Characterization of German sheep production systems and derivation of respective economic values for breeding traits

The aim of this study was to derive economic weights for sheep breeding goal traits for specific cluster types. The herd clustering approach considered 25 German sheep herds including descriptors related to area-based factors, management factors, herd information and socio-economic characteristics. The evaluation criterion suggested the application of agglomerative hierarchical clustering with the respective allocation of 25 herds to 3 different clusters. The clusters mainly differed with regard to herd size, production focus, and organic versus conventional management practices. The ongoing contingent valuation approach to derive cluster specific economic weights for 12 breeding goal traits based on the willingness to pay (WTP) considering 25 German sheep farmers, a hypothetical budget of 1000 € for the improvement of a trait per 1 genetic SD, and linear mixed model applications. Significant cluster differences for the WTP (P < 0.01) were only identified for the trait feed utilisation with regard to clusters 2 (least-squares mean = 101.65 €) and 3 (least-squares mean = 9.46 €). Least-squares means for individual breeding goal traits were summed up into four overall breeding goal categories. The highest trait importance was expressed for "functional", but displaying a variation among cluster. All clusters rated the trait category "health and welfare" including tail length very similar (range from 24 % to 29 %), with even stronger emphasize on "health and welfare" over "performance" in clusters 1 and 3. In consequence, we suggest to modify sheep breeding goals with a shift from production towards health, welfare and functionality, by consideration of production system particularities.