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THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY AND MARKETABILITY OF SHEEP MEAT PRODUCED IN THE LESS-FAVOURED AREAS (LFAs) OF THE COMMUNITY

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Sheep production systems in the "Less Favoured Areas" of the Community generally produce lightweight carcasses of variable quality, often as a by-product to milk production. In many areas market specifications for sheep meat are vague and marketing structures weak. The breeds of sheep associated with these systems are generally small and nutritional regimes under which they are kept during growth are often variable and limited. The project aims to characterize a sample of sheep breeds indigenous to the LFAs of Great Britain, Greece and North West Spain with regard to their genetic potential for meat production and how this can be regulated by nutritional manipulation.
The objective of this project was to examine, within the environmental constraints of the LFA regions, the key parameters of sheep production and marketing wuth a view to the development of production strategies aimed at improving the competitiveness of sheep meat producers in these less favoured areas (LFAs). The regions studied were the LFAs of the United Kingdom, mainland Greece and north west Spain.

Experiments were carried out to characterise the growth pattern and carcass development of sheep bred to each region and to confirm their adherence to genetic scaling rules relating to mature size. Embryo transfer was used as a means of rapidly bringing together the necessary genetic material and allowed the effects of nutritional quality on growth to be evaluated across a wide range of genotypes.

Simultaneously a series of economic evaluations of market conditions, consumer preferences and marketing opportunities was carried out in each country. The two major factors influencing the development of the markets in all the countries are the evolution of the single market towards supermarket and hypermarket retailing. Traditional LFA marketing structures are poorly placed to take advantage of these market developments, consequently new strategies were evaluated.

Timing of supplies has emerged as the single most important factor of lamb production and marketing. In the past, the various environmental influences on the timing of LFA production have constrained the oppportunities for producers to adopt proactive marketing strategies in relation to the pattern of demand over time. The project has demonstated that LFA lamb production systems can be adapted to make the best use of available resources, in sympathy with local environmental conditions, to produce lambs of the required quality for alternate markets at critical times of the season or over an extended time period.
Embryo transfer will be used to bring together breeds from the co-operating regions in a single environment for study. This will create a reference to allow across-region comparisons to be made with greater confidence. These studies will be used to deve lop sustainable pastoral based production systems producing sheep meat of a more consistent specification in line with market demand across the Community.

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SCOTTISH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
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BUSH ESTATE
EH26 0QE PENICUIK
Vereinigtes Königreich

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