Assessment of Key Feeding Technologies and Land Use in Dairy Sheep Farms in Spain

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thanks for the corrections. I still believe that the title text is closer to the topic of Agronomy, however in my opinion the authors emphasized the issues that classify it for publication in Land, too. As I wrote before, the text is quite interesting and after the changes made, it is suitable for publication. I do not make any further comments.

Author Response

Many thanks for your time and the suggestions made. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This resubmitted manuscript has made some modifications, but there are still some problems.

1. Figure 1. What is the relationship between the results of the first stage and the second stage?
2. Section 2.1.2. How to distinguish the control group from the experimental group? How are repeatability tests designed?
3. Section 3. How do the calculation results support the research content?
4. It is recommended to set subtitles for the discussion section.
5. Section 5. What combination of technologies is best? What are the implications for other ranches?

Author Response

Many thanks for your time and the suggestions made. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for the revised paper. The paper has been improved significantly in comparison to the previous version. However, I believe some issues need revision and clarification.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The text is quite interesting, but in my opinion the content does not fit Land. Considerations about the nature and impact of land use on dairy sheep farming are very rudimentary. They are not the value of this text. The remark that the particular features of the land use are important does not in itself, in my opinion, justify publishing in this magazine. The key factors here are farming conditions (production technology), and not the impact of this farming on land use and its changes. As a reader of Land, I would like to know how land use has changed under the influence of dairy sheep farming (in the short and long term) in the La Mancha area. This is a completely different logic, its purpose is also different. Despite a similar set of methods and research tools that Land uses, the results refer to breeding success, they relate to the food industry and its determinants. Therefore, in my opinion, the text should be sent to Agronomy.

Reviewer 3 Report

1、Lines 16-17. What is the importance and research significance of these problems?  This information should be reflected in the research context.  

2、Line 97 & Figure 1. The logical connection between the first and second steps is weak.  How do the results of step 1 support step 2?  

3、Line 201. The subtitle of section 3. RESULTS should be revised especially 3.2 and 3.3. It is not recommended to write the name of the method in the subtitle, but should reflect the specific research content of this paper  .

4、Lines 281-283. The first paragraph of section 4. DISCUSSION should go in the methods section.  It is also proposed to add subheadings to the discussion section.

5、Lines 425-442. The conclusion section needs to be optimized to reduce the description of methods and increase quantitative conclusions related to feeding techniques and land use.