Production Efficiency of livestock

1. 2.7. Livestock Production Efficiency
 Primitive societies first domesticated animals as a convenient
means of meeting immediate needs for food, clothing and
transport.
 Subsequently, for many thousands of years, livestock remained
only one component of a regionally self sufficient and
sustainable method to satisfy human demands.
 Even in the more developed countries, subsistence agriculture
persisted until near the end of the nineteenth century.
 The pattern of family operated mixed farms, loosely organized
into self contained rural communities and providing food for a
number of small
 But growing urban centres, predominated until after the first
world war throughout much of the world.
1/21/2023 1

2. Cont...
 Subsequently, mechanization and technological innovation
produced substantial challenge, transition, change,
consolidation and uncertainty.
 In many regions the surviving farms are now highly
specialized, labour efficient, capital intensive and management
demanding components of an integrated agri-food industry
producing for both a regional and global market.
 Successful operation of any farm demands sound planning and
astute decision making throughout all stages of the production
sequence.
1/21/2023 2

3. 1/21/2023 3

4. Cont...
 Agriculture will likely remain the most important source of
human food and, although the outputs of convertible products
and draft power will still be substantial,
 Food production should continue as the major agricultural
activity.
 Within the last few decades the concerns that fossil fuels may
become depleted and the escalating costs for many inputs has
focused attention on efficiency and agricultural activities are
constantly being re-examined.
 Efficiency is expressed as the ratio of inputs to outputs.
 This can be calculated in biological or economic terms and
often per unit of time.
1/21/2023 4

5. 1/21/2023 5

6. Energy inputs and outputs per unit of land under
various agricultural production systems.
 Points below the dotted line represent systems in which
energy input is greater than output.
 Note that animal systems are all low in comparison with crop
production or mixed farming.
 Prepared from data calculated by Leach, 1975.
 These ratios for energy inputs to outputs for many different
farming systems around the world illustrate that
 Livestock production systems are relatively inefficient in
using support energy when compared with plant systems.
 They also show that subsistence farming practices and
hunter-gathering lifestyles can be just as efficient as
industrialized agriculture when evaluated on input/output
ratios.
1/21/2023 6

7. The Meaning of Efficiency
 The most common method for expressing efficiency is the
ratio of selected inputs to outputs.
 Although the procedure remains constant for almost all
circumstances, various inputs may be chosen so that the ratio
could be calculated and expressed in biological, physical or
economic terms.
 Biological efficiency might include energy conversion,
protein conversion or the number of offspring produced in a
given time period.
 Physical methods relate productivity to units of land or actual
weight of product.
 Inputs and outputs can also be converted into similar units of
value for calculation of economic efficiency.
 Comparisons are usually made to determine which systems are
most efficient in converting the main resources (inputs) with
1/21/2023 7

8. Protein
(kg/ha/yr)
Energy
(MJ/ha/yr)
Plant Products
Dry grass** 1,100 180,000
Cabbage 1,100 33,500
Corn 430 83,700
Wheat 350 58,600
Rice 320 87,900
Potatoes 420 100,460
Animal Products
Rabbits 180 7,400
Chickens 92 4,600
Lamb 43 4,800
Beef 42 7,900
Milk 115 10,460
**Not readily digestible by humans Data from Spedding & Hoxey, 1975
Protein and Energy Output per Unit of Land
1/21/2023 8

9. Cont...
 Land area is an important input measurement since its amount
and suitability (profitability) for other uses dictates how much
will be available for growing of animal feed.
 The feed conversion efficiency for energy and protein in feed,
or even for total energy inputs, by various species is often
expressed.
 However, this can be misleading, since poultry or dairy cattle
cannot achieve high biological efficiency unless many other
expensive inputs are provided.
 Although the biological and physical efficiency of livestock is
substantially lower than many plant systems,
 Affluent consumers will pay more for animal products so that,
where suitable markets exist, production is profitable.
1/21/2023 9

10. Improving Efficiency
 Animal production is a value added system which processes
various inputs through livestock with the expectation that
outputs will be worth more than the total input costs.
 Both natural factors and human interventions force
domesticated animals to live under conditions that may not
always be ideal for production or even for health.
 Since livestock exist, grow and reproduce within a given set
of physical and climatic factors,
 This animal-environmental relationship suggests several
possible strategies for production enhancement.
1/21/2023 10

11. Cont...
 Many livestock improvement programmes commence with the
introduction of "exotic" genotypes with the potential for
greater productivity.
 These often fail because the necessary feed, disease prevention
and environmental conditions required for expression of the
"exotic's" genetic potential cannot be provided.
 Emphasis should be placed on improving feed resources,
health care and the physical conditions in which animals
must exist in conjunction with of even before adopting new
genotypes.
1/21/2023 11

12. 1/21/2023 12

13. Cont’d...
 The science of animal production has advanced to the state
where knowledge exists on how to improve many of the
components involved with performance.
 Unfortunately, for some of these procedures, the cost
associated with providing the required inputs may exceed
market value of the additional commodity produced.
 An additional challenge for producers, and for their
professional advisors, is the initial and continuing evaluation
of each new or existing technology to determine whether it
should be cost effective when used on particular farms.
 Academics often propose "high tech" and therefore costly
solutions for almost everything without appreciating the
financial risks associated with farming.
 Fortunately, most farmers are usually much more
conservative than their supporting R&D or extension officers.
1/21/2023 13

14. Improving Efficiency
 Poor performance efficiency is often a symptom of some
problem in the total production system.
 A holistic approach, considering all components and their
interrelationships, is necessary to identify any underlying
deficiencies and the weakest link in the sequence from
conception to consumption.
 Once this comprehensive examination is completed any
subsequent actions can focus on correcting the major problems
rather than simply treating the symptoms.
1/21/2023 14

15. Cont’d...
The most pressing challenges currently facing the
global livestock industry are:
• obtaining capital necessary to finance any changes
• anticipating consumer preferences
• adapting to the continual onslaught of technological
innovations;
• pressures to optimize input/output ratios for economic
returns;
• to accomplish this while developing environmentally
friendly methods that provide long-term
sustainability.
1/21/2023 15