Alternative system for norsk saueproduksjon: Utviding av fersk-kjøt-sesongen og fylling av marknadsnisjer

Norway has the largest sheep population (>1 million winterfed ewes) in Scandinavia. Sheep farming is taken as a part-time activity by most farmers. The focus of this PhD study has been on increasing year-round fresh meat availability, exploring the new niche meat (halal) markets (such as Muslim festivals), and to increase the sustainability of sheep farming (economic analysis) and the meat industry (meat sensory and consumer analysis) in Norway. In paper 1, an overview of the whole Norwegian sheep farming and new niche market is provided. The sheep farming system is adapted to produce most of the lamb crop (slaughtered) over a three- to four month period from September to December with a peak in September-November. The concentrated slaughtering season has reduced the availability of slaughter animals for rest of the year, thereby limiting year-round fresh meat availability. Additionally, a large quantity of frozen meat (lamb and sheep) has exerted huge pressure on the storage facilities and disturbed the market supply and demand balance. This led to overall lower meat prices and has affected the meat consumers’ appeal to and consumption of lamb/sheep meat. To overcome the limited out of season meat supply, a better understanding of the Norwegian sheep farming system as a whole, and some critical factors, is vital for the creation of sustainable sheep meat production. Summer range grazing (90-100 days), winter indoor feeding, and meat market price, are the critical factors to be considered when suggesting any changes in the current practices. In paper 2, based on the Norwegian White sheep breed, linear optimisation was used to compare farm profitability (gross margin) of baseline practices with four different scenarios. The alternative scenarios were delayed lambing, hogget production, 1st lambing when two years old, and ewe longevity increased to 5.3 years with first lambing at two years of age. Hogget meat market price and availability of autumn pasture were the critical factors affecting gross margin for “hogget production” and “delayed lambing” scenarios respectively. Better market prices for the hogget meat would make it the most profitable production system. Increasing production life for Norwegian white sheep ewes to more than 5.3 years has the potential to produce more lamb meat per live weight of ewes. The calculated amount of concentrate feed used to produce one kg of meat was lower in the case of hogget production since hoggets mostly grazed and were not pregnant. In paper 3, the baseline sheep farming practices and four alternatives were the same as in paper 2, but the farm gross-margin of the two main breeds (Norwegian White sheep and Norwegian Spæl sheep) were now compared. Highest gross margin was calculated for the 4th alternative scenario (ewe production life increased to 5.3 years). The very low input meat prices for the hogget led to a lower gross margin for that alternative. Comparatively the Norwegian Spæl breed produced a higher gross margin compared with the Norwegian White sheep breed. The amount of concentrates used to produce one kilogram of meat was lower for two scenarios: hogget production and production life increased to 5.3 years. In paper 4, meat sensory profile of hogget and lamb meat was investigated with a trained sensory panel using quantitative descriptive analysis evaluated on an unstructured line scale from 1 (lowest intensity) to 9 (highest intensity). In total, 23 sensory attributes were analysed using the meat samples from 50 carcasses of lamb (5-monthold) and hogget (17 months old) of Norwegian White sheep and Norwegian Spæl sheep breeds. An effect (P<0.05) of animal age was found for the odour (fried roasted, sheep, and intensity), flavour (fried roasted, gamey, sheep, rancid, and liver), hardness, tenderness, fatness, and coarse fibre structural unit. Some of the flavour, juiciness, and tenderness scores were higher for lambs compared with hogget meat. Compared with Norwegian Spæl, the Norwegian White sheep breed obtained higher scores (P<0.05) for sheep odour, hardness and coarse fibre intensity. For the sensory attribute tenderness, Norwegian Spæl lamb, Norwegian Spæl hogget and Norwegian White sheep lamb scored similar while Norwegian White sheep hogget scored lower. Animal age and breed interaction (P<0.05) was found only for the fried roasted and gamey odour characteristics. Conclusively, it seems that Norwegian Spæl breed is less affected (in terms of meat sensory quality) by age compared with Norwegian White sheep breed. In paper 5, the purchasing intention for halal meat among Muslim meat consumers in Oslo was investigated by a Choice-Based Conjoint survey using the Sawtooth software. A latent class analysis was used to create consumer segments. The market share of some specific product concepts was re-estimated using a hierarchical Bayesian approach. The survey results showed that the majority of the meat consumers prefer to buy from halal butchers. In contrast, 2nd generation Norwegian born consumers gave 2nd preference to purchase halal meat from national supermarket chains. Trust is an important aspect when purchasing halal meat, and the market share would increase if the national supermarket chains had a wider range of halal meat products. An integration of halal butcher and national supermarket chains may have the potential to increase the trust and halal meat consumption among Norwegian Muslims. In conclusion, the Norwegian Spæl breed can be used for hogget production to fulfil the demand for fresh meat and religious festivals, while Norwegian White sheep farming to produce lambs rather than hogget is more profitable if ewe production life is increased to more than five years. The superior meat-eating quality of the Norwegian Spæl hogget should be advertised as a marketing strategy to get a better market price for hogget meat. To gain market share for halal meat, the national supermarket chains in Norway need to adjust their marketing strategy to include some of the services of the traditional halal butchers.Fatland Ølen AS Norges forskningsrådacceptedVersio

Rubia cordifolia based novel edible film for improved lipid oxidative and microbial stability of meat products

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Development of composite meat chocolate fortified with calcium and plant extracts

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Aloe vera and carrageenan based edible film improves storage stability of ice-cream

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Climate change resilience through enhanced reproduction and lactation performance in Malawian Zebu cattle

Malawi is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world, and the site of our investigation, Bolero EPA (Extension Planning Area), Rumphi District, is particularly exposed. Climate change lead to a drier and longer dry seasons and erratic rainfall. Constrains on availability of food and water in the dry period has negative impacts on reproductive performance, milk production and calf growth. However, these problems affect farmers differently, and improved management is likely to give higher calving rates and therefore increased production of milk and meat. Through capacity building on successful Zebu cattle management in the Rumphi district in Malawi, the overall aim of the current project is to increase reproductive performance and lactation yields and thereby climate change resilience through the following sub goals: (1) To describe the smallholder cattle farming system and ongoing general practices regarding management of Zebu cattle in the Bolero EPA, Rumphi District. (2) To determine reproductive and lactation performance and important influencing factors in Zebu cattle calving in fall. (3) To determine the prevalence of possible infectious causes for reproduction and production inefficiency in Zebu cattle. The Norwegian Government and the Government of the Republic of Malawi are supporting the program “Capacity Building for Managing Climate Change in Malawi” (CABMACC). This thesis is a part of a sub-project of CABMACC entitled “Livestock value chain, food security, and environmental quality: Transforming rural livelihoods trough community based resilience indigenous livestock management practice”. This study encompasses a cross sectional survey of management practices and reproductive performance in 39 Zebu cattle herds with 509 cattle, and a cohort study from the same farms following 101 fall-calving Malawian Zebu cows from calving and one year onwards. All the farmers in the study area are practicing an agro-pastoral production system.M-AB

Alternative systems for Norwegian sheep production: extending fresh meat season and meeting niche market demands

Norway has the largest sheep population (>1 million winterfed ewes) in Scandinavia. Sheep farming is taken as a part-time activity by most farmers. The focus of this PhD study has been on increasing year-round fresh meat availability, exploring the new niche meat (halal) markets (such as Muslim festivals), and to increase the sustainability of sheep farming (economic analysis) and the meat industry (meat sensory and consumer analysis) in Norway. In paper 1, an overview of the whole Norwegian sheep farming and new niche market is provided. The sheep farming system is adapted to produce most of the lamb crop (slaughtered) over a three- to four month period from September to December with a peak in September-November. The concentrated slaughtering season has reduced the availability of slaughter animals for rest of the year, thereby limiting year-round fresh meat availability. Additionally, a large quantity of frozen meat (lamb and sheep) has exerted huge pressure on the storage facilities and disturbed the market supply and demand balance. This led to overall lower meat prices and has affected the meat consumers’ appeal to and consumption of lamb/sheep meat. To overcome the limited out of season meat supply, a better understanding of the Norwegian sheep farming system as a whole, and some critical factors, is vital for the creation of sustainable sheep meat production. Summer range grazing (90-100 days), winter indoor feeding, and meat market price, are the critical factors to be considered when suggesting any changes in the current practices. In paper 2, based on the Norwegian White sheep breed, linear optimisation was used to compare farm profitability (gross margin) of baseline practices with four different scenarios. The alternative scenarios were delayed lambing, hogget production, 1st lambing when two years old, and ewe longevity increased to 5.3 years with first lambing at two years of age. Hogget meat market price and availability of autumn pasture were the critical factors affecting gross margin for “hogget production” and “delayed lambing” scenarios respectively. Better market prices for the hogget meat would make it the most profitable production system. Increasing production life for Norwegian white sheep ewes to more than 5.3 years has the potential to produce more lamb meat per live weight of ewes. The calculated amount of concentrate feed used to produce one kg of meat was lower in the case of hogget production since hoggets mostly grazed and were not pregnant. In paper 3, the baseline sheep farming practices and four alternatives were the same as in paper 2, but the farm gross-margin of the two main breeds (Norwegian White sheep and Norwegian Spæl sheep) were now compared. Highest gross margin was calculated for the 4th alternative scenario (ewe production life increased to 5.3 years). The very low input meat prices for the hogget led to a lower gross margin for that alternative. Comparatively the Norwegian Spæl breed produced a higher gross margin compared with the Norwegian White sheep breed. The amount of concentrates used to produce one kilogram of meat was lower for two scenarios: hogget production and production life increased to 5.3 years. In paper 4, meat sensory profile of hogget and lamb meat was investigated with a trained sensory panel using quantitative descriptive analysis evaluated on an unstructured line scale from 1 (lowest intensity) to 9 (highest intensity). In total, 23 sensory attributes were analysed using the meat samples from 50 carcasses of lamb (5-monthold) and hogget (17 months old) of Norwegian White sheep and Norwegian Spæl sheep breeds. An effect (P<0.05) of animal age was found for the odour (fried roasted, sheep, and intensity), flavour (fried roasted, gamey, sheep, rancid, and liver), hardness, tenderness, fatness, and coarse fibre structural unit. Some of the flavour, juiciness, and tenderness scores were higher for lambs compared with hogget meat. Compared with Norwegian Spæl, the Norwegian White sheep breed obtained higher scores (P<0.05) for sheep odour, hardness and coarse fibre intensity. For the sensory attribute tenderness, Norwegian Spæl lamb, Norwegian Spæl hogget and Norwegian White sheep lamb scored similar while Norwegian White sheep hogget scored lower. Animal age and breed interaction (P<0.05) was found only for the fried roasted and gamey odour characteristics. Conclusively, it seems that Norwegian Spæl breed is less affected (in terms of meat sensory quality) by age compared with Norwegian White sheep breed. In paper 5, the purchasing intention for halal meat among Muslim meat consumers in Oslo was investigated by a Choice-Based Conjoint survey using the Sawtooth software. A latent class analysis was used to create consumer segments. The market share of some specific product concepts was re-estimated using a hierarchical Bayesian approach. The survey results showed that the majority of the meat consumers prefer to buy from halal butchers. In contrast, 2nd generation Norwegian born consumers gave 2nd preference to purchase halal meat from national supermarket chains. Trust is an important aspect when purchasing halal meat, and the market share would increase if the national supermarket chains had a wider range of halal meat products. An integration of halal butcher and national supermarket chains may have the potential to increase the trust and halal meat consumption among Norwegian Muslims. In conclusion, the Norwegian Spæl breed can be used for hogget production to fulfil the demand for fresh meat and religious festivals, while Norwegian White sheep farming to produce lambs rather than hogget is more profitable if ewe production life is increased to more than five years. The superior meat-eating quality of the Norwegian Spæl hogget should be advertised as a marketing strategy to get a better market price for hogget meat. To gain market share for halal meat, the national supermarket chains in Norway need to adjust their marketing strategy to include some of the services of the traditional halal butchers

Diversity of Sources of Income for Smallholder Farming Communities in Malawi: Importance for Improved Livelihood

publishedVersio

Management Strategies to Improve the Economics of Sheep Farms in Norwegian Coastal and Fjord Areas—The Effect of Animal Size and Capacities for Rangeland Utilisation

The morphological and productive aspects of Norwegian sheep have developed over time and adapted to the diverse environment of the country. Before 1900, native Norwegian sheep were crossed with UK breeds to attain higher body weight and reproductive efficiency. Subsequent selection programs eventually led to the creation of the heavier (adults often >90 kg) Norwegian White Sheep (NWS), today constituting 70% of the recorded ewes. The modern Norwegian (White) Spæl (NS) sheep, mostly <75 kg and accounting for 10% of the recorded ewe population, originated from the native short-tailed breeds that are smaller and are believed to prefer grazing at higher altitudes than NWS. Other registered breeds of the short-tailed spæl type account for another 12% of the recorded sheep. Rugged Norwegian terrain with rich summer pastures makes the NS a complementary breed to the NWS. Increasing demand for year-round fresh meat requires changes at the farm level. Efficient use of local feed resources by extensive feeding of smaller size ewes is an opportunity for attaining economic gains and for year-round fresh meat production. The NS has a lighter bodyweight, requiring less housing space, is efficient in grazing rangeland and local pastures, and is better suited to outdoor winter grazing in coastal and fjord areas. In this paper, we compare the farm profitability (gross margin) of two Norwegian sheep breeds (NS and NWS) using a linear programming model designed for the coastal and fjord areas. The impact of ewe body weight, housing capacity, and meat produced per unit of concentrate are discussed.publishedVersio

Lamb or hogget meat – A different sensory profile? Extending the fresh meat season in Norway

This study compared the meat sensory profile of lambs (5 months old) and hoggets (17 months old) from two sheep breeds, Norwegian White Sheep (NWS) and Norwegian Spel (NS). The loin (left and right) samples (M longissimus thoracis et lumborum) from 50 carcasses were analysed for 23 sensory attributes by a trained sensory panel using quantitative descriptive analysis evaluated on an unstructured line scale from 1 (lowest intensity) to 9 (highest intensity). There was an effect (P < 0.05) of animal age on the attributes: odour (fried roasted, sheep and intensity), flavour (fried roasted, gamey, sheep, rancid and liver), hardness, tenderness, fatness, and coarse fibre structural unit. The loin muscles of lambs were scored significantly lower compared to that from the hoggets in all the sensory attributes except rancid odour, flavour, and juiciness. Sheep odour, hardness, and coarse fibre intensity differed between breeds (P < 0.05) – the NWS breed obtained a higher score than the NS breed. Meat from lambs of both breeds and the hogget NS breed was similar in tenderness while that from the NWS hoggets was scored lower by the panel. For the attribute hardness, lambs and hoggets were similar within each breed, except the NS hoggets were similar to NWS lambs. There was an interaction between animal age and breed (P < 0.05) for the fried roasted and gamey odour. The results indicate that animal age has a lower impact on eating quality for the NS breed than for the NWS breed. In the Norwegian scenario, the NS hoggets appear more suitable for supplying fresh out-of-season meat. Results should be confirmed with a larger sample size of both breeds.publishedVersio