Carbon Footprint of an Extensively Raised, Low-Productivity Sheep Population

Carolina Reyes-Palomo, Cipriano Díaz-Gaona, Santos Sanz-Fernández, Isabel Muñoz-Cobos, Eduardo Aguilera and Vicente Rodríguez-Estévez ()
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Carolina Reyes-Palomo: Cátedra de Producción Ecológica Ecovalia-Clemente Mata, Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Cipriano Díaz-Gaona: Cátedra de Producción Ecológica Ecovalia-Clemente Mata, Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Santos Sanz-Fernández: Cátedra de Producción Ecológica Ecovalia-Clemente Mata, Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Isabel Muñoz-Cobos: Cátedra de Producción Ecológica Ecovalia-Clemente Mata, Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Eduardo Aguilera: Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography, Spanish National Research Council, C/Albasanz 26–28, 28037 Madrid, Spain
Vicente Rodríguez-Estévez: Cátedra de Producción Ecológica Ecovalia-Clemente Mata, Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Extensive traditional livestock systems currently face various threats, leading to their disappearance. An example of these extensive livestock farming systems is the production of the Lojeña sheep breed in the Sierra de Loja (Granada, Spain), with a census of 24,511 ewes in 2021. The aim of this work is to calculate the carbon footprint (CF) of this local breed in this region. This study is based on data collected from 27 Lojeña sheep farms producing weaned lambs (≤14 kg, 25 farms), fattened lambs (≈25 kg, 7 farms), culled animals (24 farms) and greasy wool (27 farms). Most of these farms (78%) were organically (ORG) certified and seven were conventionally (CONV) managed. The analysed farms represent 93% of the total number of farms producing Lojeña sheep in the Sierra de Loja. The CF was calculated with a “cradle to farm gate” approach. The average C footprints were 27.5 ± 6.8 kg CO 2 eq kg LW −1 for weaned lambs, 21.8 ± 8.5 kg CO 2 eq kg LW −1 for fattened lambs, 4.1 ± 2.6 kg CO 2 eq kg LW −1 for culled animals and 2.2 ± 0.6 kg CO 2 eq kg −1 for greasy wool, with a not statistically different average CF in ORG than in CONV farms. Enteric fermentation represents the main source of emissions (>60%) in all the products, and external feeding (including transport, and emissions from producing the feed) represents the second one (>10%). There was an inverse relationship between CF and productivity (lambs sold ewe −1 year −1 ), leading to lower footprints on those farms with the higher productivity. A direct relationship between CF and stocking rate (livestock units ha −1 ) has been identified.

Keywords: GHG emissions; pasture systems; ruminants; organic farming; LCA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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