TY  - UNPB
ID  - orgprints4314
UR  - http://orgprints.org/4314/
A1  - Benoit, Marc
A1  - Tournadre, Hervé
A1  - Dulphy, Jean-Pierre
A1  - Cabaret, Jacques
A1  - Prache, Sophie
TI  - CONVERSION OF A LAMB PRODUCTION SYSTEM TO ORGANIC FARMING: HOW TO MANAGE, FOR WHAT RESULTS?
Y1  - 2005///
N2  - Two sheep flocks were managed organically for two years from conversion under different lambing strategies (1 lambing/year vs. 3 lambings every two years). The second system was tested because pf a producer?s interest in high productivity, which is a guarantee of good economic results in conventional production.. Reproduction, feeding, lamb production, carcass quality, health (particularly internal parasitism), economic return of the flock, grass production, and pasture biodiversity were evaluated. The lambs were bred with low therapeutic inputs. No economic advantage of increasing lambing frequency was demonstrated, whereas this strategy complicated management and resulted in higher internal parasitic infection of the lambs, and finally showed lower stability. There were difficulties in establishing a very high feed self-sufficiency in both systems, especially the more intensive system (4 points lower), due to harsh climatic conditions. Following this five-year experiment, we are changing our strategy to provide nitrogen in the systems. 
AV  - public
KW  - Organic farming
KW  -  lamb
KW  -  meat
KW  -  parasitism
KW  -  economics
ER  -