Direct marketing of beef in organic suckler cattle farms: economic results and impact on breeding system management

In response to the bovine crises of 1996 and 2000, and also to the poorly structured organic beef market chain, direct marketing of beef to consumers by the farmer has developed. We studied the impact of this marketing system on economic performance and farming practices. The results show that direct marketing can generate added value, despite the extra costs. Farmers have made the necessary changes to their practices, and have adapted their herd management. Through strengthening the link between the farm and the outside world, direct marketing offers an alternative to the expansion of farms, making it possible to support a greater workforce with the same structure

Securing Sustainable Livestock Production Systems in an Uncertain Economic Climate: Nurturing Flexibility and Resilience

Resilience is one of the three core properties of social‐ecological systems, mixing adaptability and transformability. Flexibility can be defined in terms of diversity of procedures and the speed at which they can be mobilized by one organization. The analyses performed are presented in terms of levers that farmers can deploy to protect their management systems against market uncertainty. These levers differ depending on farmer standpoints, objectives, lessons learned, the collective organizations they work with, the standards and specifications they work to, etc. It is equally important to identify the interplays between overarching and underlying scale levels for the system studied and to hone in on the dynamics at work during periods of transition. Adaptive capacities of farm systems are closely linked to how the farmer perceives the situations to manage, according to his aims, to his behaviour face to risk and to his idea of what is his job. We propose to use different words to describe the properties of farming systems to cope with changes, according to the level within the system: “adaptive capacity” or “plasticity” for the animal level, “resilience” for the biotechnical level and “flexibility” for the whole system, including the manager. We think there is a real challenge working at each level on transition periods and processes, as farming systems will have more and more to adapt face to unpredic events

Agir en situation d’incertitude : le cas des éleveurs de bovins allaitants

Cet article présente les résultats d’une étude pluridisciplinaire sur la manière dont les éleveurs font face aux incertitudes qui caractérisent actuellement ce secteur de production. Il met en évidence la diversité de leurs réponses aux évolutions de leur environnement, diversité renvoyant à différentes modalités de hiérarchisation et de combinaison des facteurs sur lesquels ils peuvent jouer pour élaborer ces réponses. Il montre également le caractère socialement distribué des ressources et des compétences mobilisées à cette fin. Quelques réflexions concluent sur les conséquences de ces résultats en termes d’accompagnement des éleveurs.The aim of the present paper is to precise the strategies of beef cattle farmers face to uncertainties. Our analysis outlies the diversity of their ways to react to the evolution of their environment, according to different points of view about priorities and combinations of factors supposed to induce flexibility to their system. It shows also the sociological determinants of the resources and skills allowing to elaborate these specific answers. The perspectives of this work are presented in terms of methodology usefull for advisers who have to help farmers for decisions making

Which contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Which contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals?. 4. International Conference on Environment and Agriculture in the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal

Modelling within the livestock farming systems research field : from cows to birds and farmers. Foreword

Avant-proposabsen

“Robustesse, rusticité, flexibilité, plasticité..., les nouveaux critères de qualité des animaux d'élevage”

Compte rendu de la journée d’automne de l’Association française de zootechnie (Paris, 13 novembre 2008

Comportement alimentaire, quantités ingérées et performances des bovins conduits en groupe

La hiérarchie sociale et les effets d’entraînement sont deux composantes importantes du comportement social qui influencent fortement le niveau d’ingestion et le comportement alimentaire des bovins conduits en groupe. Cet effet se traduit pour des animaux à besoins nutritionnels élevés (animaux laitiers ou en croissance) par des niveaux d’ingestion supérieurs et une moindre efficacité alimentaire par rapport à des situations où les animaux sont alimentés individuellement (à l’attache ou en box individuel). Les caractéristiques des groupes (compétition alimentaire, densité, nombre d’auges, effectif, stabilité dans le temps, caractéristiques des animaux) ont également des effets que nous avons cherché à quantifier. L’augmentation de la densité, la réduction de la largeur d’auge ou du temps d’accès à l’auge engendrent une diminution de la durée quotidienne d’ingestion et de la synchronisation de l’activité alimentaire, associée à une augmentation de la vitesse d’ingestion pouvant permettre le maintien du niveau d’ingestion, même lorsque le niveau de compétition est élevé. La taille du groupe a peu d’effet sur les composantes de l’ingestion des bovins et elle détermine surtout la vitesse à laquelle s’établit la hiérarchie sociale au sein du groupe. Les animaux aux besoins nutritionnels élevés ingèrent davantage, plus vite et plus longtemps que ceux aux besoins plus faibles, mais l’effet de l’hétérogénéité de ces besoins au sein d’un même groupe n’a pas été mesuré. Les études en fermes montrent pourtant que les lots gérés par les éleveurs de vaches allaitantes ne sont pas en majorité homogènes sur le plan des besoins nutritionnels, y compris durant la période des vêlages. Cela pose la question du risque d’altération des performances de ces animaux conduits en groupes hétérogènes.Social hierarchy and leadership are two major components of social behaviour, which strongly influence intake and feeding behaviour of cattle managed in groups, In animals with high nutritional requirements (dairy or growing cattle) this effect is characterised by higher intake and lower feed conversion compared to situations where animals are individually fed (tie-stall systems or individual pens), The characteristics and environment of the animal groups (competition far food, density, number of feeders, animal number and characteristics, stability in group composition) also induce certain effects that we have attempted to quantify. Increasing density and decrease of width at trough or time of access to food induce a decrease in daily duration and synchronisation of eating, with an attendant increase in the eating rate which may help maintain the intake level, even with a high level of competition far food. Group size has little effect on intake and feeding behaviour; it only plays a role in dictating the time required for the social hierarchy to be established. Animals with high nutritional requirements have higher intake and eating rates and longer daily duration of eating than those with lower requirements, but the effect of within-group heterogeneity of nutritional requirements has not been assessed. Our on-farm studies have shown, however, that in most cases the within-group nutritional requirements of the beef cattle groups managed by the farmers are not homogenous, This raises the question of the potential deterioration of performances in animals kept in such heterogeneous groups

Opinion paper: ‘Monitoring te salutant:’ combining digital sciences and agro-ecology to design multi-performant livestock farming systems

International audienc