Pasture weed biology and management in Brazil

The livestock production model historically practiced in Brazil has a strong extractive bias, wherein the premise is to produce livestock with absolutely no concern for the preservation or renewal of environmental resources. The absence of technical criteria for the use of pastures has generated low productivity rates, making the activity unsustainable from both economic and environmental points of view. This scenario led the several sectors linked to the production chain to develop a package of strategies to solve the problems faced by livestock farmers. This package of strategies is conventionally called postmodern or corporate farming, in which the extractive process gives way to the business logic of avoiding waste and recovering profit margins mainly through pasture perpetuation. However, there is still a technical gap in corporate cattle farming related to problems caused by pasture weeds because all the concepts applied are derived or copied from concepts generated in agriculture. Furthermore, few researchers have studied or scientific articles written on elucidating the real problem of weeds in livestock production. Thus, the goal of the present review was to present some aspects related to weed ecology, their interference, and management alternatives in pasture areas, thereby collaborating with corporate livestock farming in Brazil because solutions to weed problems are crucial to increase commitment in all sectors of the production chain.

Small-holder farmers knowledge and information on the impact of climate variability & extremes on livestock production in Limpopo & Mpumalanga Provinces

A study was carried out to investigate the level of awareness, knowledge and information of small-holder farmers (SHLF) on the impact of climatic change (CC) and extremes on livestock production in Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces. At least 366 smallholder farmers were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire to elicit responses on vulnerability. Almost all the farmers (96 %) have heard about CC only a few farmers (4 %) did not know CC. The medium for the conveyance of CC information was the main radio (94.32%). Newspapers and television were also efficient mediums in the conveyance of this information, each with the outreach of 16.76 and 32.67%, respectively. Central to the impact of CC was the fact that (90%) of the farmers confirmed that there was a change in grass availability; which contributed to major livestock fatalities of which over half of the farmers (55.19%) attested as the cause. The study found that 86.67% of SHLF who attended awareness meetings indicated that the discussions prioritized adapting to CC. However, SHLF (80.77%) did not have an early warning system. This was coupled with a lack of contingency plans by (84.36%) the farmers to deal with the impact of the said drought on their farms. SHLF (19%) who had facilitated contingency plans indicated that improved aspects of the plan should incorporate the support of their provision feeds, drilling of boreholes, and erection of dams. Based on SHLF perceptions there is a need for strategic shifts from grazing to small scale feed-lots.

Current and predicted temperatures impair reproduction in the Australian sheep flock

Climate change threatens global livestock production1,2. We modelled the impact of recent temperatures and a 1°C and 3°C temperature increase over the historical baseline on risks of heat stress at key periods of the reproductive cycle and consequences for reproduction across the entire Australian sheep flock. We estimate that 2.1 million potential lambs are currently lost annually due to heat stress, increasing to 2.5 and 3.3 million as temperatures rise.