Sheep numbers in sharp decline as farmers increasingly shift to forestry, fuelled by demand to earn carbon credits
Anyone who can convert to dairy already probably has at this point. I guess pine is the next best thing.
I have a biased view but from what I see generally sheep farms do not make good dairy farms. Often the shift is to have sheep make up a smaller portion of sheep & beef farms.
That makes sense. Is it because of terrain?
Hope that lessons are learned from the experience of the East Coast. Forests are fine until they’re harvested, and then your hillsides crumble in rain and your roads with them, and your beaches are covered with slash…
The really perverse thing is there’s no intention to ever harvest it. If they did that they’d have to pay back the carbon credits. They plant it and leave it, gather carbon credits quickly for 40 years. The rate slows down to a trickle after that as the canopy is mature. There is really no plan after that. Source family in forestry.
