Do endangered sheep breeds have an advantage in organic farming?

Summary

Endangered breeds are not compulsory for organic farming, but adapted and local breeds are considered suitable for Organic Farming. In the year 2001, 240 ewes of six different breeds were introduced on the experimental farm of the Institute of Organic Farming in Trenthorst. Two were high yielding breeds, four older endangered German breeds. The whole herd was kept in one herd in a low input – low output system, comparable to agri-environmental schemes. The scientific programme was to follow the herd’s development in terms of health status, growth rate and product qualities.
After three lambing seasons, no real advantages could be found for the old breeds. Nevertheless, high yielding and old breeds did not show big differences in production and health performance. The result is, that even in low intensive organic farming systems, old and endangered breeds need financial support to be competitive with high yielding breeds.