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Energy and economic values of greenhouse sheds to replace winter grazing in northwestern China
Author(s) -
Zheng Yang,
Takahashi Taro,
Kemp David
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
grassland science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.388
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1744-697X
pISSN - 1744-6961
DOI - 10.1111/grs.12027
Subject(s) - grazing , greenhouse , noon , china , environmental science , greenhouse gas , zoology , agricultural economics , geography , agronomy , atmospheric sciences , biology , ecology , economics , archaeology , geology
To demonstrate that winter grazing in northwestern China is counterproductive to animal production, 40 ewes from two farms were kept throughout a winter inside makeshift greenhouse sheds while another 40 ewes were left grazing in the traditional manner. Results show that the average temperature inside the greenhouse was 10, 14 and 4°C higher than outside at 9 am, 12 noon and 9 pm, respectively (all P < 0.001), and that ewes inside the greenhouse lost 3 kg less bodyweight than those outside ( P < 0.001). An analysis using the authors' bioeconomic model suggests that the proposed method can save 2.4 MJ day −1 head −1 of metabolizable energy and, at the gross economic benefit of 1191 yuan or $189 year −1 , the initial cost of 3000 yuan or $477 can be paid off within three seasons.