In grazing systems, heterogeneous distributions of forage resources and faeces result in localised accumulations of nutrients and parasites (both macroparasites and microparasites), creating trade-offs between the costs of exposure to infestation or infection and the benefits of nutrient intake. Each contact between livestock and faeces in the environment is a potential parasite/pathogen transm...

Photos on front cover and page 3: All photos are from the FAO Mediabase. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authoriti...

We present a unique, biologically consistent, spatially disaggregated global livestock dataset containing information on biomass use, production, feed efficiency, excretion, and greenhouse gas emissions for 28 regions, 8 livestock production systems, 4 animal species (cattle, small ruminants, pigs, and poultry), and 3 livestock products (milk, meat, and eggs). The dataset contains over 50 new g...

Understanding consumers' perceptions of animal welfare is becoming increasingly important to livestock industries as they try to communicate their products. Many questions arise within livestock agriculture when trying to implement production systems that are acceptable socially and financially.

Although the emerging field of precision livestock farming (PLF) is predominantly associated with intensive animal production, there is increasing interest in applying smart technologies in extensive rangeland systems. Precision livestock farming technologies bring the possibility of closely monitoring the behaviour, liveweight and other parameters of individual animals in free-ranging systems....

The expanding demand for livestock products in developing countries is expected to drive changes in livestock farming systems, such as intensification and technological development. However, while large commercial farms can take advantage of these new opportunities, semi-subsistence agriculture will be the main option for many poor livestock keepers. Development pathways may depend on local and...

Controlled environment systems (CES) include such diverse applications as buildings for indoor aquaculture, intensive livestock and laboratory animals. The challenges of pushing the design envelope for CES include our ability to quantify important engineering aspects of the surrounding environment such as external loads which affect design and operation, and the development of information gathe...

Available online xxxx Smallholder livestock keepers represent almost 20% of the world population and steward most of the agricultural land in the tropics. Observed and expected increases in future demand for livestock products in developing countries provide unique opportunities for improving livelihoods and linked to that, improving stewardship of the environment. This cannot be a passive proc...

The livestock sector globally is highly dynamic. In developing countries, it is evolving in response to rapidly increasing demand for livestock products. In developed countries, demand for livestock products is stagnating, while many production systems are increasing their efficiency and environmental sustainability. Historical changes in the demand for livestock products have been largely driv...

Building on farmer’s agroecological knowledge to design environmental-friendly agricultural systems is crucial given the environmental impact of industrial agriculture. We investigated the drivers of farmers’ knowledge of agrobiodiversity management and analyzed how farmers’ knowledge and their current farming contexts may guide future farming systems in sub-humid (Bassila) and semi-arid (Bouko...