Profitability of two shepherding systems for production of ovine meat

Abstract

In Güican (Boyacá), sheep production occupies one of the main items on the economy of the region, despite of being one of the largest, most relevant and important business, studies have not been developed to establish that is an efficient and sustainable business. For this reason a research was carried out in the Finca Ronces Güican, where two systems of grazing were temporarily implemented, an extensive traditional and rotational grazing. Forage present in the grazing area were: Molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora), Kidney weed (Dichondra repens) and Dutch clover (Trifolium repens L); 24 creoles sheep were used per system, selected according to age and sex, achieving uniformity in both groups used. The study was developed for 4 months in order to assess weight gain and profitability, by assessing and weighing the animals every 15 days. These data were recorded and once the trial period finished, comparisons were made to determine the effectiveness of each system. It was found that there is a significant difference between the two systems in terms of weight gain. In this way, in the conventional extensive system, sheep had a mean weight gain of 35.47 g / day, while in the rotational system the average profit was 124.24 g / day, so it was concluded that the rotational system is more profitable, since it has a return on capital of 8% over the traditional extensive system.