New Technologies to Improve Efficiency and Profitability and Reduce Environmental Impacts on Small Ruminant Farms

Dear Colleagues,

The economic profitability of the production activity of sheep and dairy goat farms has been very limited in recent years due to the low sale price of milk and lambs, and, to a greater extent, of kids for meat. The reduced economic margins obtained per animal are leading to the disappearance of the family farm model in more developed countries and the creation of a commercial farm model with a larger number of animals and a greater technification of the production system that affords an increase in the quantity and quality of milk and meat sold, while enabling an improvement in production efficiency and a reduction in production costs without harming animal welfare. In this sense, there are many related factors, including livestock housing (distribution of indoor and outdoor spaces, ventilation, bedding, and manure removal systems); new feeding systems (use of cheap protein, fat or fibrous sources and alternatives to classic foods); improved machinery and equipment more efficient in the tasks for which they are designed and adapted to the different species (feeding systems, milking machines, various automatisms, energy recovery systems); using genomics and genetic animal breeding to improve the quality of milk and meat; and new techniques and systems of reproduction that allow producers to increase the meat or milk productivity on the farm. In addition to this, the possible impacts of ruminants on the increase in greenhouse gases are one of the current social concerns that must be addressed if the survival of this type of production is desired.

In this Special Issue, original papers will be taken into account in which the effect of different aspects related to the design of livestock housing and equipment and the management techniques practiced on the farms (feeding, mechanical milking, reproduction techniques, among others) on the production and quality of milk and meat produced in small ruminant dairy farms, always focused on their transfer and practical application in commercial farms.

Dr. José Ramón Díaz Sanchez
Prof. Dr. Fernández Martínez Nemesio
Guest Editors

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