en sangre durante la lactación no se vieron afectados por la CC al parto (p > 0,05), mostrando valores medios de AGNE y BHB de 0,30 ± 0,06 y 0,54 ± 0,02 mmol/l, respectivamente. Sin embargo, los AGNE sà decrecieron significativamente a medida que avanzaba la lactación (P 0,05), obteniéndose una producción media de leche de 813 g/dÃa (producción estándar de 702 ml/dÃa). La ganancia media diaria (GMD) de los corderos durante la lactación fue independiente de la CC de la oveja al parto (148 vs. 154 ± 9 g/dÃa, en ALTA vs. BAJA, P > 0,05). El peso medio de los corderos en el momento del destete fue de 9,6 ± 0,3 kg. De este trabajo se puede concluir que la producción de leche de las ovejas de raza Ojinegra de Teruel es moderada, permitiendo un crecimiento limitado de los corderos que puede condicionar el cumplimiento de la edad máxima para alcanzar el peso de la categorÃa lechal (45 dÃas hasta 10-12 kg). Estos resultados deberÃan ser contrastados con futuros estudios que evalúen la capacidad lechera y maternal de dicha oveja con distintos sistemas de manejo y alimentación.The aim of this study was to characterize the productive potential of the Ojinegra sheep breed at two
levels of body condition score (BAJA, ≤ 2.50 vs. ALTA, > 2.50), so that to prospect the production of suckling
lambs (10-12 kg live weight at a threshold of 45 days old). Fifty-eight winter-lambing Ojinegra ewes were used. Ewes were stalled indoors and fed 1 kg of concentrate per day and cereal straw ad libitum.
Live weight (PV) of ewes and lambs were registered weekly during lactation (6 weeks). Body condition
score (CC) of ewes was measured at lambing and at weeks 3 and 6 of lactation. Twenty-two ewes were
randomly selected to evaluate milk production and blood metabolites related with energy balance (nonesterified
fatty acids, AGNE, and β-hydroxybutyrate, BHB). Ewes’ PV after lambing was affected by the
week of lactation (P 0.05). Blood AGNE and BHB contents
were not affected by CC at lambing (P > 0.05), with mean values of 0.30 ± 0.06 and 0.54 ± 0.02 mmol/l
for AGNE and BHB respectively. However, AGNE concentration decreased during lactation (P < 0.001). Week
of lactation and CC at lambing had no effect on milk production (P > 0.05); with mean milk production
of 813 g/day (mean standardized production 702 ml/day). The average daily gain (ADG) of lambs was not
affected by ewes’ CC at lambing (148 vs. 154 ± 9 g/day, for ALTA vs. BAJA, respectively; P > 0.05). The average
PV of lambs at weaning was 9.6 ± 0.3 kg. In conclusion, milk production of Ojinegra sheep breed
is moderate and it might condition the attainment of target 10-12 kg live-weight for suckling lamb category
at a maximum age of 45 days old. These results should be confirmed in future studies, assessing the
maternal capacity of Ojinegra ewe under diverse management and feeding systems
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