Sheep – Improve animal management

Improve Animal Management

System: Sheep

Applicability

Mainly applicable for: Operations with intensive characteristics and large flocks.

Not applicable or effective for: Less feasible for systems with limited access to veterinary services, nutrition supplements or genetic selection program; or low input farming systems.

Description

Improving the survival and growth rate of lambs, the milk yield of sheep and the reproductive performance of ewes, by improving animal feeding, health management (incl. veterinary services), reproductive management, and genetic selection. Improving animal productivity, such as milk yield and lamb growth rate can be achieved through improved nutrition and selective breeding. Improved lamb output per ewe can be achieved through a range of interventions including increased lamb survival through better hygiene and management at birth, selective breeding for ewe productivity, and nutritional management. Measures can be time and manpower consuming (for example optimization of reproduction management).

Mechanism of effect

Improved productivity, increased survival and fewer non-productive animals reduce emissions per kg meat, milk and wool produced. Healthier animals show higher milk yields, faster growth rates, better fertility and less mortality, leading to more efficient use of resources and lower GHG emissions per kg of product. More finished lambs per ewe dilute emissions related to the breeding overhead. Net effects depend on accompanied changes in the footprint of animal diets and other changes in farm management (e.g. fertilizer to improve pasture productivity); emission reductions due to improved productivity can be negated by higher emissions from additional feed or fertiliser use.

Effects on GHG emissions

Reference situation: Average farm

Effect on total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Mean effect and range in kg CO2-equivalents	per kg product
	Mean	min-max	Level of evidence
Increase animal productivity	●●	●–●●●	Medium
Increase lamb output per ewe	●●	●–●●	Medium
Reduce unproductive animals	●●	●-●●	Medium

Legend

● – Small effect (<5%)	o – No effect	? – Effect unknown
●● – Medium effect (5-20%)	● – Unfavourable effect
●●● – Large effect (>20%)	● – ● – Variable effect (depending on farm characteristics or way/level of implementation)

Effect per emission source

Mean effect on emission per kg product from	Animal	Manure storage		Feed and forage production			Barn
	CH₄	CH₄	N₂O	CO₂	N₂O	LUC	CO₂
Increase animal productivity	●●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Increase lamb output per ewe	●●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Reduce unproductive animals	●●	●	●	●	●	●	●

*risk of an adverse effect (see ’cause of variable or unfavourable effect’)

Legend

● – Small effect (<5%)	o – No effect	? – Effect unknown
●● – Medium effect (5-20%)	● – Unfavourable effect
●●● – Large effect (>20%)	● – ● – Variable effect (depending on farm characteristics or way/level of implementation)

Explanation of variable effect

Increase animal productivity

The effect depends on the extent of improvement in productivity, and the way it is realized. For example, if realized through changes in the feed ration, the effect depends on the carbon footprint of the feed ration in the old and new situation.

Increase lamb output per ewe

The effect depends on the extent of improvement in lambs per ewe, and the way it is realized. For example, if realized through changes in the feed ration, the effect depends on the carbon footprint of the feed ration in the old and new situation.

Reduce the number of unproductive animals

The effect is registered at the farm level. Increasing the flock productivity through discarding the animals who missed a reproductive season, or with miscarriages etc., will decrease the carbon footprint at farm level.

Other Effects

Effects on yield and cost-effectiveness

	Yield		Labor	Costs and revenues
	Animals	Crops	Time	Capital investment	Operational Costs	Revenues
Increase animal productivity	●●		●●–●	●	o-●●	●●
Increase lamb output per ewe	●		●●–●	●	o-●	●–●●
Reduce unproductive animals	●		●-o	●	o-●	●–●●●

Legend (thresholds differ per indictor and can be found in the tooltip)

● – Small favorable effect	o – No effect	? – Effect unknown
●● – Medium favorable effect	● – Unfavourable effect
●●● – Large favorable effect	● – ● -Variable effect (depending on farm characteristics or way/level of implementation)

Effects on other sustainability aspects

	Risks of trade-offs	Potential synergies
Increase animal productivity	Animal welfare	Soil health, Biodiversity, Animal welfare
Increase lamb output per ewe	Animal welfare	Soil health, Biodiversity, Animal welfare
Reduce unproductive animals		Ammonia emission, Water use, Water quality, Land use or occupation, Soil health, Biodiversity, Animal welfare, Public health, Farm labour safety

*Literature references*	Increase animal productivity
Batalla et al., 2014	Integrating social and economic criteria in the carbon footprint analysis in sheep dairy farms
Cruickshank et al., 2009	Effect of management change on methane output within a sheep flock
Jones et al., 2014	The carbon footprint of lamb: Sources of variation and opportunities for mitigation
Salcedo, G et al. 2022	GHG Emissions from Dairy Small Ruminants in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), Using the ManleCO2 Simulation Model

	Increase lamb output per ewe
Jones et al., 2014	The carbon footprint of lamb: Sources of variation and opportunities for mitigation
Cruickshank et al., 2009	Effect of management change on methane output within a sheep flock
Recktenwald and Ehrhardt, 2024	Greenhouse gas emissions from a diversity of sheep production systems in the United States
Reyes-Palomo et al. 2024	Carbon Footprint of an Extensively Raised, Low-Productivity Sheep Population
D.J. Alcock, R.S. Hegarty, 2011	Potential effects of animal management and genetic improvement on enteric methane emissions, emissions intensity and productivity of sheep enterprises at Cowra, Australia

	Reduce the number of unproductive animals
Salcedo, G et al. 2022	GHG Emissions from Dairy Small Ruminants in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), Using the ManleCO2 Simulation Model