Operational Group: Use of olive by-products in ruminant diets to boost the economy of olive groves and livestock farming

The scarcity of pasture in Andalusia and the high price of conventional livestock feed make livestock farming systems increasingly less competitive. Alleviating the economic crisis in the sector requires the availability of unconventional feeds that allow for lower prices of livestock diets, ensuring the maintenance or improvement of the quality of animal products, as well as reducing the environmental impact of livestock farming. Agro-industrial by-products, and in Andalusia especially those derived from the olive sector, can play an important role in this context. The Operational Group, especially the Zaidín Experimental Station, has solid scientific experience in the use of by-products from the olive industry in feeding small ruminants (sheep and goats). In addition, they have developed a low-cost technology, the production of multi-nutrient blocks, which has been successfully tested in the Recupera Program with greenhouse by-products.