Assessment of the Sustainability of Extensive Livestock Farms on the Common Grasslands of the Natural Park Sierra de Grazalema

The communal pastures of the Natural Park Sierra de Grazalema are grazed by a total of 23 extensive herds, of which 75% are certified as organic, although only 39% are subsidized for being organic. In a previous research work, these farms were characterized and classified into four typologies: group 1 (farms of intermediate size and without sheep), group 2 (large and very extensive farms), group 3 (farms with sheep suitable for both meat and milk) and group 4 (farms with dairy goat milk and without cattle). In this article, the sustainability of these farms is evaluated and compared based on their organic orientation (whether they are organic or conventional) and their typology (the four typologies indicated), as a tool for decision-making in the management of this natural protected area. To do so, 49 sustainability indexes have been generated, grouped into five attributes: adaptability, self-management, equity, stability, and productivity. The results indicate that, at the global level, there are no significant differences in sustainability between the organic and conventional farms studied. In contrast, depending on the typologies, the results indicate that group 3 is the most sustainable, followed by groups 1 and 4, with group 2 being the one with the lowest level of sustainability. Taking into account that there are a reduced number of herds grazing in this natural park, it is essential to solve the weaknesses of these farms in order to guarantee that they continue to maintain environmental equilibrium in the grasslands

Acorns for fattening free-range pigs (OK-Net Ecofeed Practice Abstract)

- The fattening performance is very much influenced by the age of pigs and their compensatory growth; hence, pigs should be as old as possible (≥1 year) and adapted to grazing. - Grass is necessary as a source of protein to compensate for the low protein levels in acorns. - The food conversion rate is 10.5 kg of whole acorns of Q. i. rotundifolia to gain 1 kg, besides the contribution of grass; to establish the stocking rate, consider that an adult evergreen oak produces ≈11 kg of acorns/year). - Iberian pigs peel acorns to avoid the high content of tannins in the shell. However, during peeling, approxi-mately 20% of the kernel can be wasted

A Typological Characterization of Organic Livestock Farms in the Natural Park Sierra de Grazalema Based on Technical and Economic Variables

This paper describes the typological characterization of the Natural Park Sierra de Grazalema (NPSG) livestock farms using its communal pastures (N = 23, 100% of population) in order to study their sustainability from 160 technical, economic and social variables (from direct on-farm data collection). A principal components analysis (PCA) produced four principal components related to size, livestock species, main productions and intensification level, explaining 73.6% of the variance. The subsequent cluster analysis classified the farms into four groups: C1 (medium size farms without sheep), C2 (large size and very extensive farms), C3 (farms with multipurpose sheep) and C4 (farms with dairy goat and without cattle). Forty-eight-point-seven percent of the surface was registered as organic but none of the farms’ commercialized products were organic. C2 and C3 (both having three ruminant species) are those farms that have more economic differences, the former generating the lowest profit, and the latter generating the highest; however, there is a risk to grasslands conservation from the current tendency that leads dairy farms to rapid intensification. Nevertheless, the very extensive farms are the most interesting for NPSG conservation and the administration should help to maintain the profitability of this sustainable traditional activity, which is necessary to conserve communal pastures

Brewer’s yeast for organic pigs (OK-Net Ecofeed Practice Abstract)

Benefits • Yeast has a high content of protein (> 47% DM) of high biological (3.6% of lysine) and digestible value (> 85%), thus reducing the cost of feed. • Yeast is rich in B vitamins, especially biotin and folic acid (besides vitamin B1, B2, B6, B12, PP, B5) and in vitamin D, with a content of 2000 - 5000 IU /g DM. • The content of phosphorus in the yeast is up to 0.8-1.3%. • Yeast promotes animal performance and health. • Yeast improves the quality of the carcass. Practical recommendation • Two holding tanks are needed for hygiene reasons. • Yeast deteriorates very easily, do not use the product stored over 2 days. • It is necessary to deactivate (kill) the yeast before transporting and using it on the farm. Hence, autolyzed yeast should be used. • Yeast is a quite seasonal product, and it cannot be stored; however, it can be added to silage mixtures as an alternative to avoid its deterioration

Thermoregulatory and Feeding Behavior under Different Management and Heat Stress Conditions in Heifer Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in the Tropics

In the wake of climate change and global warming, the production systems of water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) are receiving increasing attention in the tropics, where the silvopastoral systems can improve animal welfare and production conditions. The objective of this study was to characterize the behavior of heifer buffaloes in a silvopastoral system (SPS) with Leucaena leucocephala (600 trees/ha) and in a conventional system (CVS), under intense heat stress and moderate heat stress in Cuba. We observed nine animals, with an average weight of 167.9 kg at the beginning of the study, during the daylight period, from 6:00 to 18:00 h, at 10 min intervals, for 12 days. Activities recorded were grazing, ingestion of tree leaves, rumination, water intake, walking, lying, standing, sheltering in the shade of trees, and wallowing. Sheltering in the shade of trees and wallowing were collectively considered as thermoregulatory behavior (TB). TB was different in both systems and conditions of heat stress (p < 0.05), with 4.06 in CVS and 3.81 h in SPS in the intense heat stress period, while it was 2.91 and 1.08 h for SPS and CVS, respectively, during the moderate heat stress period. The wallowing activity showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the intense heat stress season with 1.18 and 2.35 h for SPS and CVS, respectively. Time spent on feeding behavior was highest in the SPS system (p < 0.05). Longer times of thermoregulatory and feeding behavior indicate the importance of trees in animal welfare for this species in tropical conditions, thus supporting avoided deforestation and the replanting of trees in existing production systems and landscapes

Greenhouse gas emissions from Mediterranean agriculture : Evidence of unbalanced research efforts and knowledge gaps

Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AgroSceNA-UP, PID2019-107972RB-I00) and Asociación Valor Ecológico – Ecovalia. EA is supported by a Juan de la Cierva research contract from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (IJC2019-040699-I and FJCI-2017-34077). ASC would like to thank the Autonomous Community of Madrid and UPM for their economic support through the research project APOYO-JOVENES-NFW8ZQ-42-XE8B5K. EA and ASC acknowledge the Spanish National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology and the Agencia Estatal de Investigación Grant (MACSUR02-APCIN2016-0005-00-00). The authors would like to thank Dr. Luis Lassaletta for his helpful comments with respect to the manuscript. The authors gratefully acknowledge the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and useful suggestions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Role of Women on Dairy Goat Farms in Southern Spain

One of the factors involved in goat milk production is the role of women as farmers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of women on dairy goat farms, considering: (1) the profile of women occupationally involved, (2) the organization of the women’s work, (3) the degree of involvement by women in the decision-making on these farms, and (4) the influence of women’s work on productive results. This study was conducted on 52 dairy goat farms in southern Spain. A descriptive analysis and means comparisons were performed to describe the farms where any women were involved or not. In 61.5% of the farms, at least one woman was involved, with an age of 42.2 ± 8.8 years. Very few women were farm owners, although women took binding decisions in 81.25% of these farms. Their work is dedicated to milking and caring for the kids. Women had a positive influence on the productive variables analysed, and for mastitis in herds, the incidence was lower in herds where women participated (p < 0.01). In conclusion, it is recommended to include women’s work as a factor when characterizing dairy goats farms’ systems to evaluate their positive effect on a farm’s performance

Effect of Non-Genetic Factors on Reproduction of Extensive versus Intensive Florida Dairy Goats

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the production system and other environmental/phenotype factors on age at first kidding (AFK), kidding interval (KI) and prolificacy of 19,772 Florida goats reared between 2000 and 2019 on 49 dairy farms (38 farms intensively managed and 11 extensively managed with grazing). AFK was lower on intensive (490.2 ± 0.9 days; n = 13,345) than on extensive farms (511.7 ± 2.5 days; n = 2357; p < 0.001), and highest during the spring season (533.9 ± 2.7 days; n = 1932; p < 0.001) in both production systems. The average KI was 355.7 ± 0.4 days, mainly varying according to dry period, kidding season and lactation number and kidding type (p < 0.01). A significant interaction between production system, kidding season and dry period was observed with the highest AFK on intensive farms during spring and summer for goats presenting a dry period of up to six months. The overall prolificacy (1.64 ± 0.01) increased in recent years in both systems, and it was affected by the production system, but with different patterns; so, the highest prolificacy of primiparous and multiparous goats was observed on extensive and intensive farms, respectively. Besides that, the prolificacy and other reproductive parameters, such as AFK, significantly increased in the last decade, which could be related to management improvements. Besides that, the existence of inter-annual variations should be considered to compare data between farms and years, and to establish the farms’ objectives according to their production systems and production goals

Preliminary feasibility of near-infrared spectroscopy to authenticate grazing in dairy goats through milk and faeces analysis

Nowadays, society demands certification and authentication methodologies that are able to clarify the origin of different livestock products. This is considered of paramount importance in order to not only provide accurate information to consumers, but also to protect producers against fraudulent practices. In this context, the aim of this study is to establish a methodology to authenticate the grazing activity of dairy goats. To achieve this, milk and faeces samples were analysed using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. The good results obtained in discriminant models demonstrated differences in both types of matrices when the two feeding regimes were compared. The development of this methodology could extend its use not only in dairy systems of goats but also in other animal species and systems

Antiparasitic Tannin-Rich Plants from the South of Europe for Grazing Livestock: A Review

Internal parasites are one of the main causes of health threats in livestock production, especially in extensive livestock farming. Despite the environmental toxic effects (loss of dung beetles, biodiversity, and other issues) and resistance phenomenon derived from their prolonged use, anti-parasitic chemical pharmaceuticals are frequently used, even in organic farming. Such a situation within the context of climate change requires urgent exploration of alternative compounds to solve these problems and apparent conflicts between organic farming objectives regarding the environment, public health, and animal health. This review is focused on some plants (Artemisia spp., Cichorium intybus L., Ericaceae family, Hedysarum coronarium L., Lotus spp., Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) that are well known for their antiparasitic effect, are voluntarily grazed and ingested, and can be spontaneously found or cultivated in southern Europe and other regions with a Mediterranean climate. The differences found between effectiveness, parasite species affected, in vitro/in vivo experiments, and active compounds are explored. A total of 87 papers where antiparasitic activity of those plants have been studied are included in this review; 75% studied the effect on ruminant parasites, where gastrointestinal nematodes were the parasite group most studied (70%), and these included natural (31%) and experimental (37%) infections