How can nutrition models increase the production efficiency of sheep and goat operations?

Abstract

Sheep and goat production is an important economic resource in many countries around the world. The industry produces wool (2 million tons/yr), meat (14 million tons/yr, 21% of cattle meat production), and milk (28 million tons/yr, 4.4% of cow milk production). The total world number of small ruminants is growing quickly. As shown in Figure 1, the world population of goats (1.05 billion in 2017) increased by 49% in the last 20 yr, whereas that of sheep (1.20 billion in 2017) and cattle (1.49 billion in 2017) increased more slowly (+15% and +14%, for sheep and cattle, respectively) (FAOSTAT, 2019. http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home). Sheep and goats are raised in a wide range of farming (from extensive to highly intensive) and feeding (from grazing diets to total mixed rations) systems, geographical areas, and by using diverse breeds, populations, and crosses, due to their high nutritional and environmental adaptability.