A study using meteorological data and remote sensors, aims to furnish livestock farmers with information to promote more efficient grazing.
Grazing is a common practice in extensive livestock farming, a production model that takes advantage of the territory's natural resources to feed animals. The availability of grass, however, is shaped by factors such as the weather: when water is scarce, the production of grass drops, which forces the livestock sector to resort to greater amounts of other supplies and external food sources,which entails higher costs. In order to support more efficient livestock management, a team led by IFAPA, in collaboration with the University of Cordoba, has used meteorological data and remote sensors to model the productivity of pasturelands and their levels of water stress, establishing the relationships between these two variables on different spatiotemporal scales. The result is a tool that allows one to generate curves of grass production based on the availability of water. This information makes it possible to make decisions about the management of grazing and optimal livestock numbers, taking into account the availability of water, which is very useful, especially in times of shortages.