Not enough ewe for Hungarian rams.

The typical Hungarian sheep farmer has only 100 ewes. Agricultural experts report that 300 are required in order to run a profitable operation. The sheep report that 100 ewes are simply not enough to satisfy the rams. While some of the males have turned to one another for comfort and companionship (and the drunken "experimental" liaison that is later regretted and never again mentioned), most of them are feeling the stress of unsatisfied desires. Their balls of wool are no longer soft and fluffy. When they say, "Baaaaaa," they really mean it. Clearly, Hungary needs more female sheep.


Sheep and goat production systems in Hungary

S. Kukovics" and A. Jávor**
*Research Institute for Animal Breeding and Nutrition,
Gesztenyés St. l, 2053 Herceghalom, Hungary
**Debrecen University of Agricultural Sciences,
Böszörményi út 138, Debrecen 4032, Hungary



SUMMARY -The production conditions of sheep and goat farming in Hungary have basically changed in the last 6-8 years. There were changes not only in the property structure but also within the production system. The number of small ruminant farmers has significantly increased while the animal stock of Hungary has been broken down into small flocks. This new situation has influenced the use, the breeding, the keeping and the feeding of animals. For this reason and due to the market, the costs and yields have also changed and this might lead to a change in the production systems. In this paper we analyse the main characteristics of production systems and their effects on sheep and goat farming at present in Hungary.

Farm size
The survey of the Sheep Products’ Council shows that by the end of 1996, 6,799 natural and legal entity were dealing with sheep farming in Hungary. 78.8% of the ewe stock was in the property of individual farmers; 21.2% did farming in cooperatives, in the forms of Ltd. companies and other small companies (Table 1). In the case of individual farmers the average number of ewe did not reach 100 (96.6), however, the size of farms varied considerably (1-5,000). In the case of the 107 cooperatives the average number of ewe was 959, at Ltd. companies 1,025, while at small companies there were 670 ewes. The average number referring to the whole stock was only 119 animals; for being profitable 2 or 3 times more animals would be require more than 4,950 farms less than 100 ewe were to be found (Jávor et al., 1997a). Such a small-scales sheep farming is only slightly profitable.

In general, farms of more than 300 ewe are profitable. The data available on the goat stock are not sufficient. The average farm size was of several tens of animina most farms there were 10-15 nanny goats and their offsprings, although there were also farms of several hundreds of animals at the beginning of 1997. However there were not more than 5 farms like that, and were not more than 20 where there were more than 100 goats. The total number of animals was estimated to be between 50,000-70,000. Obtaining a correct number is impossible as the number of goats in sheep farms is unknown at present.

Surveys show that the majority of sheep stock was of Merino (Table 2). The survey performed inthe most important sheep farming county has justified this distribution (Jávore t al., 1996). 95% of this was of Merino. This distribution determined the production system. Merinos are mainly used for meat and wool production, and a small part is used for milk production (in the county survey the crossbred milking stock was not included).


Conclusion
The production systems of sheep and goat farming in Hungary have developed based on the
following factors:
(i) Number of ewes and female goats: The majority of the ewes were in small flocks on private
farms. The profitability, in general, could be reach with at least 300 ewes in production. The average size of nanny goats was much smaller (10-15 heads), most of the goat breeders and keepers were only part-time farmers.
(i¡) The breed used: However, it was known that the production level of Merinos was lower than expected these breed group was dominatinign the national flock. Farms having 100-200 or 500-1,000 heads had better breed distribution than the others. In goats, the native Hungarian breeds were dominating, but several other breeds available on those farms where the production level was higher.
(iii) The size of land for utilization and the available feed: Most of the farms were mixed producers (cropping and breeding). The smaller part of farmers had their own grazing land, the others used rented pastures. As the land size was growing the rates of self production was increasing.
(¡v) Market demand: The dominating product was the live lambs exported to Italian market. This market was demanding mainly light weight lambs and kids, mostly concentrating on three periods, however, the exportation could be continuous during the year. Along with the increasing flock sizerates of frequent and divided lambing systems were increased and the percentage of annual lambing system was reduced.
(v) Income and expenses: The production costs per ewe per year were increasing along with the flock size. Part of them were understandable (e.g., the small farms did not pay any tax) the others not. The fodder cost was the dominating one, but the so called other cost had an increasing ratio. The meat was the dominating resource of income, but the profitability was modified by the other traits óf production systems.

Borrowed with thanks from: http://ressources.ciheam.org/om/pdf/a38/99600164.pdf