Typology of German sheep farms - Differences in structure, characteristics, challenges and the provision of goods and services

Sheep farming in Germany is continuously declining and the reasons for this development are manifold. This article aims to contribute to the research on the current situation of sheep farming by providing a typologisation of German sheep farms. Based on a comprehensive survey (N = 359), a cluster analysis with the Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) algorithm was carried out. A total of nine farm types could be identified: five types of full-time farms, two types of part-time farms, two types of small-scale and hobby farms. The farms differ in terms of their size, production focus, farming systems and livestock management. The full-time farms focus partly on landscape management and partly on the production of meat, keeping their sheep in a variety of different farming systems. The farms vary significantly in flock size and the area farmed. The part-time and small-scale farms keep their sheep almost exclusively in paddocks. For part-time and small-scale farms, the focus is less on landscape management and more on production. The proportion of part-time and small-scale farms practicing purebred breeding and keeping endangered breeds is higher than among the full-time farms. While the number of lambs reared per ewe is higher on part-time and small-scale farms, lambs reach slaughter maturity faster on full-time farms. Across all identified farm types, the economic situation as well as the future prospects are not rated very positively and lack of profitability and flock protection are identified as major problems.