SHEEP AND GOAT PRODUCTION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Mátlová, Vra
Research Institute for Animal
Production
104 00 Praha 10 - Uhínves,
Czech Republic
---------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT
The national programme of the protection and
employment of genetic resources was elaborated in 1996 in the Research Institute
for Animal Production (RIAP) for the fulfilling of ratified international
agreements on the protection of animal genetic resources. Among others, three
breeds of sheep and goats are included there.
Within the last few years new trends in sheep
husbandry resulted in the introduction of intensively bred foreign meat-type
breeds. Rearing of the original breed, well adapted to the conditions of
pastoral regions (higher amounts of precipitations, lower temperatures, shorter
vegetation period) at the very cost of its lower performance, is possible
with a subsidy only.
As a successor of aboriginal rustical breeds,
the Sumavka breed plays an irreplaceable role in the ecosystem of such regions.
The breed regeneration started in 1954, concentrating 300 representatives
in a breeding centre. Accredited in 1986, its population reached 15 000.
Today the estimation is about 7 000, of which only 1 000 animals
are registered and performance-tested.
The white and the brown shorthaired goats are
the other protected breeds. Both originated from the breeding of local domestic
coloured goats with imported bucks of the Saanen and the Harz breed,
respectively, since the beginning of this century. In the last 6 decades,
they represent closed populations without any new import and reflect a breeding
effort of our breeders. Despite rather large numbers of animals (about
35 000 and 4 000 as for the white and the brown goat, respectively)
the active population producing the regular breeding stock is 2 000
and 150 registered animals only. Since the cutting off of the state subsidies
for breeding programmes, the use of non-licensed bucks in the population
is increasing. The run of the performance testing alone, as well as coordination
of the breeding process, is distressed by the great dispersion of animals
(90 percent of them are kept in small holdings of 1-3 heads).
The programme of protection presumes 2 000
registered animals of each kind to be sufficient for maintaining the breed.
This will be ensured by rearing live animals and by the cryoconservation
of the sperm and embryos from selected individuals. In the sheep, 5 herds
(1997) are involved, in contrary to goats which for the most part are kept
in a traditional small holding.
The origin of the reffered animals must be evident
both on the mother's and father's part, although in the first year (1997)
there could be exceptionally registered animals of one-part origin known,
corresponding to the breed standard. The reproduction is carried out by the
rotation of sires of at least six unrelated strains. To ensure the regular
progeny testing, there is a need to extend methods of artificial insemination.
Registration, performance recording and the specified breeding programme
realization is in the charge of breeding associations. RIAP is coordinating
all the activities and, using the animal model, evaluating reffered animals.
The best 85 percent of does (ewes) and 10 percent of sires, up to 2 000
of each breed, is proposed to be granted. Animals should be ranked every
year based on the annual calculation of their breeding value.
Subsidy level is calculated to balance the
difference between the average costs and returns plus 10 percent profitability;
for the year 1997 the subsidy proposals are about 28.6 and 30 ECU for goat
and ewe, respectively. An extra bonus of 11 ECU is proposed for the brown
goat to stimulate the production of breeding stock. As for sires, the subsidy
proposal amounts to about 100 ECU. In the case of using sperm conservation,
there is a cost estimation of another 3 600 ECU per year and breed.
---------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
The National programme of the protection and
employment of genetic resources was elaborated in 1996 in the Research Institute
for Animal Production (RIAP) for the fulfilling of ratified international
agreements on the protection of animal genetic resources. Among others, three
breeds of sheep and goats are included there.
Within the last few years new trends in sheep
husbandry resulted in the introduction of intensively bred foreign meat-type
breeds. Rearing of the original breed, well adapted to the conditions of
pastoral regions (higher amounts of precipitations, lower temperatures, shorter
vegetation period) at the very cost of its lower performance, is possible
with a subsidy only.
PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT
Agricultural land area per head is 0.41 ha,
from which 60 percent is situated in mountain and sub-mountain regions. Despite
that, 74 percent of this land is arable. Four-tenths of a percent of total
agricultural area cover biodynamic husbandry.
Private farms cover 24% of land, with average
35 ha,
co-operatives 43% 1 400 ha
trading companies 32% 670 ha
state enterprises 1% 700 ha
In small farms (up to 5 ha) 82% of land is owned
by farmers,
in farms 5-50 ha, only 55% of land and
in larger farms only 15%.
Generally, yields of both main crops
and animal products are 20-45 percent lower than that in EU countries (milk
yield is about 25 percent). The unfavourable effect of this fact on the
production costs is obvious.
Agriculture accounts for only 3 percent of the
gross national product (Hungary 7 percent) and employs 6 percent manpower
(Hungary 8 percent), with an average salary of 210 ECU, which is 81 percent
of the country average.
State subsidy (production subsidy equivalent)
amounts to 10 percent (Hungary 11 percent, EU 43 percent, Switzerland 82
percent, Australia 9 percent). In 1997, only 2.6 percent of the state budget
is expended on agriculture, so that farmers paid more in duties and taxes
than they received as subsidy.
Economic results are mostly negative, the positive
ones are gained only in larger farms (about 100 ha, producing cereals, oil
crops and landscape management without animal production). The worst results
come from farms in marginal regions, even though they increase their production
intensity and output amounts and despite the subsidies extended. Unbalanced
relations between input costs and production prices devours this effort (input
costs increased in 6 years by 300 percent, production prices by 148
percent)
SHEEP AND GOAT FARMS
Farm size and ownership
Because of the lower quality of grasslands in
marginal regions, about one-third of the larger farms purchase 30-40 percent
of the hay and usually 100 percent of the straw for bedding.
Housing of large herds is usually of
medium standard with a great amount of hand-work, as investment funds for
modernization are low or none. Some 20 percent of farms established in the
few last years are newly-built, while the rest are reconstructed and modernized
buildings. The keeping environment in small-holdings is 50 percent unsatisfactory
from the standpoint of animal welfare, hygiene and labour demands.
As for goats, all of the larger herds (over 30 heads) were established in 1992 to 1997 as intensive dairy operations. Twenty-five percent of herds are co-operative and Ltd, the rest are private. All these farms provide the complete dairy operation including processing, packaging and transport of milk products by their own manpower. Due to rather strict hygienic requirements, milking and dairy technology used is new and of a high standard (all the farms over 10 goats use milking machines, cooling and pasteurization equipment with obligatory registration).
ECONOMIC SITUATION REGARDING DIFFERENT SIZE OF FARMS
Larger farms may partially mitigate the transport costs by a larger amount of production supply. An attempt was made to organize purchase and collective processing but it failed due to high raw milk transport costs with small collected amounts. However, the market was not able to absorb the higher amount of goat milk products because of the higher price and less attractive image compared to the massive supply of cow milk products.
Numbers of sheep and goats (in thousands)
Year |
Sheep |
Ewes |
Goats |
Does |
1990 |
430 |
46 |
||
1991 |
429 |
41 |
||
1992 |
342 |
42 |
||
1993 |
254 |
120 |
45 |
30 |
1994 |
196 |
86 |
45 |
31 |
1995 |
165 |
73 |
45 |
30 |
1996 |
134 |
60 |
42 |
35 |
1997 |
120 |
54 |
38 |
30 |
Number of herds of various size
| Herd size | up to 10 |
10-50 |
50-100 |
100-200 |
200-300 |
over 300 |
| Sheep | 15 000 |
90 |
25 |
17 |
8 |
12 |
| Goats | 12 000 |
20 |
8 |
6 |
- |
- |
Structure of herds
Sheep in the registered herds with performance
testing are 15 800 in 209 herds. The majority of sheep (76 percent)
are therefore not registered, are widespread over the whole country in
small-holdings and include crossbred of formerly kept Merino with other breeds.
Goats are 90 percent white shorthaired dairy
breed, 3 percent brown short-haired dairy breed, and the rest are crossbreds.
Numbers of other dairy breeds are negligible (about 15 does of Toggenburg
breed and 40 does of French Alpine). Registered animals with performance
testing are 2 900 goats (7.5 percent) in 470 herds. Meat-type German
Boers were imported in the last two years and bucks are used in 5 herds to
produce meat crossbreds.
Other breed types are negligible (angora and
cashmere).
Registered herds
| Sheep breeds | herds |
ewes |
10 |
50 |
100 |
200 |
300 |
500 |
|
21 |
2078 |
3 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
|
54 |
2 005 |
19 |
24 |
9 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
12 |
1 848 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
24 |
1 766 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
8 |
948 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
|||
|
24 |
929 |
6 |
10 |
7 |
1 |
||
|
11 |
644 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
||
|
3 |
614 |
2 |
1 |
||||
|
5 |
504 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
1 |
461 |
1 |
|||||
|
19 |
373 |
10 |
8 |
1 |
|||
|
6 |
277 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|||
|
22 |
201 |
20 |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
6 |
162 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|||
|
6 |
56 |
4 |
2 |
||||
|
herds |
does |
10 |
50 |
100 |
200 |
300 |
500 |
|
400 |
2 550 |
384 |
7 |
4 |
5 |
||
|
67 |
300 |
64 |
3 |
||||
|
3 |
150 |
|
2 |
1 |
|||
|
2 |
60 |
2 |
|||||
|
2 |
8 |
2 |
Main products
Sheep
The average consumption of lamb, mutton and
goat meat per head is only 0.3 kg. Meat sold to merchants (600 tonnes/year
for the lowest price of 1.2 ECU) represents 4 percent of the total meat market
amount. Moreover, about 600 tonnes of lamb is sold directly from farms for
2-2.5 ECU/kg and about 900 tonnes of lamb and culled sheep meat is spent
as a self-supply.
Not more than 700 ewes are regularly milked
and cheese and other milk products are made and sold in specialized "health
food" stores.
Goats
The main market product is milk and cheese,
which is mostly the fresh or soft type, less ripened type. Milk production
from about 2 000 goats is sold at 80 percent in stores and 20 percent
directly on the farms. Milk sold represents about 25 percent of total production
e.g. 250 tonnes/year; cheese amount is estimated as 100 tonnes/year. Weaned
kids are sold as an exclusive product, mostly directly on the farms (estimated
350 tonnes, for 2.5 ECU/kg), Easter kids (50 tonnes) are sold to merchants
for 1.3 ECU/kg. About 600 tonnes of kid and culled goats meat is used during
the year as self-supply.
Production of goat milk cosmetics includes 8
products, mainly skin creams, lotions, and bath components; in 1997 about
250 000 pieces were sold.
Estimated yearly production
| Products | yearly amount |
average prices |
| mutton (live weight) | 600 t |
0.5 ECU/kg |
| meat lambs | 1 400 t |
1.2-2.5 ECU/kg |
| Breeding stock* | 150/200 ECU/head |
|
| Raw wool | 0.8 ECU/kg |
|
| Sheep and goat cheese | 100 t |
6-8 ECU/kg |
| goat milk | 250 t |
0.8 ECU/l = 200% of cow milk |
| meat kids | 800 t |
1.3-2.5 ECU/kg |
| Breeding stock* | 400 heads |
60-80 ECU/head |
| meat goats | 250 t |
0.3 ECU/kg |
* stock as own replacements not included
Export and import
Frozen meat is imported for a very low prices (0.1 ECU/kg) from New Zealand, Iceland, Chile, Denmark and Germany. Wool originates from Australia and England, whereas live animals are mostly breeding stock from Germany, France, Denmark and Holland.
Export/import in 1996
| Commodity | Export |
Import |
| live sheep (heads) | 120 |
2 100 |
| live lambs (heads) | 2 200 |
- |
| live goats (heads) | 160 |
10 |
| fresh meat (tonnes) | - |
9 |
| frozen meat (tonnes) | - |
65 |
| raw wool (tonnes) | 1 500 |
15 000 |
| processed wool (tonnes) | 4 500 |
2 600 |
| sheep skins (tonnes) | 100 |
2 500 |
| goat skins (tonnes) | 20 |
100 |
Organizations available for breeders and farmers
The main breeders organizations are two: - the
Association of Sheep and Goat Breeders and the Czech Association of Small
Animals Breeders which also includes other animals (poultry, rabbits). The
first one joins together mainly sheep farmers and is in charge of keeping
the stud book and the central registration of sheep; the other one plays
the same role for goats. Through the mediation of about ten licensed corporations
in regions, sire rotation, performance recording, animal identification and
judging is made, and summarized by the breeders associations. Both associations
organize auction fairs (about 50 for sheep and 20 for goats in regions),
best animal presentation on the national and regional shows, tours to some
European shows and farms, the purchase and sale of breeding stock, consultancy
and extension service in breeding, as well as publishing their own
periodicals.
No extension services are organized by Agriculture
Chambers or Regional Offices of the Ministry of Agriculture. Consultancy
service in feeding provided by the producing companies as a part of their
product price, and is almost never used, as farmers usually cannot afford
to buy these feeds. The extension service in housing, technical equipment,
feeding and farm management is available free in the Research Institute for
Animal Production and is used mainly by the newly established, progressive
farmers. However the widely accepted application of modern ways and technologies
is limited by the lacking funds and therefore farmers do not feel the necessity
for extension services.
Aids and governmental supports available
Because of state fund savings, some former aids were cut down since 1996. In 1997 the following aids are available :
Sheep
· 50 percent allowance on breeding stock
purchase;
· 53 ECU for production of a licensed stud
ram;
· 26 ECU by recognizing an ewe as elite
mother of stud rams;
· 106 ECU per year allowance for holding
a stud ram for common use (930 rams in 1997);
· 2.6 ECU per year allowance for performance
testing (the cost is 5.3 ECU);
· Special subsidy is given from the National
Programme for Genetic Resources Fund for breeding of the Sumavka breed (29
ECU/ewe/year).
Goats
· 53 ECU for production of a licensed stud
buck;
· 13 ECU by recognizing a doe as elite
mother of stud bucks;
· 116 ECU per year allowance for holding
a licensed stud buck for common use (1 250 bucks in 1997, the cost of
license is 21 ECU);
· 5 ECU per year allowance for performance
testing (cost is 16 ECU per doe for small-holdings and 10 ECU for large
herds);
· Special subsidy is given from the National
Programme for Genetic Resources Fund for breeding of the white breed (10-24
ECU/doe/year according to her performance) and brown breed (15-34 ECU).
Breeders associations are provided with a state
allowance for their activities in performance testing and stud book keeping
in a yearly amount about 50 000 ECU.
Alternative utilization of small
ruminants
Strategy to survive
The main tasks:
Sheep
Goats
Rather big reserves are in breeding/genetic
improvement and nutrition. Neither in sheep nor in goats is the real breeding
value of animals estimated, which is the basic condition for any improvement.
In sheep for example, only 50 percent of registered herds achieve 150 percent
prolificity and another 30 percent are even further under this level. In
goats, there is still a low degree of improvement in milk protein content
(variability among herds is 2.3-3.6 percent). Carcass quality of kids should
be improved as well.
Insemination is almost never used, due to high
cost (5-6 ECU) and rather low success of this method compared to the natural
mating. The only insemination station was cancelled in 1990. Moreover, there
is a benefit in holding a licensed ram/buck, as there is a state allowance
of 106/116 ECU, as mentioned above.
As for nutrition, basic failures are in the
winter feeding, which is not the best quality and quantity. There are big
reserves in the pasture improvement, however it requires investments which
are not always available.
Piirsalu, P.
Institute of Animal Husbandry
Estonian Agricultural University
EE2400 Tartu, Kreutzwaldi 1,
Estonia
---------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT
---------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
The total landsurface of Estonia comprises nearly
4.5 million hectares in 1997, of which 2.02 million hectares (45 percent)
is devoted to forest and woodland and 1.13 million hectares (25 percent)
to arable land. The remainder is natural grassland (7 percent), inland water
(6 percent) and other land (17 percent). The area of agricultural land
was 1.45 million hectares (32 percent of the total area). The population
of Estonia is 1.46 million of whom 30.6 percent live in the rural area. There
were 854 active agricultural enterprises and 22 722 private farms in
1996. The average size of the agricultural enterprise was 480 ha and the
private farm 22 ha. The gross agricultural output of enterprises was 46.3
percent, of household plots- 30.6 percent and private farms - 23.2 percent
from the total agricultural output of the state in 1996. The gross agricultural
output constituted 5.59 in 1996 and 6.84 billion krones in 1993 (at 1995
prices), i.e. 18.3 percent less than in 1993. Livestock production constitutes
approximately 50 percent of the total agricultural output. The main
branches of livestock production are dairy and pig production. Sheep and
goat production are the branches of secondary importance in the national
agricultural sector.
General information about sheep
farming
There has been a heavy decline in the size of the sheep population during the last 6 years in Estonia (Table 1).
Table 1. The number of sheep in 1992-1997 (thousands)
The |
Located on |
||||||
| Year | number |
household plots |
private farms |
agric. enterprises |
|||
of sheep |
no. |
% |
no. |
% |
no. |
% |
|
| 1992 | 142.8 |
123.3 |
86.3 |
15.4 |
10.8 |
4.1 |
2.9 |
| 1993 | 124.2 |
104.0 |
83.7 |
17.5 |
14.1 |
2.7 |
2.2 |
| 1994 | 83.3 |
70.9 |
85.1 |
11.8 |
14.2 |
0.6 |
0.7 |
| 1995 | 61.5 |
51.2 |
83.3 |
9.7 |
15.7 |
0.6 |
1.0 |
| 1996 | 49.8 |
40.7 |
81.7 |
8.8 |
17.7 |
0.3 |
0.6 |
| 1997 | 39.2 |
31.3 |
79.8 |
7.6 |
19.4 |
0.3 |
0.8 |
There were 142.8 thousand sheep in 1992 and
only 39.2 thousand at the beginning of 1997, so the sheep population decreased
364 percent during the last 6 years (the number of dairy cows reduced 154
percent and pigs 267 percent).
The average size of an Estonian sheep farm is
small. Unfortunately, statistical data about the average herd size and farm
size in the sheep farming sector are not available in Estonia. The biggest
sheep farm, Aravete OÜ, county Järvamaa, has an average 220 breeding
ewes. There are some other farms with 80-120 breeding ewes, but it is estimated
that the average herd size on private farms is 10-12 breeding ewes and 4-6
ewes on household plots. But there is a tendency to ward disappearance of
small flocks which has not yet been compensated by the opposing tendency
of establishing large flocks.
The main products of Estonian sheep farms are
mutton, wool and skin. The most important is mutton (lamb) which comprises
approximately 80-85 percent of the farms' total annual income. The consumption
of mutton per capita decreased from 1.3 kg in 1992 to 0.35 kg in 1996. At
this moment there is a demand for lamb in home market, but the market price
for lamb is not satisfying local producers. By the initiative of the Estonian
Sheep Breeders Association there was some export of live animals in 1993,
1994 and 1995 (respectively 5 000, 2 750, 1 500 animals) to
Syria and through Hungary to the other countries. But most of the produced
mutton (1 846 tonnes in 1992, 509 tonnes in 1996) is consumed in the
home market.
Wool gives approximately 10-15 percent and skins
5 percent to the annual income of the Estonian sheep farmer. The role of
wool may increase if a farmer gives wool for processing and sells its further
as yarn. A more profitable use of wool is its use for knitting purposes (hand
or machine). There is a remarkable market for woollen jumpers, socks, gloves
etc. with typical local patterns. Most of the wool products are marketed
in a home market and wollen products are enjoying a great revival, especially
among tourists. Some wool products such as jumpers, socks and gloves, with
local Estonian patterns, are exported to the Scandinavian markets. There
are some sheep skin manufacturers, but a small sheep population doesn't give
the opportunity to invest in a new technology.
Health and economy
Providing that the feeding is properly arranged,
there are almost no other health problems than external (sheep scab, lice,
ked) or internal parasites (roundworms, tape-worms, liver flukes, coccidiosis).
Due to the selenium deficiency of soils, selenium and vitamin E treatment
is necessary for prevention of white muscle disease of lambs.
Currently, any subsidies in the sheep farming
sector do not exist in Estonia (in contrast to the EU countries). So it's
hard for the local farmer to survive under the conditions of a liberal market
economy. Up to now there are no import taxes (duties) for any agricultural
products, including sheep meat, wool and skins. The important problem in
sheep farming is marketing sheep products (lamb, wool, skins) and to get
satisfactory prices for them.
The organizations
Activities for improving sheep husbandry (especially
sheep recording and extension) in the whole country have been led by the
Estonian Sheep Breeders Association (ESBA) since 1990. Currently ESBA has
307 members. In the head office in Tartu there are two agronomists and one
clerk. They carry out a sheep recording scheme, perform breeding selection,
register sheep in the herd book, arrange sales of breeding animals and guide
farmers in sheep and goat breeding, feeding and management. ESBA receive
some subsidy from the state for sheep breeding. ESBA have their own journal
- Sheep and Goat.
There are two breeds of sheep: the Estonian
Blackhead (Eesti tumedapealine ) and the Estonian Whitehead (Eesti valgepealine).
At least 70 percent of the sheep population are of the Estonian Blackhead.
The Estonian Whitehead represents about 30 percent. The Estonian Blackhead
was developed from local indigenous sheep with Shropshire and Oxford Down.
Currently, some blood from Oxford Down has been introduced. The Estonian
Whitehead sheep originates from crosses between local sheep and Cheviot.
Currently Texel and Norwegian Dala sheep have been used. The number of recorded
sheep has declined to about 1 000 ewes from 29 herds. The average size
of recorded herds is 30 ewes. Sheep data are stored in a sheep breeding database
in FoxPro.
Sheep farming in Estonia is based on extensive
or semi-intensive management systems. The grazing period occurs from May
until November (about 6 months) and sheep are grazed on the long term pastures.
It's necessary to keep sheep over the long winter in insulated barns. The
sheep are usually kept in old cow sheds or hay sheds. The interior of sheep
housing is very simple. Winter feeding is based on self-produced feeds (hay
or straw, barley or oatmeal, some fodder beet during pregnancy and the lambing
period). Mineral and vitamin supplements are purchased.
The importance of goat husbandry is trivial
in Estonia. Statistical data about the number of goats in Estonia are not
available. But is considered that the population consisted of about 1 000
dairy goats in 1997. The goat population has been affected very little by
foreign breeds. Today there are white or grey-colored shorthaired, mainly
horned individuals. Unfortunately there are no recorded data about milk
production. Recently some blood of Norwegian elite bucks has been introduced
by using deep frozen semen in artificial insemination. The main product of
goat farming - raw milk - is consumed in an unprocessed form on the
farm.
PRESENT STATE OF HUNGARIAN SHEEP BREEDING
Jávor, András Kukovics,
Sándor
Nábrádi, András
Ábrahám, Mária
Molnár,
Györgyi Research Institute
for Animal
Molnár,
Balázs Breeding and
Nutrition
Debrecen University of Agricultural
Sciences Herceghalom, Hungary
Debrecen, Hungary
---------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT
---------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
THE STOCK
Compared to the 1982 stock data, the total number of sheep, and within it the number of ewes, experienced a significant decrease (Table 1).
Table 1. Proportions of stock changes
1982 |
1994 |
1996 |
|
| Number of sheep | 3 180 000 |
37% |
31% |
| Number of ewes | 1 972 000 |
45% |
37% |
(Kukovics et al., 1997)
Not only has the number of stock decreased, but this change was different by counties. The decrease was 12 percent in 1996 alone (Table 2).
Table 2. Number of sheep in Hungary 1995,1996
| County |
Number of ewes
|
Number of ewes
|
Number of ewes per 100 ha agricultural land |
| Baranya | 20 936 |
20 891 |
58 |
| Bács-Kiskun | 133 343 |
100 053 |
70 |
| Békés | 37 048 |
36 556 |
77 |
| Borsod - A. - Z. | 70 046 |
66 200 |
49 |
| Csongrád | 22 726 |
24 371 |
42 |
| Fejér | 38 594 |
43 009 |
112 |
| Gyr - Moson - Sopron | 7 816 |
5 302 |
16 |
| Hajdú - Bihar | 11 735 |
151 973 |
114 |
| Heves | 181 461 |
14 772 |
34 |
| Komárom - Esztergom | 16 121 |
10 551 |
58 |
| Nógrád | 12 926 |
11 801 |
31 |
| Pest | 56 033 |
43 403 |
74 |
| Somogy | 14 921 |
14 784 |
26 |
| Szabolcs - Sz. - B. | 142 968 |
128 200 |
174 |
| Jász - Nagykun - Sz. | 49 350 |
44 514 |
78 |
| Tolna | 25 781 |
28 675 |
93 |
| Vas | 2 541 |
2 482 |
10 |
| Veszprém | 42 350 |
35 042 |
58 |
| Zala | 8 213 |
5 881 |
10 |
| Total | 894 939 |
788 460 |
69 |
(Jávor et al., 1997/b)
The property structure of the industry has changed;
in 1996, 74 percent of the total stock was produced by private producers
(mainly small-scale producers). The majority of these small farms had far
less than 100 sheep on average (Table 2).
One less than 6800 private and legal bodies
were producing sheep (Table 3.). Of the total stock, 78.8 percent was owned
by private producers, while 21.1 percent was owned by communities
(co-operatives), LTDs and PLCs. More than 92 percent of sheep breeders have
stocks with less than 300 sheep, which is considered to be the minimum in
terms of economic efficiency (Table 3.).
Table 3. Distribution of ewe stock according to size and ownership
| Number of ewes | Private producers |
Enterprises |
Total |
|||||
Number of private producers |
Number of ewes |
Number of Agricultural Coop's, PLC, LTD |
Number of ewes |
Total number of producers |
Total number of ewes |
|||
1 |
- |
10 |
1 294 |
8 503 |
0 |
0 |
1 294 |
8 503 |
11 |
- |
50 |
2 540 |
69 691 |
5 |
179 |
2 545 |
69 870 |
51 |
- |
100 |
1 100 |
87 322 |
7 |
541 |
1 107 |
87 863 |
101 |
- |
200 |
870 |
132 571 |
16 |
2 505 |
886 |
135 076 |
201 |
- |
300 |
400 |
101 375 |
19 |
4 828 |
419 |
106 203 |
301 |
- |
400 |
173 |
60 644 |
15 |
5 408 |
188 |
66 052 |
401 |
- |
500 |
107 |
49 400 |
15 |
6 823 |
122 |
56 223 |
501 |
- |
1 000 |
104 |
72 739 |
48 |
34 695 |
152 |
107 434 |
1 001 |
- |
2 000 |
21 |
28 805 |
34 |
49 238 |
55 |
78 043 |
2 001 |
- |
3 000 |
7 |
16 856 |
12 |
29 245 |
19 |
46 101 |
3 001 |
- |
4 000 |
2 |
7 478 |
5 |
17 146 |
7 |
24 624 |
4 001 |
- |
5 000 |
1 |
4 145 |
3 |
13 079 |
4 |
17 224 |
5 001 |
- |
0 |
0 |
1 |
8 047 |
1 |
8 047 |
|
| Total | 6 619 |
639 529 |
180 |
171 734 |
6 799 |
811 263 |
||
(Source: Jávor et al., 1997)
The sheep had almost disappeared from Trans-Danubia by 1996, and its stocks have significantly decreased in the Danube-Tisza region, and in Eastern-Hungary - even in the Trans-Tisza region.
BREEDS AND BREEDING
Although there are 21 breeds (four of which
are native to Hungary) bred in pure breed enterprises, more than 90 percent
of the total sheep stock in Hungary is of the merino line (Table 4).
Until recently a strong negative tendency prevailed,
not only in declined quality of ewes and rams in production (the majority
of rams are considered to be "black market ram"), but in the stagnated production
indices of pure breed enterprises and in the suppression of any other
breeds.
Table 4. Registered sheep breeds in
Hungary
| Breed | Number of Ewes | Origin |
| Hungarian Merino | 37 500 |
|
| Australian Merino | 110 |
Australia - New Zealand |
| Prolific Merino | 2 200 |
|
| Booroola Merino | 40 |
New Zealand |
| Corriedale | 600 |
New Zealand |
| Romney | 230 |
New Zealand |
| Bábolna Prolific | 1 400 |
|
| Ile de France | 550 |
France |
| German Mutton Merino | 2 570 |
Germany |
| German Blackface | 550 |
Germany |
| Suffolk | 500 |
USA, UK |
| Texel | 150 |
The Netherlands |
| Awassi | 440 |
Israel |
| British Milk Sheep | 160 |
Great - Britain |
| East Fresian | 30 |
Germany |
| Lacuane | 50 |
France |
| Cigája | 800 |
|
| Cikta | 200 |
|
| Racka | 1 500 |
|
| Transilvanian Racka | 50 |
|
| Controlled Milking Crossbreds | 2 500 |
(Kukovics et al., 1995)
THE PRODUCTION
The production of main products has decreased drastically (Table 5).
Table 5. Production of sheep products in 1990 and 1996 (tonnes, litres)
1990 |
1996 |
|
| Mutton (live weight) | 35 000 |
22 000 |
| Raw wool | 7 337 |
3 800 |
| Sheep milk | 4.0 |
1.2 |
(Kukovics et al., 1997)
The outputs of the industry declined in times
when the demand was increasing rather than decreasing. The utilization of
the 1.3 million ha of grassland is around 40-50 percent. There will not be
enough sheep for the lands planned to be set aside.
GENETIC BASES OF QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE
DEVELOPMENT
The leaders of Hungarian sheep breeding have been trying
for many years to guide the industry to a course of improving results. An
efficient means of improving intensity is specialization. There are several
breeds around the world that, with regards to production indices, can surpass
the Hungarian stocks by far. Most of these breeds are specially bred for
a certain product of sheep. The staggering difference that prevails with
regards to phenotype between the leading breeds of the world and the domestic
stock must be taken into account during the development. This difference
is 600-1000 percent in milk production, 80-120 percent in daily live weight
gain, 50-60 percent in feed conversion and 150-200 percent in utilized
progeny.
In public breeding our merinos practically became
one-purpose mutton producers. The 90-110 percent utilized progeny, the 250
grams live-weight gain, the 45-47 percent slaughter value and the 84 percent
low class mutton-body ratio are evidence of low quality production. We have
the necessary genetic bases for increasing progeny rates and improving individual
veal production capabilities of lambs. The prolific and mutton breeds, besides
increasing the number of lambs, could improve feed conversion, live-weight
gain, meat quality and slaughter value. Unfortunately, prolific and mutton
breeds are used very rarely in the country (Table 6). The reasons behind
this are tradition, habit, lack of knowledge, and fear of change. For improving
mutton production, many direct and indirect crossbreeding programmes have
been worked out and introduced with more or less good results in Hungary,
the majority of which have however disappeared with the transition.
Also, many programmes have been developed to
improve milk production in sheep. Crossing experiments proved that the total
milk yield can be increased by 50-250 percent. In terms of milk yield it
means an improvement of 20-200 percent and in terms of the length of lactation
an improvement of 10-70 percent. It is true though that a decrease of 0.4-1
percent in fat and 0.3-0.5 percent in protein also has to be taken into account.
For improving milk yields - which at present means a quantitative improvement
- we have the necessary breeds, a part of which facilitates the increase
of meat production (progeny) as well (Table 7).
At present, wool production due to the prices
could not be a developed priority.
Table 6. Average production data on mutton breeds in Hungary
| Breed total | Average daily live weight gain (g) | Progeny |
|
| (average) | Ewes |
Rams |
% |
| German Mutton Merino | 280-340 |
300-380 |
103-130 |
| German Blackface | 320-360 |
330-380 |
54-150 |
| Suffolk | 300-340 |
400-490 |
45-100 |
| Texel | 210-330 |
380-410 |
111-130 |
| Ile de France | 270-300 |
340-360 |
93-113 |
| Hungarian Merino | 250-270 |
280-350 |
45-67/*180 |
| Prolific Merino | 180-300 |
280-340 |
92-188 |
| Booroola Merino | 260-370 |
300-320 |
100-132 |
| * data of the best enterprise | |||
(Kukovics et al., 1996)
Table 7. Genotypes milked in Hungary
| Breed |
Milk yield in lactation
|
Weaned progeny (%) |
|
| Awassi | 300 - 336 |
(150-200)* | 90 - 95 |
| Awassi F1 | 80 - 105 |
90 - 95 |
|
| Milking Cigája | 160 - 200 |
130 - 140 |
|
| Lacuane | 64 - 100 |
130 - 140 |
|
| Lacuane F1 | 60 - 80 |
125 - 135 |
|
| Pleven F1 | 60 - 80 |
100 - 109 |
|
| Pleven F1 x Black East-Friesian: ewes | 100 - 130 |
110 - 114 |
|
| Pleven F1 x Black East-Friesian: young ewes | 90 - 110 |
100 - 106 |
|
| Merino | 30 - 50 |
90 - 95 |
|
| British Milk Sheep | 160 - 220 |
(100)* | 180 - 195 |
| British Milk Sheep F1 | 90 - 130 |
160 - 180 |
|
* (minimum data) (Kukovics et al., 1996)
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
The output production of the sheep industry
is primarily determined by the export orientation. In the present circumstances
mutton production is the primary production objective, milk and wool are
considered as side or by-products.
The majority of the mutton produced goes to
Western European countries, primarily to Italy. The shipment is almost
exclusively made up of young lambs, while domestic demand is met with lower
quality - mostly shoddy - ewes and lambs. The estimated 0.3-0.4 kg per head
domestic consumption means 3-4000 tonnes of mutton with bones which is 25-30
percent of the total mutton production. Marketing possibilities of mutton
and lamb meat produced depends on the level of self-sufficiency of the EU
which is considered to be our major market. According to Table 8. The
self-sufficiency of the EU is around 80 percent, which according to forecasts,
will not be higher after the turn of the century.
The domestic wool industry was practically ruined
in the last decade. Between 1985 and 1995 the domestic wool based fabric
production plummeted to 2 982 000 m2 from 36 100
m2, and as a result the demand in the industry is low; besides,
the average quality of the Hungarian wool is not really preferred among the
remaining wool processors. With regard to milk and sheep milk products we
cannot really speak about producing for the domestic market. It is in part
because this product line has virtually vanished from the domestic markets
and, in part, because these are relatively more expensive than cow milk-based
products. The Hungarian customer does not demand and in fact does not really
know the product made of sheep milk. Milk products that can be produced from
1.2-1.4 million litres of milk- compared to the 6 million litres annual milk
production, considered ideal - are not enough to meet the demands of even
the well paying export markets.
Table 8. Sheep and Goat economy in the 15
countries of EU in 1994
Country |
Ewes and Does |
Production |
Consumption |
Self sufficiency |
|
(million heads) |
Total 1000 tonnes |
Per ewe and doe kg |
1000 tonnes |
% |
|
| United Kingdom | 19.9 |
392 |
19.7 |
350 |
112 |
| Ireland | 4.6 |
96 |
20.8 |
30 |
320 |
| France | 7.9 |
147 |
18.6 |
311 |
47.27 |
| Germany | 1.7 |
39 |
22.9 |
83 |
46.99 |
| The Netherland | 0.9 |
26 |
28.8 |
22 |
118 |
| Belgium & Luxemburg | 0.1 |
3 |
30.0 |
22 |
13.64 |
| Spain | 17.5 |
238 |
13.5 |
252 |
94.44 |
| Portugal | 2.2 |
27 |
12.3 |
36 |
75 |
| Italy | 7.8 |
53 |
6.7 |
106 |
33.13 |
| Greece | 6.6 |
130 |
19.7 |
155 |
83.57 |
| Denmark | 0.08 |
2 |
25.0 |
6 |
33.33 |
| Sweden | 0.3 |
4 |
13.3 |
? |
|
| Finnland | 0.08 |
1 |
12.5 |
? |
|
| Austria | 0.2 |
6 |
30.0 |
? |
|
| Total | 69.76 |
1 164 |
16.7 |
1 373 |
84.78 |
EXPORT AND IMPORT
Due to stock decrease, the volume of our export decreases,
the possibilities are not utilized, and the import increases (Table 9-11).
The utilization of export quotas of sheep for culling and mutton, which are
the main products of the industry, in the long run can lead to loss of markets
(Table 12). (To supplement a portion of product shortages, we import lambs
from Romania which are to be exported to Italy.) In 1996 the revenues from
export were 8 523 000 000 Forints, and the value of import
was 1 742 000 000 Forints.
There are practically no limits and quotas in
the case of milk products. We could sell four to five times the amount of
the 1996 quantity of 220 tonnes.
Only a minimal amount of domestically produced
sheep milk products enter the domestic market. Demands are dominantly met
by imported milk products, a certain proportion of which enters other markets
after further processing.
Since domestic wool processing practically does not
exist, the majority (90-95 percent) of wool produced is exported, not to
mention that the majority of our wool import is a base for re-export.
Table 9. Export - Import balance
1990-1995
| 1990 | 1995 | |
| Value of import | 120 million Forints | 850 million Forints |
| culling sheep | 355 tonnes | |
| mutton | 134 tonnes | |
| raw wool | 4 680 tonnes | |
| sheep cheese | 45 tonnes | |
| ewe-cheese | 372 tonnes | |
| Value of Export | 78 million USD | 59 million USD |
| culling sheep | 27 400 tonnes | 19 200 tonnes |
| bony-mutton | 1 670 tonnes | 331 tonnes |
| ewe-cheese | 782 tonnes | 266 tonnes |
| raw wool | 5 504 tonnes |
(Kukovics et al., 1997)
Table 10. Export trade data 1996
| Category | Unit of measurement | 31 March | 30 June | 30 September | 31 December and 1996 total |
| Live culling sheep* | Number | 264 661 |
498 488 |
703 905 |
909 658 |
| Tonnes | 5 423 |
10 033 |
14 952 |
18 904 |
|
| Bony mutton* | Number | 6 037 |
11 544 |
24 533 |
40 101 |
| Tonnes | 54 |
10 |
241 |
417 |
|
| Live culling sheep** | Number | 3 437 |
6 642 |
7 346 |
9 588 |
| Tonnes | 75 |
149 |
190 |
287 |
|
| Bony mutton** | Number | 3 370 |
3 394 |
5 191 |
5 437 |
| Tonnes | 30 |
30 |
52 |
53 |
|
| Raw wool | Tonnes | 365 |
2 428 |
3 002 |
3 873 |
| Ewe-cheese | Kg | 75 685 |
169 918 |
297 527 |
458 123 |
| Curded ewe-cheese | Kg | 18 921 |
36 826 |
36 826 |
36 904 |
| *EU; **Outside EU | (Jávor et al, 1997/c) |
||||
Table 11. Import trade data 1996
| Category | Unit of measurement | 1st semester |
2nd semester |
1996 total |
| Sheep total | Number | 21 552 |
92 254 |
113 806 |
| Tonnes | 522.3 |
2491.7 |
3 014 |
|
| Breeding ram | Number | 16 |
19 |
35 |
| Tonnes | 1 |
1 |
2 |
|
| Ewes | Number | 579 |
21 |
600 |
| Tonnes | 35.3 |
0.7 |
36 |
|
| Yearling | Number | 20 967 |
92 214 |
113 171 |
| Tonnes | 486 |
2 490 |
2 976 |
|
| Raw wool | Tonnes | 2 492 |
1 529 |
4 020 |
| Sheep milk | Litre | - |
- |
- |
| Ewe-cheese | Kg | 212 620 |
252 689 |
465 309 |
| Cruded ewe-cheese | Kg | 53 155 |
66 842 |
119 997 |
| Bony mutton | Tonnes | 29 |
- |
29 |
(Jávor et al. 1997/c)
Table 12. Quotas and utilization
| Year | EU quota (tonnes) |
Export (tonnes) |
Utilization (%) |
|||
Culling sheep |
Mutton |
Culling sheep |
Mutton |
Culling sheep |
Mutton |
|
| 1994 | 23 617 |
1 420 |
19 999 |
424 |
84.69 |
29.8 |
| 1995 | 23 651 |
1 500 |
19 602 |
318 |
82.88 |
21.2 |
| 1996 | 24 362 |
1 550 |
18 904 |
417 |
77.60 |
26.9 |
(Jávor et al. 1997)
MEAT QUALITY AND EU STANDARDS
The new, so called EUROP quality system formulated
in Western Europe, is based in part on meat constitution and in part on
mutton-suet. According to this system the majority of our lambs sold in Europe
would not score too high. According to the percentage of distribution based
on the EUROP system - compared to Dutch and English data besides domestic
ones - it can be stated that only 15 percent of lambs produced in domestic
commercial stocks reach an acceptable (R) quality. Among the genotypes, the
outstanding results of the Ile de France has to be mentioned, as well as
that the Merino breeding stocks exceed the domestic average stocks. It is
worth mentioning that the American Suffolk is undervalued in the EUROP system
due to its high withers. With regards to suet distribution the followings
can be stated. The Hungarian stock reached excellent results, since almost
71 percent reached the favoured 2nd category and 23 percent belong
to the 3rd category. The proportion of the too lean - that "dries"
out too fast - animals hardly reached 5 percent, and the proportion of animals
with too much suet was only 0.5 percent. This was worse in the Netherlands,
where the proportion of too dry meat was 9-25 percent in the various weight
categories. According to the EUROP classification the majority of the domestic
producing stock is at the O+ category, while cross-breeds can be found at
U+ and commercial stocks at PO categories as well.
With regards to suet content, the majority can
be found at the favoured category 2 but, according to genotypes, animals
were found at categories 1 and 4 as well.
EFFICIENCY AND INDUSTRY PRODUCTION LEVEL
A rather significant cause of crisis in the
industry is that sheep breeding is not profitable at present. This is due
to several factors: costs that have a multiplier effect, like cost of materials,
tax and social security, machinery and other costs have, according to our
calculations, risen by 25 percent between 1995 and 1996 alone. It was striking
that besides the increase of insurance and interest costs, foodstuff costs
represented 50-55 percent in the increase. Only increased yields could
counterbalance this cost increase. The yields, however, are far below even
the genetic potential of our mainly Merino breeds.
According to our experiences in the Netherlands,
the economic limit of sheep breeding there is 1.5 sold lamb per ewe. On average
this number is between 0.9 and 1.1 in Hungary. Of course there are exceptions
but they cannot change the situation of the industry significantly. In Table
13 we have used Italian prices to analyse the number of lambs sold necessary
for profitable sheep breeding. It can be seen that not only the season but
the weight of the lambs sold also influence the scale of income achievable
by one ewe. It also must be taken into account that the majority of the
enterprises that are successors of the previous large enterprises and now
producing extensively, cannot reach this level of sold progeny.
In wool production the yield per ewe does not
reach 800-1000 Forints, which in itself can hardly have any effect on the
profitability of sheep breeding, since taking all cost factors into account
the annual cost of one ewe is around 12-13 thousand Forints. It is almost
unimportant whether 5 or 5.5 kg of wool has been sold from the animals of
the stock.
Profitability of sheep breeding could be increased
by utilizing milk production, but the number of milked sheep is not more
than 55 - 60 thousand animals at present. Their average yield - allowing
for milking and milking crossbreeds as well - is around 40-60 litres (25-30
litres for the average Merino). In milking stocks, where 80-120 or occasionally
more than 200 litre production is achievable, the proportion of income from
milk can be 32-38 percent or 45-55 percent. The rest of the income is from
mutton (besides the 5-8 percent from wool).
Table 13. Number of lambs sold, necessary for profitable sheep breeding by different
| Category | January |
February |
March |
April |
May |
June |
| 13-16 kg | 1.64 |
1.48 |
1.42 |
1.58 |
1.83 |
1.97 |
| 16-20 kg | 1.37 |
1.33 |
1.21 |
1.34 |
1.58 |
1.45 |
| 20-24 kg | 1.21 |
1.18 |
1.12 |
1.30 |
1.44 |
1.61 |
| 24-27 kg ewe | 1.22 |
1.18 |
1.14 |
1.30 |
1.52 |
1.62 |
| 24-27 kg ram | 1.25 |
- |
1.07 |
- |
1.33 |
- |
| 27-30 kg ewe | 1.27 |
1.22 |
1.15 |
1.27 |
1.53 |
1.71 |
| 27-30 kg ram | 1.16 |
1.14 |
1.10 |
1.26 |
1.41 |
1.55 |
| 30-35 kg ewe | 1.17 |
1.20 |
1.15 |
1.38 |
1.57 |
1.75 |
| 30-35 kg ram | 1.14 |
1.09 |
1.06 |
1.23 |
1.46 |
1.61 |
| 35-40 kg ram | 1.10 |
1.11 |
0.98 |
1.15 |
1.38 |
1.5 |
(Source: Authors calculation 1997.)
REQUIREMENTS OF QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
After the effects of joining the EU, introducing objective
qualification, tighter market competition, increasing the proportion of processed
products that are to influence the Hungarian sheep industry, it is likely
that different things have to be done in different ways. Some crucial elements
remain of course, these are: same quality throughout the year, supply of
10-30kg, lambs produced in a closed technology. But besides, in the future
the followings must also be taken into account:
With regards to live animals and mutton:
· higher rate of progeny (130 percent);
· more profitable fattening (<4.5 feed usage,
>300g daily live weight gain);
· good meat constitution (EU conformly);
· better meat yields ( above 50 percent);
· better meat quality;
· tastier meat;
· better meat:bone ratio (80:20);
· larger proportion of valuable meat parts (>35
% pistol).
With regards to milk:
· larger relative milk yield (in milk sheep >100
litres/lactation, in milking Merino >60 litres/lactation, without
standard in triple use);
· more hygienic milk (less than 1 000 000 germs
in the future);
· better cheese yield.
With regards to wool:
· The world tendency towards finer wool must be
taken into account, but in our opinion breeding these finer wool animals
in Hungary is not reasonable due to their other genetic defects (worse vitality,
worse feed conversion, worse reproduction, etc.).
FEEDING AND QUALITY
Unfortunately the change in property rights had clearly
adverse effects on feeding. The so called reasonable feeding is unknown in
most of the large-scale enterprises. It is evident not only in ewe feeding
but in lamb fattening as well, and both play a role in the quality of lambs
for export. It has to be made clear for keepers and breeders that the only
way to retain a proper position on the market, is for lambs to not be fattened
on pastures and bulk feeds. It is true not only in case of meat constitution
but also in suet, and colours of suet and meat.
Without proper feeding, milk production will also lag
far behind the ideal and expected level. Though it is true that less milk
means higher fat and protein content, it cannot counterbalance the income
losses due to yield losses.
GRASSLAND UTILIZATION AND THE SHEEP INDUSTRY
Among our domestic animals, it is the sheep that is
related most closely to pastures. Besides this, 60-70 percent of domestic
grasslands - regardless of their quality - are not utilized, and the proportion
of professionally tilled and utilized pastures is negligible.
The domestic rural development plans, in harmony with
the EU policy, propose an increase in grasslands. At present, and presumably
in the future as well, the domestic grasslands can be classified into three
categories:
· areas that can be utilized profitably
(intensive);
· areas that can be utilized with income subsidies
(extensive);
· areas where environmental utilization is
necessary.
Due to low yields, seasonality, ever decreasing stock
numbers, and production technology, the latter two can be considered. Without
utilization weeding, running wild and forestation are likely to occur.
POSSIBILITIES OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
The teaching of sheep production has become rather limited
in higher education. There is hardly any opportunity to teach the possibilities
of improving product quality. In middle level education, the education of
sheep breeding proportionally gets somewhat more attention, but the education
on quality and quality assurance have serious shortages here as well.
Research on meat and milk production development are
conducted today in Hungary, but the available resources are rather limited.
The priority again is improving quantitative aspects of sheep industry (meat
and milk) in harmony with the present and predictable qualitative
demands.
The quantitative and qualitative development of sheep
products should be started with the education and follow-up education of
people turned into shepherds or entrepreneurs in recent years. Courses aimed
at this have already been launched. In these courses, not only the breeds
and feeding, but the production of quality products have to be taught along
with the basics of sheep husbandry and breeding. A prerequisite of producing
quality products is knowing the production level of individual animals, which
necessitates individual identification. An identification system - universal
for each producer - has to be introduced which replace the present,
problem-burdened one.
The education has to cover everybody who produces for
a market regardless of the quantity. Besides using the proper technology
and breeds, it has to concentrate on the improvement of production quality
and cost reduction.
In the future, going towards the EU, a strict origin
certification will be necessary that will mean a sort of quality assurance
as well. It also has to be a part of education and follow-up courses.
CONCLUSIONS
The Hungarian sheep industry was effected by several
facts during the last eight years. The results of these could be concluded
as follows:
· The number of ewes has dramatically decreased
along with the change of ownership and economic system. The level of reduction
varied by counties.
· The biggest ratio of the sheep population had
gone into small private flocks, where the possibility of profitable production
was much smaller.
· The total national production of sheep products
was strongly reduced. Only one market remained to sell the meat products.
· There was only one major dominant breed (Merino
consist of over 90 percent), however several breeds were bred in the
country.
· The production level of Merino was much lower
than expected, but there were good possibilities with other breeds.
· The import of sheep products was increasing along
with the reducing export incomes; no possibilities remained to utilize and
fill in the export quotas.
· The meat qualities were not really fitted to
the EU meat (S/EUROP) standard.
· The reproduction level of sheep flocks were far
from profitable. The meat and milk production traits also should be
improved.
· The grassland utilization was poor and the feeding
level was lower than expected.
· New education and extension service systems should
be developed to renew the sheep industry.
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juhtenyésztés minségének fejlesztése [The
development of quality in sheep breeding], In: Agro-21" Füzetek,
Az agrárgazdaság jövképe ["AGRO-21" Brochures,
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Jávor, A. & Kukovics, S. 1996. A
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within the transformed contition], In: Gyepgazdálkodási
szakülés [Special Grassfarming Session] Debrecen, 106-106 p.
Jávor, A. - Molnár, Gy. -
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SHEEP AND GOAT BREEDING IN LATVIA
Norvele, Genovefa
Research Institute of Animal
Husbandry
and Veterinary Science
Vilani, Latvia
---------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT
Average sheep productivity
| Traits | Ewes |
Rams |
| Body size (kg) | 64 |
100 |
| Fleece, weight (kg) | 4.7 |
6.8 |
| Fleece, length (cm) | 10.6 |
13.7 |
The total number of sheep has considerably decreased
during the past few years and the sheep flock ownership has changed as well
- 99 percent of the sheep are now in the private hands of individual farmers.
There were 183 700 sheep in Latvia in 1991, but now there are only
55 500 sheep, among them 3 500 ewes. The drastic changes in animal
numbers have caused genofund limitation. Consequently, at present there are
only seven flocks of 1 000 heads where breeding work is fully ensured.
There is one ram control-breeding station in Latvia where about 50 to 70
breeder animals are being brought up and checked. Breeder ram raising and
evaluation at control-breeding stations ensures high quality ram use in sheep
flocks, which in present conditions is the only basis for increase of sheep
productivity.
Improvement of the Latvian Black Face sheep
(the breeding goal) implies sheep productivity increase (by using Finnish
Landras rams), as well as meat trait and wool quality improvement (Texel
and Ile de France) by using breeds which are kindred to the Latvian
Black Face breed: Shropshire, Oxfordshire and Suffolk - early maturing, with
good milk yielding capacity and good feed conversion capacity.
· difficulties in beginning farming, as favourable
credit options are limited (the lowest credit rate even today is 17
percent);
· very low purchasing power of consumers;
· farmers and private animal owners cannot ensure
the necessary amount of quality fodder;
· international produce market;
· domestic market problems.
---------------------------------------------
Ligda, Ch. Baltas, A.
Georgoudis,
A. Ministry of Agriculture
Hatziminaoglu,
J. Direction of Animal
Boyazoglu,
J. Production Inputs
Dept. of Animal Production, Athens,
Greece
Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle
University
Thessaloniki, Greece
---------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT
The necessary prerequisites to ensure genetic progress
in an animal population are the implementation of a performance recording
scheme, the genetic evaluation procedures and the dissemination of the improved
genetic material in the population. At present milk production in Greece,
with a total sheep population of 10 069 000 animals reaches about
600 000 tonnes per year and meat production is about 80 000 tonnes.
Regarding goats, Greece is one of the major producers of the European Union,
with a population of 5 900 000 animals and a production of
420 000 tonnes of milk and 47 000 tonnes of meat per year. Milk
is recorded in 45 250 dairy sheep in 429 flocks and 8357 goats in 103
flocks. Milk recording was established by the Ministry of Agriculture in
1952, but since 1978, it is carried out more systematically. Responsible
for the proper application and the financial support of the on-farm performance
recording is the Ministry of Agriculture. Performance recording on the
Agricultural Research Stations is supervised by the National Foundation for
Agricultural Research. This study aims at presenting the performance recording
scheme for sheep and goats in Greece, and also the future plans concerning
the increase of the number of the recorded animals and traits and the support
to the farmers in the management of their flocks.
---------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
Sheep population in Greece is characterized by certain
specific situations, as well as breed structure and husbandry methods. Sixty
percent of all flocks contains 1-50 ewes, which shows that they are of
complementary importance to other agricultural production branches. The major
production branch is milking, followed by the slaughtering of young lambs
after early weaning at 40 to 60 days. At present milk production in Greece,
with a total sheep population of 10 069 000 animals, in 153 000
flocks, reaches about 600 000 tonnes per year and meat production is
about 80 000 tonnes. Complementary feeding of flocks during the last
part of pregnancy and during the suckling period (with the exception of some
semi-intensive or housekept flocks of the pains) and the application of
transhumance system are charactristics of most of the major extensive flocks
(Hatziminaoglu et al., 1985).
Regarding goat breeding, the country is one
of the major goat producing countries and today has a population of
5 821 000 animals and a production of 420 000 tonnes of milk
and 47 000 tonnes of meat per year. The majority of the animals are
of the local type and the remaining population is of foreign origin. Very
extensive husbandry systems are applied to these local breeds which play
a major role in the rural economy of the difficult mountainous and
semi-mountainous regions of the country. Milk is recorded in 45 250
dairy sheep in 429 flocks and 8 357 goats in 103 flocks (Tables
1,2).
Table 1. Sheep and goats milk recording in Greece: Populations, number of recorded
Species and breeds |
Total population |
Recorded animals (Percent recorded) |
Total herds/flocks |
Recorded herds (Percent recorded |
| Sheep breeds* (data from 1997) | 535 800 |
45 250 |
8 645 |
538 |
|
10 000 |
1 450
|
300 |
11 |
|
73 000 |
7 000 |
1 050 |
64 |
|
200 000 |
18 000 |
3 210 |
272 |
|
38 000 |
5 000 |
670 |
32 |
|
27 800 |
4 800 |
835 |
73 |
|
7 000 |
2 500 |
350 |
26 |
|
180 000 |
6 500 |
2 230 |
60 |
| Goat breed** | 8 357 |
103 |
||
|
7 000 |
3 500
|
42 |
|
|
3 700 |
46 |
||
|
480 |
7 |
||
|
677 |
8 |
Table 2. Native breeds of livestock in Greece (1994-95)
Species |
Breed |
State / Type |
Number of
|
Remarks |
| SHEEP | Mountain breeds (Boutsiko, Sarakatsaniko, Vlatchico etc) | Regional / National | 1 500 000 |
Thin-tailed / carpet wool various indigenous types |
| Sfakia breed (Krete island) | Local | 75 000 |
Thin-tailed / carpet wool | |
| Sitia breed (Krete island) | Local | 30 000 |
Thin-tailed / carpet wool | |
| Plain breeds: | ||||
| - Karagouniko | Local / regional | 208 000 |
Thin-tailed / carpet wool | |
| - Katsika | Threatened | 1 000 |
Semi-fat-tailed / carpet wool | |
| Zakynthos | Threatened | 1 050 |
Thin-tailed / carpet wool | |
| Mytilini | Local | 95 000 |
Semi-fat-tailed / carpet wool | |
| Thrace | Local | 8 000 |
Thin-tailed / Ruda type wool | |
| Serres | Local | 38 000 |
Thin-tailed / Ruda type wool | |
| Skopelos | Threatened | 1 800 |
Thin-tailed / Ruda type wool | |
| Kymi | Threatened | 1 690 |
Thin-tailed / Ruda type wool | |
| Pellagonia | On the way to extinction | 350 |
Semi-fat-tailed / Ruda type wool | |
| Chios (island nucleus) | Local / Regional | 600 |
Semi-fat-tailed / Ruda type wool | |
| Frisarta (Arta) | Local | 30 000 |
Synthetic breed | |
| GOATS | The Hellenic indigenous goat | Regional / National | 5 800 000 |
Various indigenous types |
| Skopelos | Local | 5 410 |
Growing numbers |
STRUCTURE OF SHEEP AND GOAT IMPROVEMENT
The organizations that are involved in the performance
recording are: The Ministry of Agriculture, Direction or Inputs to Animal
Production with five regional Animal Genetic Improvement Centres (Drama,
Thessaloniki, Karditsa, Ioannina, Athens). The responsibility for the on-farm
performance recording has been exclusively undertaken by the Ministry of
Agriculture and the financial support comes from the Greek government.
Performance recording on the Agricultural Research Stations is supervised
by the National Foundation for Agricultural Research, which indirectly takes
financial support from the Ministry of Agriculture (Baltas, 1995).
Furthermore, the Agricultural Universities (Thessaloniki
and Athens) support the scheme with computer facilities, software for processing
the collected data and scientific methodology for the genetic evaluation
of the recorded populations.
In general, performance recording aims at improving,
through mass selection, milk production and estimating the necessary genetic
parameters for milk yield, needed for the operation of the genetic improvement
scheme. In Greece, we recognize two types of recording schemes, on-farm and
on-station performance recording.
For either system the minimum requirements are:
· individual identification of all animals;
· mating and lambing/kidding dates and measuring
dates;
· type of birth, sex of the lambs or kids and litter
size;
· monthly controls of milk yield (a.m. and p.m.)
after the suckling period;
· fat, protein and lactose content of milk;
· live weight records of lambs at regular intervals
(birth, before and after weaning);
· live weight records of ewes at mating and
lambing.
On-farm performance recording provides firstly data
for the genetic improvement of the animals and secondly supplies management
and technical information for the farmers. Until recently, it was carried
out exclusively by the Ministry of Agriculture and, nowadays, the trend is
going towards the farmers organizations.
Performance recording in the Agricultural Research
Stations aims at collecting data for studying the various native sheep and
goat breeds of the country. These institutions are supervised by the National
Foundation for Agricultural Research.
Regarding sheep and goats, which are recorded in the
field, the farmers receive the calculation of the total lactation for each
animal, based on individual recording. With these data they are able to select
the best female animals; there is no wide information available on the
males.
Information regarding feeding or health traits is not
collected. Pedigree information derives, when properly registered, from the
individual identification and lambing data. The recording system which has
been applied in Greece, is planned towards genetic improvement of the animals
and no efforts have been made until now to collect and analyse information
related to flock management.
EXISTING SELECTION SCHEMES
A genetic improvement programme for the Karagouniko
breed has been established in central Greece by the Karditsa Animal Improvement
Centre in collaboration with the local Artificial Insemination Centre and
the Extension Services of the Ministry of Agriculture. A nucleus population
of 20 000 sheep kept in 350 flocks is recorded. At the end of the lactation
period, summarized data for each flock, as well as the performances of each
ewe separately are available. This information enables the selection of:
a) the ewes which are going to be culled and b) the ewes the daughters of
which will be kept for the natural renewal of the flock.
Since 1986 a progeny testing programme of the rams has
been applied. At the age of 60 days 55-60 male lambs from the best ewes of
the 20 best of the controlled flocks are bought every year from the Artificial
Insemination Centre of Karditsa, and kept until the age of 18 months. After
being tested for growth rate, body conformation and semen production, the
best 20 rams remain in the programme and their semen is used in a total of
6 000 ewes of 100 breeders. The conception rate is about 35-45 percent
and varies from year to year and among flocks. From the total number of lambs
born, 600-800 females remain for reproduction and production. Four or five
controlled rams are selected, on their daughters' performance to be used
for planned matings with high performance ewes. The rams which are not selected
remain in the Centre for two more years (Georgoudis, et al., 1995).
In the Agricultural Research Station of Chalkidiki,
where a nucleus flock of 500 Chios sheep has been kept since 1977, selection
of female and male lambs is based on individual weaning weight and on dam's
performance for milk production and litter size. Information on these traits
is combined in a selection index and the relevant phenotypic and genetic
parameters are shown in Table 3. (Georgoudis et al., 1997).
Table 3. Selection index applied in the Chios
nucleus flock
| Estimates of hentability, genetic and phenotypic correlations among traits used in selection index | |||
Traits |
Commercial milk yield |
Litter size |
Weaning weight |
| Commercial milk yield | 0.23 |
0.13 |
0.05 |
| Litter size | 0.08 |
0.16 |
-0.39 |
| Weaning weight | 0.01 |
-0.06 |
0.17 |
FUTURE TRENDS
In Greece the basic adverse factor for the promotion
and development of animal recording, has been the absence of organized initiative
from the breeders' side. The foundation of independent co-operatives or
non-profit organizations has been motivated in an attempt to spread out the
animal performance recording and apply specific genetic improvement projects
more systematically. The farmers' organizations will be responsible for the
identification of the newborn lambs/kids, the application of milk recording
and analysis of the milk samples for fat and protein content, the collection
of reproduction data and the keeping of a database for production and pedigree
certificates. Especially, sheep and goat breeding will be carried out in
collaboration with several research institutions, which will act as breeding
nucleus (Baltas, 1995). The farmers will be motivated to contribute economically
to the milk recording programme, while during the previous periods the Ministry
of Agriculture granted them considerable premiums to join the recording and
genetic improvement scheme.
The introduction of computers in managing the flocks
is another planned application. One of the most important factors for the
farmer who produces milk, is the economy of the milk production. It is planned
to collect all the necessary data related to the economically important factors
of the milk production in the frame of the official milk recording system,
in order to establish a good basis for planning the production and managing
the whole farm. Furthermore studies for the application of simplified methods
of recording, appropriate for low to medium input production systems are
carried out (Georgoudis, 1997).
REFERENCES
Baltas A. 1995. Current situation, problems
and perspectives of Animal Performance Recording in Greece. In:
Proceedings of the Symposium on Animal Performance Recording, Thessaloniki,
Greece.
Georgoudis, A. 1997. The development and maintenance
of animal recording schemes for low to medium input production environments.
In: A case study on animal recording system in Greece. I.C.A.R., in
press.
Georgoudis, A., - Hatziminaoglu, J. & Pappas,
V. 1995. The breeding scheme of the Karagouniko sheep in Greece.
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