A wide range of infectious diseases are both vertically and horizontally transmitted. Such diseases are spatially transmitted via multiple species in heterogeneous environments, typically described by complex meta-population models. The reproduction number, R0, is a critical metric predicting whether the disease can invade the meta-population system. This paper presents the reproduction number ...

PREFACE This paper is part of a series of political economy Working Papers prepared for the InterGovernmental Authority on Development's Livestock Policy Initiative (IGAD LPI) and the Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative (PPLPI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The purpose of these papers is to explore strategic political economy issues that would facilitate...

Livestock grazing affects over 60% of the world's agricultural lands and can influence rangeland ecosystem services and the quantity and quality of wildlife habitat, resulting in changes in biodiversity. Concomitantly, livestock grazing has the potential to be detrimental to some wildlife species while benefiting other rangeland organisms. Many imperiled grouse species require rangeland landsca...

The livestock sector’s potential for contributing to economic development and poverty reduction has so far remained largely untapped, and it is difficult to identify a single developing country where growth of the sector has been unambiguously pro-poor. Livestock have long been treated as an appendage to agriculture, with both policy-makers and development practitioners giving higher priority t...

The role of host movement in the spread of vector-borne diseases of livestock has been little studied. Here we develop a mathematical framework that allows us to disentangle and quantify the roles of vector dispersal and livestock movement in transmission between farms. We apply this framework to outbreaks of bluetongue virus (BTV) and Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in Great Britain, both of which a...

This paper discusses the information needs of urban and peri-urban livestock keepers and the various information sources used and their effectiveness in disseminating livestock information. Mixed method approach was the methodology used in the study whereby quantitative data was gathered using questionnaires while qualitative data was gathered using in-depth interviews and participant observati...

Managing the environmental risk associated with livestock production is a significant challenge. Nitrogen and phosphorus are commonly implicated as the sources of ground and surface water quality problems associated with livestock production. The degree of imbalance between these nutrient inputs and the managed nutrient outputs for a livestock operation defines the magnitude of potential enviro...

Certain synthetic and naturally occurring chemicals, particularly those found in some range plants, may interact with livestock and poultry in the presence of activating light to produce photosensitization. Such photosensitization may have serious implications for livestock producers as a result of causing reduced performance of and even death of affected animals. The mechanisms producing photo...

Numerous factors affect livestock production and productivity. In this chapter we will address those that are of paramount importance: climate, nutrition, and health aspects. In initial section we will review the effects of climate on livestock productivity and provide examples of livestock adaptation to climate constraints such as the Bos indicus cattle breeds adapted to hot weather and the fa...

This paper presents an overview of the trends in building permits issued for livestock facilities between 1996 and 2001 for 42 municipalities in the livestock intensive region of southwestern Ontario. Most of the permits were issued for barns less than 100 livestock units. Most of the permits for large facilities (larger than 500 livestock units) were exclusively for hog farms. There was no spa...