Scholarly record
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STOCKING DENSITY ON LIVESTOCK FARMS IN THE BALTIC STATES
Abstract
Nowadays effective grazing management plays a critical role in sustaining biodiversity, maintaining soil quality and protecting natural habitats, thereby supporting ecological balance. The present study aims to explore stocking density trends on livestock farms with different economic size in the Baltic States over the years 2004 - 2023 and contrast them with changes in the EU stocking density. Stocking density is measured in livestock units per hectare of forage utilized agricultural area and acts as a basic evaluative indicator of environmentally sustainable practices. The time series analysis draws on statistical data obtained from the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN). Although the stocking density had increased on the Baltic livestock farms since 2004, it still remained among the lowest across the EU Member States. In Latvia, stocking density constituted 66 % to 92 % and in Estonia – 74 % to 110 % of the Lithuanian level. Similar to the EU, stocking density increased with the economic size of the Baltic milk farms. In addition, the larger milk farms were in Estonia, the smaller a difference between their production intensity and stocking density on the EU milk farms of similar economic size was. In contrast, in Latvia and Lithuania this relationship was not linear due to considerable fluctuations of stocking density over the years.
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