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...

A representative sample of 49 state and collective farms in Ukraine provides data in physical units on livestock and crop production and input use for 1989-92. The changes in production efficiency for beef, pork, dairy, winter wheat, grain, and potato production, investigated using stochastic frontier methods, show declining technical efficiency in livestock production and especially low margin...

Livestock are responsible for 12% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable intensification of livestock production systems might become a key climate mitigation technology. However, livestock production systems vary substantially, making the implementation of climate mitigation policies a formidable challenge. Here, we provide results from an economic model using a detailed and hi...

Because of human and livestock population growth, changes in livestock production, the emergence of worldwide agro-food networks, and significant changes in personal mobility, human populations increasingly share a global commons of disease risk, among themselves and with domestic and wild animal species. To elucidate the linkage between livestock production and global public health, this paper...

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of livestock cooperatives in improving economic status of animal holders in Hamedan province. The study has used a surveying methodology. For gathering data a structured questionnaire was used and its reliability was calculated by Cronbach's Alpha test and it was (α=0.80). The research samples consisted of 300 animal holders (beef cattle breeder...

In Senegal, a project has been undertaken to eradicate a population of tsetse flies (Glossina palpalis gambiensis) from a prime area for intensifying livestock production--the coastal region of Niayes. The project is intended to remove the constraint of trypanosomosis and allow the ecological intensification of cattle production. A cross-sectional analysis of ten case studies was the inductive ...

The ongoing trend towards livestock product consumption in many Asian countries has been accompanied by growth in some countries’ imports of feedgrains for their domestic livestock sectors. It has also has put pressure on available grain supplies for human consumption. With regard to China, this contributes to the ongoing debate over future levels of her grain imports. Yet published projections...

Agricultural ecosystems are dependent for their natural resources on originally natural ecosystems. Agricultural ecosystems are also served by natural ecosystems with ecosystem services. Livestock will play a more important role in the next millennium because of the rising demand for animal food in the developing countries. Structural changes in land use through intensification of mixed farming...

Biodiversity in rangelands is decreasing, due to intense utilization for livestock production and conversion of rangeland into cropland; yet the outlook of rangeland biodiversity has not been considered in view of future global demand for food. Here we assess the impact of future livestock production on the global rangelands area and their biodiversity. First we formalized existing knowledge ab...