IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i13p5340-d379160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rangeland Grazing Strategies to Lower the Dependency on Imported Concentrates in Norwegian Sheep Meat Production

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Azher Bhatti

    (Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway
    Fatland Ølen AS, Kvassteinsvegen 2, 5580 Ølen, Norway)

  • Lars Olav Eik

    (Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway)

  • Geir Steinheim

    (Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway)

  • Tormod Ådnøy

    (Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway)

  • Reinert Horneland

    (Fatland Ølen AS, Kvassteinsvegen 2, 5580 Ølen, Norway)

  • Peter Wynn

    (Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia)

  • David L. Hopkins

    (Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia
    NSW Department of Primary Industries, Centre for Red Meat and Sheep Development, P.O. Box 129, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia)

  • Leif Jarle Asheim

    (Norwegian Institute of Bio-economy Research (NIBIO), P.O. Box 115, 1431 Ås, Norway)

Abstract

Norway has vast rangeland resources (292,361 km 2 ) with an estimated carrying capacity of nearly four million sheep and lambs, twice the current number. However, the intensive production system currently applied has led to more concentrate dependency, resulting in heavier animals in addition to poorer utilization of rangelands and homegrown feed. Intensive feeding systems indirectly influence the sustainability of ecosystems by promoting intensive cropping that can deplete soil fertility and threaten landscape preservation and biodiversity. By contrast, extensive grazing systems can produce environmentally and animal-friendly food products and contribute to regulating soil health, water and nutrient cycling, soil carbon sequestration, and recreational environments. In this paper, the economics of current sheep feeding practices in Norway, using a linear programming model, were compared with more extensive systems which allow for higher usage of on-farm feed resources. Changes in current sheep farming practices have the potential to increase lamb meat production relative to mutton production, in addition to improving the year-round supply of fresh meat. The investigated alternatives, using the Norwegian White Sheep (NWS) breed, suggest that delayed lambing is useful only on farms with abundant pastures available for autumn feeding. Lambs achieve a better market price than hoggets and mature sheep. Therefore, based on the current Norwegian meat market and price offered per kilogram of meat for lamb, an increase in NWS lamb production improves farm profits. On the other hand, when the aim is on greater use of homegrown feed and rangelands, this can be achieved through hogget production, and the quantity of concentrates required can be reduced substantially.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Azher Bhatti & Lars Olav Eik & Geir Steinheim & Tormod Ådnøy & Reinert Horneland & Peter Wynn & David L. Hopkins & Leif Jarle Asheim, 2020. "Rangeland Grazing Strategies to Lower the Dependency on Imported Concentrates in Norwegian Sheep Meat Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-11, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:13:p:5340-:d:379160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/13/5340/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/13/5340/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muhammad Azher Bhatti & Thomas Williams & David Laurence Hopkins & Leif Jarle Asheim & Geir Steinheim & Michael Campbell & Lars Olav Eik & Peter Charles Wynn & Tormod Ådnøy, 2019. "Adapting Seasonal Sheep Production to Year-Round Fresh Meat and Halal Market in Norway," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, March.
    2. David G. Luenberger & Yinyu Ye, 2008. "Linear and Nonlinear Programming," International Series in Operations Research and Management Science, Springer, edition 0, number 978-0-387-74503-9, December.
    3. B. R. Davidson & B. R. Martin & R. G. Mauldon, 1967. "The Application of Experimental Research to Farm Production," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 49(4), pages 900-907.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muhammad Azher Bhatti & Lars Olav Eik & Geir Steinheim & Tormod Ådnøy & David L. Hopkins & Leif Jarle Asheim, 2020. "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," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-9, May.
    2. Shahmohammadi, Ali & Sioshansi, Ramteen & Conejo, Antonio J. & Afsharnia, Saeed, 2018. "Market equilibria and interactions between strategic generation, wind, and storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 876-892.
    3. Alp Atakan & Mehmet Ekmekci & Ludovic Renou, 2021. "Cross-verification and Persuasive Cheap Talk," Papers 2102.13562, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2021.
    4. Arthur Medeiros & Thales Ramos & José Tavares de Oliveira & Manoel F. Medeiros Júnior, 2020. "Direct Voltage Control of a Doubly Fed Induction Generator by Means of Optimal Strategy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-28, February.
    5. Ivorra, Benjamin & Mohammadi, Bijan & Manuel Ramos, Angel, 2015. "A multi-layer line search method to improve the initialization of optimization algorithms," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 247(3), pages 711-720.
    6. Tanaka, Ken'ichiro & Toda, Alexis Akira, 2015. "Discretizing Distributions with Exact Moments: Error Estimate and Convergence Analysis," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt7g23r5kh, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    7. Ashrafi, M. & Khanjani, M.J. & Fadaei-Kermani, E. & Barani, G.A., 2015. "Farm drainage channel network optimization by improved modified minimal spanning tree," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 1-8.
    8. Sergey Badikov & Antoine Jacquier & Daphne Qing Liu & Patrick Roome, 2016. "No-arbitrage bounds for the forward smile given marginals," Papers 1603.06389, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2016.
    9. Szidarovszky, Ferenc & Luo, Yi, 2014. "Incorporating risk seeking attitude into defense strategy," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 104-109.
    10. Giorgio, 2019. "On Second-Order Optimality Conditions in Smooth Nonlinear Programming Problems," DEM Working Papers Series 171, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    11. Csaba I. Fábián, 2021. "Gaining traction: on the convergence of an inner approximation scheme for probability maximization," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 29(2), pages 491-519, June.
    12. Bouslah, B. & Gharbi, A. & Pellerin, R., 2016. "Integrated production, sampling quality control and maintenance of deteriorating production systems with AOQL constraint," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 110-126.
    13. Rafał Wiśniowski & Krzysztof Skrzypaszek & Tomasz Małachowski, 2020. "Selection of a Suitable Rheological Model for Drilling Fluid Using Applied Numerical Methods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, June.
    14. Martins Barros, Rafael & Guimarães Lage, Guilherme & de Andrade Lira Rabêlo, Ricardo, 2022. "Sequencing paths of optimal control adjustments determined by the optimal reactive dispatch via Lagrange multiplier sensitivity analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(1), pages 373-385.
    15. Yuichi Takano & Renata Sotirov, 2012. "A polynomial optimization approach to constant rebalanced portfolio selection," Computational Optimization and Applications, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 645-666, July.
    16. Enrique I. Acuña & Ian S. Lowndes, 2014. "A Review of Primary Mine Ventilation System Optimization," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 44(2), pages 163-175, April.
    17. Nadia Demarteau & Thomas Breuer & Baudouin Standaert, 2012. "Selecting a Mix of Prevention Strategies against Cervical Cancer for Maximum Efficiency with an Optimization Program," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 337-353, April.
    18. repec:cte:wsrepe:38369 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Charles R. Weisbin & Joseph Mrozinski & William Lincoln & Alberto Elfes & Kacie Shelton & Hook Hua & Jeffrey H. Smith & Virgil Adumitroaie & Robert Silberg, 2010. "Lunar architecture and technology analysis driven by lunar science scenarios," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(3), pages 217-231, September.
    20. Andres Quiros-Granados & JAvier Trejos-Zelaya, 2019. "Estimation of the yield curve for Costa Rica using combinatorial optimization metaheuristics applied to nonlinear regression," Papers 2001.00920, arXiv.org.
    21. Vittorio Nicolardi, 2013. "Simultaneously Balancing Supply--Use Tables At Current And Constant Prices: A New Procedure," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 409-434, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:13:p:5340-:d:379160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.