Sheep production

The European country recorded with the most organic sheep in 1996 was Austria (99275), followed by Great Britain (36231), Sweden (26652) and Switzerland (19610) (Foster Lampkin, 1999). 

Benoit, writing in 2002, felt that organic sheep have a profitable future in France. He calculated that with a 20% to 30% higher price for organic lamb and by extensifying the area of forage crops so that the farm is self-sufficient for food, then farm income can be maintained or even increased. 

Sheep are seasonal breeders so, with the exception of breeds such as the Dorset Horn, lambing is restricted to the period between February and May. The short breeding season dictates the supply of lamb and makes for an uneven supply of finished lamb for the market. The months of shortage are February to June. 

From the organic standpoint, early lambing is the least natural , partly because of the length of the housing period for the lambs and partly because the easiest and most reliable way to guarantee lamb growth indoors is to feed either concentrates or dried grass pellets. These are expensive and can only be fed to a certain level in the ration, as defined in the Soil Association Standards. 

The number of lambs born per ewe depends on the breed of ewe and on body condition score at mating. The optimal number of lambs born per ewe depends on the system of production on the farm. For instance, ewes lambing in an upland or mountain environment may well be unable to fatten more than a single lamb adequately, twin lambs being too small to survive the rigours of the mountains, and the ewe unable to find sufficient nourishment to milk well. 

---

Newton, J.E., Betts, J.E., Orr, R.J., Wilde, R.M. Dhanoa, M.S. (1982). The effect of time of lambing on sheep production. Technical Report 30, Grassland Research Institute, Hurley. 

Sejian V. Climate change, Green house gas emission and sheep production. In Shinde AK, Swamkar CP, and Prince LLL (eds.), Status Papers on Future Research in Sheep Production and Production Development, 50 Years Research Contributions 962-2012), published by Director, Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, Rajasthan-304501, 2012 p. 155-178. 

Blowflies (Lucilia species) are a serious problem in sheep production. The parasitic larval stages burrow into the skin of the animal and consume the flesh. The presence of eggs or... 

MOLYBDENUM (In Biological Systems). Molybdenum is required in very low amouni.s by both plants and animals Nutrient imbalances involving molybdenum and copper have caused serious problems in cattle and sheep production. 

Elliott, D.C.V. (1986) Tapeworm (Moniezia expansa) and its effect on sheep production the evidence reviewed. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 34, 61-65. 

The titration curve of beef corticotropin (L onis and Li, 1959) and a partial curve for pork corticotropin (Danckwerts, 1952) are essentially identical to the curve for the sheep product. 

Sommer S. G. and Hutchings N. J. (1997) Components of ammonia volatilization from cattle and sheep production. In Gaseous Nitrogen Emissions from Grasslands (eds. S. C. Jarvis and B. F. Pain). CAB International, UK, pp. 79-93. 

III. Contraindications. No contraindications are known. Caution is warranted in patients with known sensitivity to ovine (sheep) products a skin test for hypersensitivity may be performed in such patients, using diluted reconstituted dmg. There are no reports of hypersensitivity reactions in patients who have received the drug more than once (although a theoretical risk). Product may contain traces of papain therefore, caution is advised in patients with allergies to papain, chymopapain, papaya extracts, and the pineapple enzyme bromelain. 

These published studies have recognised wool and meat as the co-products for sheep production systems of interest. However, sheep systems in some regions also provide milk with high economic value for human food. It is also recognised that sheep can provide other functions that can potentially be accounted for, thereby reducing the environmental impacts allocated to wool. For example, RipoU-Bosch et al. (2013) studied sheep systems in Spain and noted that the benefits of sheep to ecosystem services (e.g. conservation of biodiversity and landscapes) were important in extensive mid-high altitude natural/seminatural areas and allocated up to one-half of total GHG emissions to these ecosystem services based on an economic approach. 

For the sheep production phase, four co-product allocation methods were applied in order to test the sensitivity of the final results to the choice of method ... 

Wiedemann, S.G., Ledgard, S.F., Henry, B.K., Yan, M-J., Mao, N., Russell, S.J., 2015. Application of life cycle assessment to sheep production systems Investigating co-production of wool and meat using case studies from major global producers. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 20, 463—476. 

---