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Animals
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Pastoralism and Animal Management within Agroecosystems and Society
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Pastoralism and Animal Management within Agroecosystems and Society

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal System and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 3649

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiaomeng (Sharon) Lucock

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agribusiness and Markets, Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, Canterbury, New Zealand
Interests: agribusiness; agrifood systems; farm systems; decision-making; cross-cultural business relationships
Prof. Dr. Keith Bernard Woodford

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Land Management and Systems, Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, Canterbury, New Zealand
Interests: agriculture; casein; animal management; agrifood development
Prof. Dr. Derrick Moot

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Agriculture & Life Sciences Faculty, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, Canterbury, New Zealand
Interests: pasture science; lucerne physiology; climate change; legumes for pastures; rainfed farming systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The role of pastoral-based farming is under increasing scrutiny from societal and agroecosystem perspectives. Accordingly, for this Special Issue, we invite contributions from authors who can contribute to the debate on broad issues within both extensive and intensive pasture-based systems. We expect authors to draw insights from either traditional pastoralism or science-based intensification that retains an overarching pastoral framework. We envisage that papers will be issue-based rather than discipline-bound. They will be shaped by a combination of scientific rigour and a transdisciplinary focus wherein the disciplinary span is determined by the breadth of the specific issue that is being investigated.

Within each paper, authors are encouraged to write for readers who understand the principles of the scientific method but are not necessarily experts in all of the disciplines that each paper might draw upon. Accordingly, discipline-specific terminology that is not widely known to the broader scientific community is discouraged.

Authors may themselves reflect a specific disciplinary focus and should acknowledge, as appropriate, the relevance of other disciplines to the issue under consideration.

Individual papers may have a specific geographical focus, whereby the geographic location defines the bounds to the paper. Alternatively, papers may focus on specific pastoral species and be characterised by specific levels of intensification. Central to the papers is the role of grazed pastures, but these may be formulated to include biological, sociological, economic, and value-chain perspectives.

Thought pieces that address necessary system modifications in a resource-constrained future are also sought. They can be controversial, but all papers must retain scientific rigour across the relevant disciplines, being evidence-based and non-assertive.

Dr. Xiaomeng (Sharon) Lucock
Prof. Dr. Keith Bernard Woodford
Prof. Dr. Derrick Moot
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pastoralism
  • pastoral systems
  • transdisciplinary research
  • animal management
  • agroecosystems
  • socio-economic environment
  • society
  • pastures and society
  • pastures in the landscape

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 299 KiB  
Article
Exploring Andalusia’s Rich Heritage through Surveys: Pastoral Livestock Farming as a Tourist Attraction Resource
by Francisco de Asís Ruiz Morales, Verónica Cruz Moriana, María Bermúdez Rus, Juan Manuel Mancilla-Leytón and Luis Pablo Ureña Cámara
Animals 2024, 14(3), 468; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14030468 - 31 Jan 2024
Viewed by 836
Abstract
This study aimed to analyze the interest, willingness to pay, and profile of tourists participating in specific agrotourism activities linked to extensive livestock farming in order to encourage the development of those activities that are most demanded by tourists, as well as to [...] Read more.
This study aimed to analyze the interest, willingness to pay, and profile of tourists participating in specific agrotourism activities linked to extensive livestock farming in order to encourage the development of those activities that are most demanded by tourists, as well as to support the proposals for improvements to promote this kind of tourism in the region of Andalusia (Spain). For this purpose, a survey was conducted, which was organized into six sections: (i) sociodemographic data, (ii) general aspects of tourism, (iii) rural tourism, (iv) livestock farming and tourism, (v) benefits of extensive livestock farming, and (vi) tourism activities linked to livestock farming. A total of 892 responses were received, out of which 753 were analyzed. The results show that the respondents are interested or motivated by the proposed activities. The most attractive activities are those related to livestock farming, which involve some kind of workshop on the production of handicrafts. Despite tourists having low-to-medium knowledge of extensive livestock farming, they all express a highly positive perception of the associated attributes. Developing strategies to enhance the willingness to pay for agrotourism activities is crucial, with the overall experience being a key element of their success. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pastoralism and Animal Management within Agroecosystems and Society)
12 pages, 3871 KiB  
Article
Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain
by José Ballarín, Alicia García-Serrano, Juan Herrero and Ramón Reiné
Animals 2023, 13(13), 2088; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132088 - 23 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 838
Abstract
The studied farms are small family businesses, and so, in more than half of the cases, their continuity is not guaranteed. Livestock management is typical of a mountain system, in which the animals graze throughout the year in cultivated fields, sown meadows, forests [...] Read more.
The studied farms are small family businesses, and so, in more than half of the cases, their continuity is not guaranteed. Livestock management is typical of a mountain system, in which the animals graze throughout the year in cultivated fields, sown meadows, forests near the farms, and mountain pastures during the three summer months. The herds always have the constant surveillance of a shepherd. Farmers consider the current infrastructure present in mountain grasslands insufficient to facilitate the management and care of their herd. Their activity conflicts with various species of wildlife, such as the wild boar, Sus scrofa, roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, or griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus, and large carnivores such as the brown bear, Ursus arctos, or the grey wolf Canis lupus, despite all of them taking preventive measures to defend their herds from predators. The most widely used prevention measures are the presence of mastiff dogs, Canis lupus familiaris, next to the herds and the use of electric fencing to lock up livestock at night. Farmers reject the presence of bears and wolves in their area, considering it a real threat to the continuity of their economic activity, which presents a high degree of vulnerability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pastoralism and Animal Management within Agroecosystems and Society)
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Review

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25 pages, 1131 KiB  
Review
Improving Human Diets and Welfare through Using Herbivore-Based Foods: 2. Environmental Consequences and Mitigations
by John R. Caradus, David F. Chapman and Jacqueline S. Rowarth
Animals 2024, 14(9), 1353; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14091353 - 30 Apr 2024
Viewed by 384
Abstract
Animal-sourced foods are important for human nutrition and health, but they can have a negative impact on the environment. These impacts can result in land use tensions associated with population growth and the loss of native forests and wetlands during agricultural expansion. Increased [...] Read more.
Animal-sourced foods are important for human nutrition and health, but they can have a negative impact on the environment. These impacts can result in land use tensions associated with population growth and the loss of native forests and wetlands during agricultural expansion. Increased greenhouse gas emissions, and high water use but poor water quality outcomes can also be associated. Life cycle analysis from cradle-to-distribution has shown that novel plant-based meat alternatives can have an environmental footprint lower than that of beef finished in feedlots, but higher than for beef raised on well-managed grazed pastures. However, several technologies and practices can be used to mitigate impacts. These include ensuring that grazing occurs when feed quality is high, the use of dietary additives, breeding of animals with higher growth rates and increased fecundity, rumen microbial manipulations through the use of vaccines, soil management to reduce nitrous oxide emission, management systems to improve carbon sequestration, improved nutrient use efficacy throughout the food chain, incorporating maize silage along with grasslands, use of cover crops, low-emission composting barns, covered manure storages, and direct injection of animal slurry into soil. The technologies and systems that help mitigate or actually provide solutions to the environmental impact are under constant refinement to enable ever-more efficient production systems to allow for the provision of animal-sourced foods to an ever-increasing population. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pastoralism and Animal Management within Agroecosystems and Society)
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21 pages, 410 KiB  
Review
Improving Human Diets and Welfare through Using Herbivore-Based Foods: 1. Human and Animal Perspectives
by John R. Caradus, David F. Chapman and Jacqueline S. Rowarth
Animals 2024, 14(7), 1077; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14071077 - 02 Apr 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 768
Abstract
Human health and diet are closely linked. The diversity of diets consumed by humans is remarkable, and most often incorporates both animal and plant-based foods. However, there has been a recent call for a reduced intake of animal-based foods due to concerns associated [...] Read more.
Human health and diet are closely linked. The diversity of diets consumed by humans is remarkable, and most often incorporates both animal and plant-based foods. However, there has been a recent call for a reduced intake of animal-based foods due to concerns associated with human health in developed countries and perceived impacts on the environment. Yet, evidence for the superior nutritional quality of animal-sourced food such as meat, milk, and eggs, compared with plant-based foods, indicates that consumption of animal-sourced food should and will continue. This being the case, the aim here is to examine issues associated with animal-sourced foods in terms of both the quantification and mitigation of unintended consequences associated with environment, animal health, and herd management. Therefore, we examined the role of animal proteins in human societies with reference to the UN-FAO issues associated with animal-sourced foods. The emphasis is on dominant grazed pastoral-based systems, as used in New Zealand and Ireland, both with temperate moist climates and a similar reliance on global markets for generating net wealth from pastoral agricultural products. In conclusion, animal-sourced foods are shown to be an important part of the human diet. Production systems can result in unintended consequences associated with environment, animal health, and herd management, and there are technologies and systems to provide solutions to these that are available or under refinement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pastoralism and Animal Management within Agroecosystems and Society)
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