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The case provides an opportunity for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students to demonstrate a practical application of supply chain modeling in the area of livestock management for a group of rural communities in India. An animal husbandry department needs to ensure timely replenishment of liquid nitrogen to several livestock locations to preserve semen straws, which are frozen for artificial insemination. The department wishes to explore a possible route redesign for cost reduction. The description in the case, as well as the presented data, is based on a real project undertaken by the authors. The case enables students to conceptualize and design sample routes manually to meet the cost objective. However, the main objective is to make students understand and implement solution heuristics for large-scale vehicle routing problems. It also allows students to compare various designs trying not only possible vehicle capacities but also three solution heuristics. Nevertheless, students can also realize the importance of the spreadsheet as a decision support tool for evaluating several options by integrating the chosen heuristic. An important milestone of the case project was the implementation of our recommendations by the animal husbandry department.

The transformation of forests into agricultural and livestock systems negatively affects the ecological dynamics and the ecosystem services provided by different groups of insects, including dung beetles, which stand out for their importance in recycling livestock dung. Since the 1980s, farmers in different regions of the world have been using Ivermectin to control parasites that affect cattle. The main route of elimination of this molecule and its metabolites is through manure, which affects the richness, abundance, and biomass of dung beetles when they use dung from treated animals. To quantify this effect, we carried out an experimental design in the field in the Colombian Caribbean, where nine cattle farms were evaluated, of which three were taken for each of the different cattle management practices most used in the region: (i) Ivermectin not applied, (ii) two doses of Ivermectin at 1% applied per year and (iii) two doses of Ivermectin at 3.15% applied per year. To assess the richness, abundance, biomass, and functional groups of dung beetles, during the dry and wet seasons, 30 pitfall traps were baited on each farm with fresh cattle manure with the same management doses described above. A total of 25,441 individuals belonging to 19 genera and 30 species were collected. The richness, abundance, and biomass of beetle assemblages decreased along the gradient represented by management without using Ivermectin and management where Ivermectin was used. Paracoprid beetles were the functional group that was most negatively affected in cattle farms with Ivermectin use. In cattle farms where Ivermectin was not used, there was a greater diversity and higher functional structure of dung beetle assemblages than in those where this veterinary medicinal product was used. Using Ivermectin generates short- and long-term effects on the richness, abundance, biomass, and functional groups of dung beetles in livestock systems in the Colombian Caribbean. Therefore, we suggest using integrated treatment management to prevent the recycling fauna from being affected.

The use of sensors for monitoring livestock has opened up new possibilities for the management of livestock in extensive grazing systems. The work presented in this paper aimed to develop a model for predicting the metabolisable energy intake (MEI) of sheep by using temperature, pitch angle, roll angle, distance, speed, and grazing time data obtained directly from wearable sensors on the sheep. A Deep Belief Network (DBN) algorithm was used to predict MEI, which to our knowledge, has not been attempted previously. The results demonstrated that the DBN method could predict the MEI for sheep using sensor data alone. The mean square error (MSE) values of 4.46 and 20.65 have been achieved using the DBN model for training and testing datasets, respectively. We also evaluated the influential sensor data variables, i.e., distance and pitch angle, for predicting the MEI. Our study demonstrates that the application of machine learning techniques directly to on-animal sensor data presents a substantial opportunity to interpret biological interactions in grazing systems directly from sensor data. We expect that further development and refinement of this technology will catalyse a step-change in extensive livestock management, as wearable sensors become widely used by livestock producers.

During the last decades, Alnus viridis has expanded over former montane pastures and meadows, due to land use and abandonment. This nitrogen-fixing woody species has triggered negative agro-environmental impacts, such as nitrogen (N) leaching, soil acidification and a reduced biodiversity. The aim of this study was to estimate the N translocation from A. viridis-encroached areas to adjacent open pastures by Highland cattle. In 2019 and 2020, Highland cattle herds equipped with GPS collars were placed in four A. viridis-encroached paddocks across Italy and Switzerland. The N content was measured in A. viridis leaves, herbaceous vegetation, and cattle dung pats, which were collected throughout the grazing season. Using GPS locations and collar activity sensors, livestock activity phases were discriminated. The N ingested by cattle was estimated through the N content of herbaceous vegetation and A. viridis leaves of vegetation patches visited by cattle during 24 h before dung sampling (N24H). The N content of herbaceous vegetation significantly increased with increasing A. viridis cover. The average N content in dung pats (31.2 ± 3.4 g.kg−1 DM) was higher than average values from literature on grazing cattle. Moreover, it was positively related to the N24H. Most of this N (29.5 ± 10.3 kg ha−1 yr−1) was translocated towards resting areas, which generally occurred on flat open pastures. Our results highlight the potential of Highland cattle to effectively translocate part of the ingested N from A. viridis-encroached towards targeted open areas, thus bringing new perspective for forage yield and quality improvement in the long-term.

International audience; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being extensively deployed in numerous Livestock Management applications such as cattle disease diagnosis, counting and behavioral monitoring from videos and images captured by drones.The paper focuses on one increasingly important family of applications, UAV-assisted cattle monitoring applications where the objective is to remotely acquire some health state information from IoT nodes attached to the herding cattle. Such livestock data acquisition applications have many challenges. One of these challenges, which is the focus of this paper, is the problem that the target cattle position may not be known precisely, and might be defined with a large area. To address this issue, we design a formulation of this UAV-cattle search path problem as a mathematical optimization problem and show how it can be derived from other well-known formulation and related literature. A Mixed-Integer linear Programming (MILP) formulation is introduced to minimize the expected search time while covering all the search area to efficiently locate the animal. This formulation exploits a cattle position probability distribution map. The results show that the suggested approach yields excellent results using the existing MILP solvers.

El centro de la provincia tiene, desde hace años, graves problemas de desertificación, con pérdida de cobertura vegetal, suelo y capacidad productiva (Del Valle et al., 1997). Los departamentos Magallanes, Río Chico y Corpen Aike han sufrido con mayor intensidad un notable y paulatino descenso de la carga ovina debido a graves problemas de erosión (Andrade, 2002, 2005). Además, la Meseta Central y el Departamento Deseado en particular, han sufrido las consecuencias de la erupción del volcán Hudson (agosto 1991), la cual ha sido muchas veces relativizada cuando se la analiza al momento de explicar la crisis del sector ganadero en dicha zona (Vázquez, 2012). Una de las consecuencias más notorias del deterioro de estas áreas es el abandono de stablecimientos, notable durante los años ´90 y que no se ha detenido posteriormente. La mayor parte de los establecimientos desocupados se encuentran en la Meseta Central, zona que se caracteriza por terrenos de baja productividad primaria, menor superficie y menores inversiones (Barbería, 1994). En la década del 90 se estimó que 300 establecimientos ganaderos de los 1261 existentes en ese periodo fueron abandonados y alrededor de setecientos no cubrían los costos operativos (Andrade et al., 2010; Barbería, 1994). Estos establecimientos se constituyen en un problema en tanto su potencialidad productiva permanece ociosa. Además, generan una presión de predadores sobre los establecimientos con stock y dificultades a los productores vecinos, que deben hacerse cargo de la totalidad del mantenimiento de los alambrados perimetrales, entre otras actividades que, además, involucran inversiones muchas veces importantes. El abandono de la infraestructura dificulta también la posible incorporación de estas tierras a establecimientos en producción que puedan considerar la opción de expandirse territorialmente por compra o alquiler (Andrade, 2012; Andrade et al., 2010). Por otro lado, según los últimos análisis económicos (Bonil et al., 2017; Roa et al., 2021; Schorr et al., 2015), es claro que los dueños no viven exclusivamente del campo, ya que las rentabilidades son negativas, por lo que el productor debe contar con otras alternativas de ingresos. Ante esta situación, se propuso realizar el presente trabajo en forma articulada entre Instituciones y Organizaciones vinculadas al sector (FIAS, CAP, SENASA, UNPA, INTA, IPG, RENATRE) para determinar la superficie y cantidad de establecimientos desocupados y sin producción agropecuaria, con el objetivo de generar información estratégica que contribuya a dimensionar y abordar las diversas aristas que esta problemática presenta en Santa Cruz. La información relevada permitirá caracterizar de manera clara la situación respecto del despoblamiento del área analizada y servirá de base de análisis para elaborar propuestas de abordaje de esta problemática en relación con el Plan de Desarrollo Estratégico del Sector Agropecuario Provincial (en el marco de la Ley provincial 3692/2020). Además, será de utilidad para planes de ocupación territorial, para la generación de propuestas a nivel de políticas públicas y para realizar recomendaciones a productores, como así también para implementar estrategias de control de especies predadoras en pos del desarrollo de una ganadería extensiva sustentable. EEA Santa Cruz Fil: San Martino, Liliana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz. Agencia de Extensión Los Antiguos; Argentina. Fil: Paredes, Paula Natalia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Ferrante, Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Ferrante, Daniela. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina. Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina. Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Fil: Oliva, Gabriel Esteban. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Oliva, Gabriel Esteban. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina. Fil: Gargaglione Verónica Beatriz. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Roa, Martín Angel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz. Agencia de Extensión Los Antiguos; Argentina. Fil: Schorr, Alan Geoffrey. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Moscovich, Fabio Abel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Andrade, Larry. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica San Julián; Argentina. Fil: Grima, Daniel. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina. Fil: Vazquez, Miriam. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina. Fil: De Urquiza, Javier. Consejo Agrario Provincial de Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Rodríguez, Patricia. Consejo Agrario Provincial de Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: O’Byrne, Miguel. Instituto de Promoción de la Ganadería de Santa Cruz (IPG); Argentina. Fil: Williams, Marcos. Registro Nacional de Trabajadores Rurales y Empleadores (RENATRE) Delegación Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Williams, Marcos. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Instituto de Trabajo, Economía y Territorio; Argentina. Fil: Apesteguía, Sebastián. Federación de Instituciones Agropecuarias de Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Etchepare, Magdalena. Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASA). Santa Cruz; Argentina.

Las condiciones hídricas actuales en los partidos que conforman la región sudeste de Buenos Aires (Balcarce, Benito Juárez, Gral. Pueyrredon, Gral. Alvarado, La Madrid, Laprida, Lobería, Necochea, Olavarría, Tandil) son preocupantes. Desde abril de este año, excepto en julio, se han registrado lluvias mensuales menores a las que normalmente ocurren en todos los partidos. En particular, las precipitaciones de septiembre fueron extremadamente bajas (80% menores que lo que normalmente ocurre, en promedio de todos los partidos) y esta situación no ha ocurrido en los últimos 50 años en Balcarce, ni en los últimos 10 a 12 años para el resto de los partidos (excepto en Olavarría y Gral. Pueyrredon que presentaron lluvias similares a las de septiembre de este año, en el año 2015). EEA Balcarce Fil: Lewczuk Nuria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Echarte, Laura. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Puricelli, Marino. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Urcola, Hernán. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Montoya, Marina Rosa. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Faberi, Ariel Jesús. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina. Fil: Panaggio, Néstor Hernán. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Gianelli, Valeria Rosana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Alonso, María Ángeles. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina. Fil: Divita, Ignacio. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina. Fil: Mondino, Eduardo Ariel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Thougnon Islas, Andrea Julieta. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Tulli, María Celia. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina. Fil: Sainz Rozas, Hernán. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Abbate, Pablo Eduardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Cabral Farías, Carlos Alejando. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Echarte, Laura. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Bonelli, Lucas. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina. Fil: Edwards Molina, Juan Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Recavarren, Paulo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Leaden, Kevin. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina. Fil: Cicore, Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Burges, Julio Cesar. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Cantón, Germán. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Borracci, Sebastián. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Borracci, Sebastián Emilio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce. Agencia de Extensión Rural Otamendi; Argentina. Fil: Cambareri, Sebastián. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Sallesses, Leonardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Gyenge, Javier. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Fernández, María Elena. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina. Fil: Agra, Marcelo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Innovación para la Producción Agropecuaria y el Desarrollo Sostenible; Argentina.

La definición de las buenas prácticas para la ganadería ovina de Santa Cruz, a través de la estandarización y sistematización, se realiza con el objetivo de minimizar el impacto que tiene la actividad en el ambiente y, sobre todo, para asegurar el bienestar de los animales, satisfaciendo sus necesidades nutricionales y sanitarias, permitiéndoles el libre comportamiento y disminuyendo las situaciones de estrés, dolor y temor. En este sentido, en los sistemas extensivos de la Provincia, los ovinos pastorean libremente con la mínima intervención humana, recreando, en gran medida, sus condiciones naturales y asegurándoles la disponibilidad de alimento, agua y reparo; lo cual permite cumplir con los pilares del bienestar animal. La adopción de las BPG favorecen la conservación de los ecosistemas y su biodiversidad. Esto resulta en una producción eficiente, sostenible y sustentable que garantiza el bienestar de los animales, posicionando a la empresa ganadera ante las crecientes exigencias de los mercados. En este documento se presentan las condiciones y recaudos que se deben tener en los establecimientos ganaderos ovinos de la Provincia, para asegurar el bienestar de los animales y el cuidado de los recursos naturales, en las distintas prácticas de manejo, definidas como Buenas Prácticas Ganaderas con el consenso de los productores. La presente guía comprende la etapa de producción primaria hasta la carga del producto para el trasporte, sin considerar el transporte propiamente dicho y/o etapas posteriores de la cadena de producción. EEA Santa Cruz Fil: Vargas, Paola Patricia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Milicevic, Francisco. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Andrade, Miguel Alberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Andrade, Miguel Alberto. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina.

La productividad herbácea es un dato importante para el manejo del ganado, por lo que la estimación de esta variable a lo largo de distintos períodos y su relación con variables espectrales permitiría estimar la disponibilidad sin la necesidad de realizar cortes de muestreo. El trabajo que da origen a esta información consiste en la instalación de jaulas de exclusión en distintos sitios representativos de la región. En cada estación del año se cosecha el crecimiento herbáceo dentro de las mismas para secarlo y pesarlo. Este valor, combinado con la cobertura vegetal medida en el sitio, permite conocer la productividad del potrero. EEA Valle Inferior Fil: Echevarria, Daniela Carola. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Valle Inferior; Argentina Fil: Olmedo, Gabriel Adrián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

The techniques of agriculture and animal husbandry at Tell Humeida, a Middle Uruk Period (Late Chalcolithic) site on the middle Syrian Euphrates, were studied using stable isotopes of bone collagen of domestic and wild mammals and from cereal and ruderal plant seeds. Two archaeological campaigns in 2009 and 2011 yielded a small collection of bones, most of which were taxonomically indeterminable. The work had to be interrupted due to the political conflict. The faunal study comprised collagen peptide fingerprinting for taxonomic identification, followed by isotopic analysis. Multiple 14C dating were performed to date the infill to around 3600 cal BC. An isotopic analysis of the sparse plant remains suggested that irrigation and manuring were common practices. Sheep and equids predominated in the faunal assemblage. Sheep grazed on manured soils, and their diet could include millet or another C4 plant, of which, however, no carpological remains were found. The diet of equids differed from that of sheep but also that of other wild ungulates (cervids/gazelles). Their isotopic signatures indicated that they grazed in humid areas, near the watercourse. These finds indicated a settlement that was closely linked to the availability of water, which made it possible to grow crops in an almost desert-like area, and the rearing of sheep.

Purpose Intensive livestock grazing has been associated with an increased risk of soil erosion and concomitant negative impacts on the ecological status of watercourses. Whilst various mitigation options are promoted for reducing livestock impacts, there is a paucity of data on the relationship between stocking rates and quantified sediment losses. This evidence gap means there is uncertainty regarding the cost–benefit of policy preferred best management. Methods Sediment yields from 15 hydrologically isolated field scale catchments on a heavily instrumented ruminant livestock farm in the south west UK were investigated over ~ 26 months spread across 6 years. Sediment yields were compared to cattle and sheep stocking rates on long-term, winter (November–April), and monthly timescales. The impacts of livestock on soil vegetation cover and bulk density were also examined. Cattle were tracked using GPS collars to determine how grazing related to soil damage. Results No observable impact of livestock stocking rates of 0.15–1.00 UK livestock units (LU) ha−1 for sheep, and 0–0.77 LU ha−1 for cattle on sediment yields was observed at any of the three timescales. Cattle preferentially spent time close to specific fences where soils were visually damaged. However, there was no indication that livestock have a significant effect on soil bulk density on a field scale. Livestock were housed indoors during winters when most rainfall occurs, and best management practices were used which when combined with low erodibility clayey soils likely limited sediment losses. Conclusion A combination of clayey soils and soil trampling in only a small proportion of the field areas lead to little impact from grazing livestock. Within similar landscapes with best practice livestock grazing management, additional targeted measures to reduce erosion are unlikely to yield a significant cost-benefit.

Los sistemas de producción de leche estabulados pueden presentan varios puntos críticos con respecto al bienestar animal, lo que no implica que no los puedan resolver y gestionar el bienestar en forma adecuada. El alojamiento del ganado lechero en camas de compost, con un correcto diseño y manejo, ha demostrado mejorar la salud y la longevidad de las vacas y, en consecuencia, el desempeño productivo de los animales. A partir de los resultados realizados a nivel mundial, los sistemas compost barn se presentan como una alternativa de estabulación amigable con el bienestar de los animales en comparación con otros sistemas en confinamiento. Sin embargo, todavía el número de investigaciones sobre el bienestar del ganado lechero en estos sistemas en Argentina y también en el mundo es escaso, por lo que sería aconsejable sumar estudios regionales para poder tener precisión en cuanto al impacto real y potencial sobre las vacas lecheras. Confined milk production systems can present several critical points with respect to animal welfare, which does not imply that they cannot be resolved. Housing dairy cattle in compost barns, with pro-per design and management, has been shown to improve cow health and longevity and, consequently, their productive performance. Based on the results carried out worldwide, the compost barn systems repre-sent a friendly housing alternative with the well-being of the animals compared to other confinement systems. However, the number of in-vestigations on the welfare of dairy cattle in these systems in Argentina and in the world is still scarce, so it would be advisable to add regional studies to be able to precede in terms of the real and potential impact on dairy cows. EEA Salta Fil: Martinez, Gabriela Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Salta; Argentina Fil: Suarez, Victor Humberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Salta; Argentina

El MBGI puede requerir el relevamiento de superficies grandes y heterogéneas en diferentes tipos de vegetación. La estrategia hoy aceptada para esta tarea esencial puede resultar muy complicada. Por este motivo, se propone una estrategia de monitoreo expeditivo que resultaría más ágil y eficiente para los ejecutores de los planes Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche Fil: Varela, Santiago Agustin. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Area Forestal. Grupo de Ecologia Forestal; Argentina Fil: Diez, Juan Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Area Forestal. Grupo de Ecologia Forestal; Argentina Fil: Raffo, Fernando. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Umaña, Fernando. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Área Recursos Naturales. Laboratorio de Teledetección; Argentina

Weighting the Hanwoo (Korean cattle) is very important for Korean beef producers when selling the Hanwoo at the right time. Recently, research is being conducted on the automatic prediction of the weight of Hanwoo only through images with the achievement of research using deep learning and image recognition. In this paper, we propose a method for the automatic weight prediction of Hanwoo using the Bayesian ridge algorithm on RGB-D images. The proposed system consists of three parts: segmentation, extraction of features, and estimation of the weight of Korean cattle from a given RGB-D image. The first step is to segment the Hanwoo area from a given RGB-D image using depth information and color information, respectively, and then combine them to perform optimal segmentation. Additionally, we correct the posture using ellipse fitting on segmented body image. The second step is to extract features for weight prediction from the segmented Hanwoo image. We extracted three features: size, shape, and gradients. The third step is to find the optimal machine learning model by comparing eight types of well-known machine learning models. In this step, we compared each model with the aim of finding an efficient model that is lightweight and can be used in an embedded system in the real field. To evaluate the performance of the proposed weight prediction system, we collected 353 RGB-D images from livestock farms in Wonju, Gangwon-do in Korea. In the experimental results, random forest showed the best performance, and the Bayesian ridge model is the second best in MSE or the coefficient of determination. However, we suggest that the Bayesian ridge model is the most optimal model in the aspect of time complexity and space complexity. Finally, it is expected that the proposed system will be casually used to determine the shipping time of Hanwoo in wild farms for a portable commercial device.

En línea con la necesidad de aumentar el porcentaje de destete, un equipo de especialistas del INTA analiza la situación de los sistemas de cría y pone en valor las diferentes tecnologías –básicas y mejoradas– diseñadas para obtener una mayor cantidad de terneros por unidad de superficie. Ensayos realizados en el campo experimental del INTA Cuenca del Salado –Buenos Aires– y en la Unidad de Cría del INTA Mercedes –Corrientes– demostraron que con un buen manejo forrajero, nutricional, sanitario y reproductivo es posible aumentar, en forma gradual y sostenida, la producción de terneros en las regiones ganaderas más importantes del país. Gerencia de Contenidos Periodísticos y Editoriales, DNACI, INTA Fil: Esperbent, Cecilie Elisabet. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Dirección Nacional Asistente de Comunicación Institucional. Gerencia de Contenidos Periodísticos y Editoriales; Argentina

La transformación del sector agropecuario ha generado modificaciones en los sistemas ganaderos nacionales como consecuencia del desplazamiento de la frontera agrícola. Sin embargo, aún persisten serias limitantes para incrementar la producción nacional de carne bovina. La productividad de la cría entendida como el porcentaje de terneros logrados por vaca en servicio sigue siendo la principal variable condicionante para incrementar la eficiencia. La cobertura territorial de la actividad y la consecuente heterogeneidad de los sistemas ganaderos hace que las limitantes y deficiencias presenten particularidades por regiones. No obstante, es posible identificar algunos denominadores comunes como la falta de infraestructura apropiada, deficiente planificación, manejo del pastoreo y nutrición del rodeo, baja adopción de prácticas como el estacionamiento del servicio, tacto e incorporación de planes sanitarios sistemáticos. En respuesta a este contexto, el INTA generó hace décadas una red de Unidades Demostrativas de Cría. En estos campos se han estudiado diversas prácticas de manejo tendientes a incrementar la producción del rodeo. Los datos indican que es posible superar el 80% de destete en la mayoría de las regiones productivas, incrementado la producción de carne entre un 60 y 130%. En este trabajo resumimos el manejo aplicado en estas unidades y mostramos los resultados más relevantes obtenidos. EEA Mercedes Fil: Bendersky, Diego. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mercedes; Argentina. Fil: Alvarez, Juan Mauricio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Valle Inferior; Argentina Fil: Bailleres, Matias Andres. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Cuenca del Salado. Agencia de Extensión Rural Chascomús; Argentina Fil: Flores, Ángela Jorgelina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mercedes; Argentina. Fil: Giorgetti, Hugo. Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Asuntos Agrarios. Chacra Experimental Patagones; Argentina. Fil: Lopez Valiente, Sebastian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Cuenca del Salado; Argentina Fil: Maresca, Sebastian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Cuenca del Salado; Argentina Fil: Nasca, Jose Andres. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; Argentina Fil: Otondo, José. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Cuenca del Salado; Argentina

Desde el INTA ponderan la necesidad de ordenar el manejo ganadero de acuerdo a las características heterogéneas del pastizal. Esto permite un uso más eficiente de los recursos, reduce el uso de insumos químicos y brinda mayor estabilidad económica a la empresa. El caso exitoso del Establecimiento “La Emma” en Pipinas, Cuenca del Salado, Buenos Aires. Gerencia de Contenidos Periodísticos y Editoriales, DNACI, INTA Fil: Perez Casar, María Laura. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Dirección Nacional Asistente de Comunicación Institucional. Gerencia de Contenidos Periodísticos y Editoriales; Argentina

The adoption potential of alley farming as an agro-intervention system capable of providing fodder to small ruminant livestock in southern parts of Nigeria is evaluated in this paper. Data were collected from a total of 240 respondents through the use of structured questionnaire in some selected communities of the south-western (SW) and south-eastern (SE) parts of Nigeria where the agro-intervention had been introduced in the past. Data analysis showed that ownership of small ruminants is more popular among households in savannah zone than forest zone, and among current and former alley farmers than non-alley farmers with browse being the most preferred feed given to the livestock. The management indicators showed that the care of the animals is generally the responsibility of all family members. The data suggest that the introduction of alley farming to produce supplemental feed for livestock may not gain quick adoption in areas with local sources of browse notably in the forest zone. The paper then concluded that the introduction of alley farming to produce supplemental fodder may be an innovation more suited to livestock owners' needs in the mid-term future, rather than immediately.

We compared animal and vegetation responses of a 13 600-ha area under holistic grazing management (HGM) with a similar area under continuous grazing (CGM) in a Patagonian station. Limitations were a dry 2012 −2016 experimental period, poorer soils, and grazing of native guanacos (Lama guanicoe) in the HGM area. Forage standing crop in this area before the experience was lower and remained so during the study: (194 ±31 HGM vs. 244 ±33 kg dry matter . ha −1 CGM). Six monitoring sites showed similar and remarkable (though mostly nonsignificant) vegetation improvements in total cover (10.6% HGM vs. 10.9% CGM) and cover of short palatable grasses (21.4% vs. 23.9%, respectively). Species richness showed small changes ( −1 vs. −6%), bare soil interpatches decreased ( −11.9 vs. −5.4%), and land function indicators of Stability (5.4% vs. 9.9%), Infiltration (12.4% vs. 12.0%), and Nutrient recycling (4.2% vs. 20.6%) increased. Tussock cover changed significantly with grazing management, as it decreased −6% (ns) in HGM and grew 42% ( P = 0.03) under CGM, probably due to coarse tussock forage consumption in HGM. Sheep under HGM were 15% lighter (43.9 ±0.5 HGM vs. 51.7 ±0.5 kg . ewe −1 CGM P < 0.001), ewes scored 28% lower body condition (1.60 vs. 2.25, P < 0.001), and lambing rates were 36% lower (48.3 ±2.1% vs . 74.2 ±1.9%). Rotation ended in 2015 as a consequence of low lambing rates, and sheep body condition and reproductive rates recovered to similar values in both areas. Positive vegetation changes in both areas may be driven by residual effects of destocking 3 decades ago and show that improvement is possible using moderate stocking rates. Although it could be argued that rest periods of HGM may be positive in the long term, its negative effects on animal production should be addressed, and fast regeneration using intense management in these severely restricted habitats should not be expected. Slow, persistent progress under careful management seems achievable under both grazing systems. EEA Santa Cruz Fil: Oliva, Gabriel Esteban. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Oliva, Gabriel Esteban. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina. Fil: Ferrante, Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Ferrante, Daniela. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina. Fil: Cepeda, Carla Tamara. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Humano, Gervasio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Puig, Silvina. Actividad Privada. Estancia Los Pozos. Santa Cruz; Argentina

Livestock is the most important sector for the economy of Punjab which is performing a vital role in rural livelihoods as a key source of employment for women at the household level. Rural women play a significant role in livestock management activities and this sector is also considered the black gold of Pakistan.

Interactions between livestock management practices and toxicological outcomes of mycotoxin exposure may explain the range of tolerable toxin levels reported for various species. In the current study, we investigated the effect of concurrent mycotoxin exposure with a high starch diet in 12 beef steers in a partial cross-over experiment using a 21-day treatment period, followed by a 14-day clearance. During the treatment period, animals were assigned to one of two diets: a low mycotoxin control total mixed ration (TMR) (0.2±0.1 mg deoxynivalenol (DON) and 0.2±0.2 mg fumonisins (FUM)/kg TMR) and a high mycotoxin TMR treatment (1.7±0.2 mg DON and 3.5±0.3 mg FUM/kg TMR). We evaluated the impacts of these mycotoxins on performance, physiology and biochemistry; and the ability of the clearance period to return animals to a naïve state in the cross-over model. The lack of acute ruminal acidosis observed indicates that the animals were able to withstand the physiological stresses of the high starch diet, while toxicological outcomes were manifested in minor perturbations of biochemistry and outright performance of exposed animals. Aspartate aminotransferase, cholesterol, fibrinogen and leukocyte count were increased while sorbitol dehydrogenase, bile acids and mean corpuscular volume were decreased in treatment-fed steers, yet were not significantly different than those from control-fed animals. Fusarium toxin exposure significantly decreased ruminal fluid pH, with the clearance period returning animals to a naïve state, as it did for most of the molecular variables measured. Conversely, treatment-fed animals continued to exhibit significantly lower average weekly body weight throughout the treatment period and the first week of the clearance period. While the risk of adverse health effects to fattening cattle from similar doses of DON or FUM as used in the current study is considered low, additional work should be directed towards minimising production losses due to these feed contaminants.

In northwest Cambodia, the majority of smallholder households own livestock. Poor consistency in feed supply throughout the year is a major constraint to livestock performance. Another critical cha...

espanolLa calidad del aire es un factor importante en la ganaderia intensiva, ya que el aire es el principal vehiculo para la difusion de agentes fisicos, quimicos y biologicos que afectan la salud y el bienestar de los animales y los humanos. El amoniaco es el principal gas contaminante generado en la produccion avicola. En este estudio, se realizo una revision de la literatura con el fin de resaltar cada etapa de transformacion de nitrogeno en la produccion avicola, explicando los mecanismos de conversion desde la ingestion de proteina cruda hasta la volatilizacion en la atmosfera como gas de amoniaco. En resumen, estos pasos son: sintesis de acido urico y excrecion por las aves de corral; mineralizacion de nitrogeno presente en excretas; volatilizacion de amoniaco de la basura. De esta revision, queda claro la importancia de conocer las fuentes y los procesos involucrados en la generacion y emision de amoniaco en las aves de corral y, por lo tanto, adoptar medidas asertivas que puedan minimizar los impactos negativos causados por la emision de amoniaco EnglishAir quality is a major factor in intensive livestock management because air is the main vehicle for the dissemination of physical, chemical, and biological agents that affect the health and welfare of animals and humans. Ammonia is the main gaseous pollutant generated in poultry production. In this study, a literature review was conducted to highlight each nitrogen transformation stage during poultry production, while explaining the conversion mechanisms from the ingestion of crude protein to nitrogen volatilization into the atmosphere as ammonia gas. In summary, the steps for the synthesis of uric acid and the excretion of poultry, mineralization of nitrogen present in excreta, and volatilization of ammonia from litter are presented. Based on this review, the importance of understanding the sources and processes involved in ammonia generation and emission in poultry production is clear, thereby allowing the adoption of assertive measures that could minimize negative effects caused by ammonia emission

Consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for yogurt attributes was evaluated using a survey targeted to be nationally representative within the United States. A novel approach was used to allow for self-selection into the choice experiment for commonly purchased types of yogurt, either Greek or traditional, based on what consumers purchase. They were willing to pay a positive amount for requiring pasture access and not permitting dehorning/disbudding (which references the removal of horns or horn buds) for both traditional and Greek yogurt. Respondents had positive WTP for Greek yogurt labeled free of high-fructose corn syrup and a higher WTP for low-fat yogurt when compared to nonfat for both yogurt types.

The agricultural and livestock research, education, and extension are important components for increasing production and meeting the demands of the growing population with sustainability. In this context, knowledge or information is very critical for improving the production under the present extension delivery system in India. Several studies have highlighted emerging ICTs which have the potential to reach the mass population at a limited time despite traditional media. One such emerging ICT is Social Media, which is utilized by most of the stakeholders, including farmers around the globe. Hence, for documenting its application for livestock information needs among the livestock farmers, an ex-post-facto exploratory study was conducted in Southern Karnataka using 108 purposively selected farmers, which comprised of 36 farmers each belonging to dairy, poultry and sheep and goat husbandry with pre-tested structured interview schedule. Majority of the farmers in each category were aware about social media and possessed social media accounts with highest number of WhatsApp accounts being possessed by the farmers. Social media was utilized for obtaining information about latest livestock production and management practices in all the categories. From these findings, it could be elucidated that the respondents predominantly perceived that social media had higher benefits in attaining livestock related information and adoption of digital knowledge into practice.

Livestock identification is of great significance for achieving precision livestock farming as it is a prerequisite of modern livestock management and automatic behaviour analysis. With respect to cow identification, methods based on computer vision have been widely considered due to their advantage of non-contact and practicality. In this paper, a novel non-contact cow identification method based on fusion of deep parts features is proposed. First, a set of side-view images of cows were captured, and then the YOLO object detection model was applied to locate the cow object in each original image, which was then divided into three parts, head, trunk and legs, by a part segmentation algorithm using frame differencing and segmentation span analysis. Then, three independent convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were trained to extract deep features from these three parts, and a feature fusion strategy was designed to fuse the features, i.e., deep parts feature fusion. Finally, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier trained by the fused features was used to identify each individual cow. The proposed method achieved 98.36% cow identification accuracy on a dataset containing side-view images of 93 cows, which outperformed existing works. Experimental results showed the effectiveness of the proposed cow identification method and the good potential for this method in individual identification of other livestock.

Climate change is disturbing the existing functional relations between socio-ecological systems in the Himalayan region of Nepal. In this paper, I look at the disturbance posed by climate change to the social and ecological dimensions, referencing the Himalayan herders as eye-witnesses. I focus on two thematic areas, that is, the challenges faced by the mountain herders in the context of climate change and their coping strategies. This paper is a product of nine months of ethnographic study between the years 2012 and 2018 conducted at the Nhāson valley. The herders' stories are “real stories” with insights into the climate variability and fluctuation, which is critically valuable to understand the environmental phenomena at a time when scientific evidence is not enough. In this context, an ethnographic study can contribute in documenting the place-specific and culture-specific stories as the powerful evidence to climate change and how it impacts the grounded social and ecological systems.

El objetivo de este artículo es dar cuenta del proceso de trabajo para la mejora en el uso del recurso forrajero mediante el aprovechamiento más uniforme del recurso vegetal, en forma planificada y controlada en el departamento Chamical con la utilización del boyero con energía solar. EEA La Rioja Fil: Lujan, Ricardo Lorenzo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria La Rioja. Agencia De Extensión Rural Chamical; Argentina Fil: Vega, Gabriela Fernanda. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria La Rioja. Agencia De Extensión Rural Chamical; Argentina

The increase in livestock production in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region has caused an increase in deforestation and the advance of the agricultural frontier. The aim of the current study was to conduct a socioeconomic and productive characterization in Andean-Amazonian livestock systems in Ecuador. The study area was part of the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR) and three other zones: low (400 to 700 masl), middle (701 to 1600 masl), and high (701 to 1600 masl). Data were collected from 167 ranching households. There are significant differences (p ≤ 0.001) in the results. It was identified that 56.1% of the producers in the middle zone are indigenous (Kichwa). The largest (p ≤ 0.01) average household size (6.7 household members) and the highest level of household heads without schooling (16%) were found in the same area. Heads of households over 54 years of age were reported throughout the gradient. The largest farms were also found in the middle zone, with an average of 62.3 ha, of which an average of 32.9 ha is native forest, 2.1 ha is agricultural land, and 27.2 ha is cattle pasture. The household economy is driven by a greater investment in livestock in the upper area, and therefore their annual gross income has a high impact on their economy. With these results, this study presents recommendations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Las enfermedades que afectan a los caprinos perjudican la producción –tanto de carne como de fibras–, aumentan los costos de la actividad, disminuyen los ingresos y, en situaciones extremas, pueden provocar la muerte de los animales. Implementar buenas prácticas de manejo en general y aplicar un plan sanitario adecuado permite que los caprinos expresen todo su potencial productivo, disminuyendo la presencia de enfermedades y favoreciendo la supervivencia de los animales. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche Fil: Martinez, Agustin. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Grupo de Sanidad Animal; Argentina Fil: Larroza, Marcela Patricia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Area de Produccion Animal. Grupo de Sanidad Animal; Argentina Fil: Centelles, Ivan Jesus. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Agencia de Extensión Rural Chos Malal; Argentina Fil: Mikuc, Juan Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Agencia de Extensión Rural Chos Malal; Argentina Fil: Castilla, Florencia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Centro Regional Patagonia Norte; Argentina Fil: Do Eyo, M. De Las Mercedes. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Area Desarrollo Rural. Grupo Gestión de la Información; Argentina Fil: Lagorio, Paula Agustina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Área Desarrollo Rural. Grupo Gestión de la Información; Argentina

The Northern Bolivian Altiplano is the fascioliasis endemic area with the reported highest human prevalence and intensities. A multidisciplinary One Health initiative was implemented to decrease infection/reinfection rates detected by periodic monitoring between the ongoing yearly preventive chemotherapy campaigns. Within a One Health axis, the information obtained throughout 35 years of field work on transmission foci and affected rural schools and communities/villages is analysed. Aspects linked to human infection risk are quantified, including: (1) geographical extent of the endemic area, its dynamics, municipalities affected, and its high strategic importance; (2) human population at risk, community development and mortality rates, with emphasis on problems in infancy and gender; (3) characteristics of the freshwater collections inhabited by lymnaeid snail vectors and constituting transmission foci; (4) food infection sources, including population surveys with questionnaire and reference to the most risky edible plant species; (5) water infection sources; (6) household characteristics; (7) knowledge of the inhabitants on Fasciola hepatica and the disease; (8) behavioural, traditional, social, and religious aspects; (9) livestock management. This is the widest and deepest study of this kind ever performed. Results highlight prevention and control difficulties where inhabitants follow century-old behaviours, traditions, and beliefs. Intervention priorities are proposed and discussed.

Recently, drone technologies have advanced, and their safety and operability have markedly improved, leading to their increased application in animal research. Drones of various sizes and functionalities are readily available commercially and are relatively simple to obtain. This study demonstrated drone application in livestock management, using its technology to observe horse behavior and verify the appropriate horse–drone distance for aerial behavioral observations. Recordings were conducted from September to October 2017 on 11 horses using the Phantom 4 Pro drone. Four flight altitudes were tested (60, 50, 40, and 30 m) to investigate the reactions of the horses to the drones and observe their behavior; the recording time at each altitude was 5 min. None of the horses displayed avoidance behavior at any flight altitude, and the observer was able to distinguish between any two horses. Recorded behaviors were foraging, moving, standing, recumbency, avoidance, and others. Foraging was the most common behavior observed both directly and in the drone videos. The correlation coefficients of all behavioral data from direct and drone video observations at all altitudes were significant (p < 0.01). These results indicate that horse behavior can be discerned with equal accuracy by both direct and recorded drone video observations. In conclusion, drones can be useful for recording and analyzing horse behavior.

Images taken by drones often must be preprocessed and stitched together due to the inherent noise, narrow imaging breadth, flying height, and angle of view. Conventional UAV feature-based image stitching techniques significantly rely on the quality of feature identification, made possible by image pixels, which frequently fail to stitch together images with few features or low resolution. Furthermore, later approaches were developed to eliminate the issues with conventional methods by using the deep learning-based stitching technique to collect the general attributes of remote sensing images before they were stitched. However, since the images have empty backgrounds classified as stitched points, it is challenging to distinguish livestock in a grazing area. Consequently, less information can be inferred from the surveillance data. This study provides a four-stage object-based image stitching technique that, before stitching, removes the background’s space and classifies images in the grazing field. In the first stage, the drone-based image sequence of the livestock on the grazing field is preprocessed. In the second stage, the images of the cattle on the grazing field are classified to eliminate the empty spaces or backgrounds. The third stage uses the improved SIFT to detect the feature points of the classified images to o8btain the feature point descriptor. Lastly, the stitching area is computed using the image projection transformation.

The extensive use of antibiotics as growth promoters, or their continued abusive misuse to cure or prevent the onset of bacterial infections as occurs in the intensive farming, may have played a pivotal role in the spread of reservoirs of antibiotic resistance (AR) among food-associated bacteria including pathogens representing risks to human health. The present study compares the incidence of tetracycline and erythromycin resistances in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) from fermented products manufacturing using meat from intensive animal husbandry (industrialized manufacturing Italian salami) and from extensive farms (artisanal sausages facilities pork and llama Argentinean sausages). A higher incidence of tetracycline resistance (TET-R) compared to erythromycin resistance (ERY-R) was observed among the 205 isolates. Unlike CNS strains, the LAB showed a significant correlation between the TET-R and the ERY-R phenotypes. Genotypic assessment shows a high correlation with tetK and tetM for the TET-R strains and with ermB and ermC for the ERY-R strains. Multiple correspondence analyses have highlighted the association between AR phenotypes and CNS species isolated from Italian salami, while the susceptible phenotypes were associated with the LAB species from Argentinean sausages. Since antibiotic resistance in meat-associated bacteria is a very complex phenomenon, the assessment of bacterial resistance in different environmental contexts with diverse farming practices and food production technologies will help in monitoring the factors influencing AR emergence and spread in animal production. EEA Famaillá Fil: Fontana, Cecilia Alejandra. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; Argentina Fil: Fontana, Cecilia Alejandra. Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Centro Ricerche Biotecnologiche; Italia Fil: Patrone, Vania. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. DISTAS; Italia Fil: López, Constanza María. Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Centro Ricerche Biotecnologiche; Italia Fil: Morelli, Lorenzo. Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Centro Ricerche Biotecnologiche; Italia Fil: Morelli, Lorenzo. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. DISTAS; Italia Fil: Rebecchi, Annalisa. Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Centro Ricerche Biotecnologiche; Italia Fil: Rebecchi, Annalisa. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. DISTAS; Italia

Pastoralism in Central Asia directed the utilization of natural resources, yet information on livestock management strategies remain scarce. Carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analyses of domesticated sheep teeth are used to identify animal management strategies. Sheep from Kent exhibit an inverserelationship where low δ18O values coincide with high δ13C values, consistent with the foddering of caprines in the winter for this location which occursalongside evidence for an extended lambing season. At the high altitude encampment of Turgen, Bronze Age sheep exhibit low δ18O values that coincide withhigh δ13C values, suggesting that livestock were moved to low altitude pastures in the winter months. Iron Age sheep sequences also have an inverserelationship, where low δ18O values coincide with high δ13C values, yet high δ13C values in the winter suggest that livestock were foddered. Our findingsindicate variation in livestock management strategies with distinct adaptations to local ecologies.

Rudimentary non-market-oriented pig rearing systems have been implicated in the persistence of Taenia solium cysticercosis, an endemic disease of high public health concern in Uganda. We investigated the seroprevalence and key predisposing factors of the disease in Moyo and Lira, two pig-producing districts in Northern Uganda. Cross-sectional serosurveys were conducted in 428 pig farms (Moyo, 262; Lira, 166). Farmers kept on average two adult pigs per herd. Tethering was a common practice in rural areas; free-ranging less so. Confinement of pigs in pens was characteristic of periurban farming systems. Pigs were mainly fed crop residues and forages in the rainy season, and swill and crop residues in the dry season. The majority of farmers of the survey were women (55%) above 45 years old, and 51% of farmers had attained primary school education. A total of 723 pig serum samples were collected, 403 in Moyo, and 320 in Lira. They were analyzed for Taenia spp. antigens using B158C11A10/B60H8A4 Antigen-ELISA. The overall animal seroprevalence of Taenia spp. serum antigen was 10.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.9–17.6), with 13.2% (95% CI: 7.1– 21.2) the highest in Moyo vs 6.9% (95% CI: 2.9–13.9) in Lira. The herd-level seroprevalence was estimated at 13.7% (95% CI: 9.8–18.5) in Moyo and 11.4% (95% CI: 7.0–17.2) in Lira. Out of 12 explanatory variables assessed for association with the observed seroprevalence, only the district of origin was significant (p = 0.01). Pigs originating from Lira were a protective factor against Taenia spp. cysticercosis (odds ratio: 0.54). These findings highlight the urgent need for an awareness campaign with prevention and control measures to minimize the risk of transmission to pork consumers in these districts.

La evaluación de pastizales en regiones áridas y semiáridas es una herramienta clave tanto para planificar el manejo ganadero como para realizar diagnósticos ambientales. Si bien hay un consenso sobre la utilidad de dicha herramienta en la Patagonia, es muy costoso evaluar pastizales que tengan mucho detalle (grano) y, a la vez, cubrir amplias zonas o paisajes (extensión). Por esta razón, compatibilizar la resolución y la calidad de la información con la extensión espacial que se requiere para tomar decisiones en sistemas ganaderos todavía es un desafío operativo sin solución efectiva. En este sentido, en las últimas dos décadas, el uso de imágenes satelitales para evaluar pastizales fue en aumento. Los desarrollos asociados a la captura de imágenes mediante el uso de vehículos aéreos no tripulados (VANT) ofrecerían ventajas como complemento de información, dado que incrementan sensiblemente la resolución espacial. El objetivo de este trabajo fue clasificar ambientes de pastizal mediante el uso de imágenes satelitales y de VANT, y comparar sus respectivas contribuciones para evaluar pastizales en la Patagonia. En particular, se comparó la resolución espacial de una clasificación no supervisada de ambientes utilizando imágenes satelitales SPOT 7 e imágenes capturadas por un sensor óptico montado en un VANT. El estudio de los pastizales se podría potenciar con el uso de distintas fuentes de información de manera complementaria y accesible para el seguimiento de ambientes y para la planificación del manejo del pastoreo en ambientes muy heterogéneos en regiones áridas y semiáridas de la Patagonia, Argentina. Rangelands assessment in arid and semiarid regions is a key tool both for livestock management planning and environmental diagnoses. Even though there is a consensus on the utility of such tools, rangeland assessment with high detail (grain) while covering large areas or landscapes (extension) is too costly. Then, the compatibility between the resolution and quality of information and the spatial extent required to make decisions in livestock systems is still an operational challenge that has not found an effective solution. Thus, the use of satellite images for rangeland assessments in different environments has been growing steadily in the last two decades. The developments associated with the capture of images using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) would offer many advantages as a complement to information, since they increase the spatial resolution. The aim of this work was to classify rangeland environments using satellite and UAV images and compare their respective contributions for rangeland assessments in Patagonia. In particular, spatial resolution of an unsupervised classification of rangeland environments using SPOT 7 satellite images and images captured by an optical sensor mounted on an UAV were compared. Rangeland assessment can be potentiated by the use of different sources of information in a more complementary and accessible way for environmental monitoring, and for a pastoral management planning in highly heterogeneous environments from arid and semiarid regions of Patagonia, Argentina. Fil: Easdale, Marcos Horacio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Umaña, Fernando Javier. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Raffo, Fernando. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Fariña, Clara María. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Bruzzone, Octavio Augusto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina

Negative interactions between people and large carnivores are common and will probably increase as the human population and livestock production continue to expand. Livestock predation by wild carnivores can significantly affect the livelihoods of farmers, resulting in retaliatory killings and subsequent conflicts between local communities and conservationists. A better understanding of livestock predation patterns could help guide measures to improve both human relationships and coexistence with carnivores. Environmental variables can influence the intensity of livestock predation, are relatively easy to monitor, and could potentially provide a useful predictive framework for targeting mitigation. We chose lion predation of livestock as a model to test whether variations in environmental conditions trigger changes in predation. Analysing 6 years of incident reports for Pandamatenga village in Botswana, an area of high human–lion conflict, we used generalized linear models to show that significantly more attacks coincided with lower moonlight levels and temperatures, and attack severity increased significantly with extreme minimum temperatures. Furthermore, we found a delayed effect of rainfall: lower rainfall was followed by a significantly increased severity of attacks in the following month. Our results suggest that preventative measures, such as introducing deterrents or changing livestock management, could be implemented adaptively based on environmental conditions. This could be a starting point for investigating similar effects in other large carnivores, to reduce livestock attacks and work towards wider human–wildlife coexistence.

Almost all organisms on earth are adapted to anticipate daily environmental cycles and synchronize with these approximately 24-h rhythms by a circadian clock system. Given its importance to organismal success, the field of chronobiology is rapidly expanding unraveling the complex and integral role circadian clocks play. In applied science, these new insights have led to major advances mainly in the field of medicine. In the field of plant rearing and livestock management, the importance of circadian clocks is already acknowledged. Integrating circadian clocks in insect pest management has mainly received theoretical attention. Applying theory to practice is likely delayed because of the difficulty in managing an open environment. The storage environment is easier to control and therefore basic ideas of integrating circadian clocks to pest management could be applied. A cardinal difficulty in storage management is that storage insects develop resistance to common pesticides. This difficulty can be addressed by various manipulations of the insect's chronobiology. In this review, I discuss the various clock-driven behavioural, physiological and genomic processes that might be considered as sensitive targets for agro-chronobiology control. I further suggest that to promote the discipline of agro-chronobiology, the contribution of previous and current studies to the two following approaches in agro-chronobiology should be examined: 1) treating the vulnerable phases of the circadian clock, and 2) distorting the circadian clock system.

We examine the dynamics of gender relations in terms of changes in gender roles and access to resources under recurrent drought conditions in Borana, Southern Ethiopia, using data from household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and field observations. Results show that in traditional Borana society, roles are structured on the basis of gender and age groups with women responsible for activities in and around their dwellings whereas men are responsible for livestock management. However, changes in pastoral production due to recurrent droughts seem to be transforming the gender roles so that women’s workload, areas of decision-making, and income-earning opportunities have increased.

Access to good-quality forages is one of the major limitations to livestock production in semi-arid pastoral systems. This study aimed to determine whether there are differences in the nutritional quality of diets selected by herded and free-ranging goat and sheep flocks utilising Namaqualand Granite Renosterveld vegetation during the wet and dry seasons. Plant samples collected along the grazing routes of livestock were dried and analysed for their fibre, condensed tannin, total phenolic and mineral nutrient contents. The study showed that a large variety of forages were on offer and livestock groups selected different diets of which some were different to the total diet on offer. In general, significant deficiencies in phosphate, protein and energy in the diets selected by herded and free-ranging goats and sheep were observed in both wet and dry season. The quality of the diets selected by herded and free-ranging livestock was also found to be different from each other, with herded livestock generally selecting more nutrient-dense diets. Herding, therefore, allows livestock to access better-quality forage in the Namaqualand Granite Renosterveld rangeland, where it is generally poor.Keywords: herding, Namaqualand Granite Renosterveld, pastoral livestock, protein deficiencies, small stock nutrition

Microbial communities in pasture and hayfield soils in upstate New York were studied to ascertain how land and livestock management practices influence microbial community structure. Three manageme...