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The aim of this paper is to present the situation and create a SWOT analysis organic animal husbandry production in the Republic of Croatia during the last decade, research its development potential, and to make a comparison with the situation in other EU countries. Organic animal husbandry is constantly increasing in the Republic of Croatia (increase in number of cows, sheep, goats and ungulates), as well as in most EU countries. During the last decade, numerous activities/measures were undertaken which led to an increase in the area of used agricultural land under organic production, and now they occupy 8.57% of the total used agricultural area of the Republic of Croatia, while in the EU is 9.9%. The potentials for the development of organic animal husbandry production in Croatia are shown in the SWOT analysis and they are very good; not only because of the wealth of natural resources, various incentive measures, the preservation of numerous protected and GMO-free landscapes suitable for the aforementioned production, the abundance of neglected land areas that quickly could be put into use, regulated legislation; but also because of the emphasis on tourist destinations and friendly farming. In the EU countries, the need for better education of organic farmers as well as consumers of organic animal products is also emphasized, as well as raising the quality of coexistence with animals and the environment while preserving biodiversity, better distribution of incentives for this sector with opportunities for the development of numerous protected and rural areas.

The aim of this study was to determine the quality of corn silage as the dominant component in the diet of dairy cows in three counties of Eastern Croatia; Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja, and Vukovar-Srijem. The practical part of the research included 25 dairy farms in each County in which corn silage was sampled and then analyzed. The monitored nutritional, fermentative, and physical indicators expressed as average values were satisfactory. Indicators of chemical composition: dry matter (DM) = 349 g/kg, crude protein = 71 g/kg DM, crude ash = 39 g/kg DM, crude fiber = 186 g/kg DM, acidic detergent fiber (ADF) = 212 g/kg DM, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) = 393 g/kg DM, acidic detergent lignin (ADL) = 17 g/kg DM, starch = 325 g kg DM, energy value expressed in net energy for lactation (NEL, MJ/kg DM) = 6.78, average digestibility of organic matter (dOM) = 75.8% and digestible neutral detergent fibers (dNDF)= 53.7%. Indicators of silage fermentation included the measurement of an average pH of 3.86, a concentration of lactic acid = 56.37 g/kg DM, and acetic acid of 20.68 g/kg DM. Physical indicator, determination of silage particle size distribution (three sieve system) recorded following values: sieve 1 = 7.1%; sieve 2 = 56.3%; sieve 3 = 24.8% and box at the bottom = 11.7%. Given the established statistical significance of the tested differences in average values for nine indicators of nutritional and energy value of corn silage between counties, it is possible to confirm that the quality of silage was better in Osijek-Baranja and Brod-Posavina counties than in Vukovar-Srijem County. Based on significant deviations in the minimum and maximum, and by determining a larger number of non-compliant samples in some indicators than the average values, it leads to the conclusion of uneven quality of silage in some producers.

The aim of present research was to establish the relationship between live body weight and some body measurements in Travnik sheep as a step towards establishing prediction equations to estimate live body weight of sheep under field conditions without using weighing scales. The research was conducted on the family farm "Aščić" from Velika Peratovica in the Bilogora area. The body measures from which the indices of physical development were calculated were taken from 39 sheep. The sheep in the present research had more modest body measurements and body weight than the desirable measures and weights listed in the Sheep Breeding Program in the Republic of Croatia, which is most likely due to the way they were kept, nutrition and their production status. Correlation analysis between individual body measures and sheep weights revealed the strongest and significantly positive correlation (P

The aim of the study was to determine the influence of parity and litter size on dairy traits in Istrian ewes. The following traits were analysed: lactation milk yield (LMY), daily milk yield (DMY), fat yield (FY), fat content (FC), protein yield (PY), protein content (PC), lactose yield (LY), and lactose content (LC). Lactation records (n=6481) collected on 2786 ewes were analyzed using a statistical model adjusted for unbalanced data structure accounting for all the available sources of phenotypic variability. Parity had a statistically significant effect on all the investigated traits (P

The aim of this study was to determine influence of sex on slaughter traits, carcass measures and pH value and muscle tissue colour as important indicators of lamb meat quality. For that purpose a total of 52 Merinolandschaf lambs (24 male and 28 female) at average age of about 100 days were slaughtered. The average lambs live weight at slaughter was 37.09 kg, considering that male lambs had statistically significant (P

The aim of this research was to determine the influence of sex on slaughter traits and carcass characteristics of Travnik pramenka sheep lambs. For that purpose, in April 2017, a total of 70 lambs of Travnik pramenka sheep were slaughtered, of which 48 male and 22 female. The lambs of Travnik pramenka sheep were raised on a family farm in Velika Peratovica, Bjelovar-Bilogora County. At age between 90 and 100 days lambs were individually weighed and slaughtered. After slaughter and standard procedures of processing, the carcasses and investigated organs were measured. The average slaughter weight of lambs measured immediately before slaughter was 21.85 kg, considering that male lambs had statistically significant (P