FuzzyBot: Importing a new version from external source

2025-07-19T01:02:58Z

Importing a new version from external source

New page

==Difficulties in feeding livestock==
===Climatic impacts on feed and forage===
[[File:Grazing_pasture,_South_Dakota,_USA_(9199).jpg|thumb|Overgrazed vs. stable pasture in [[Fall River County]], South Dakota]]
Livestock is fed either by letting them directly graze [[forage]] from pasture, or by growing crops like corn or [[soybean]]s for fodder. Both are highly important; the majority of soybeans are grown for fodder, while a third of croplands worldwide are devoted to forage, which feeds around 1.5 billion cattle, 0.21 billion buffalo, 1.2 billion sheep and 1.02 billion goats. Insufficient supply or quality of either leads to a decrease in growth and reproductive efficiency in domestic animals, especially in conjunction with the other stressors, and at worst, may increase mortality due to starvation. This is a particularly acute issue when livestock herds are already of an unsustainable size. For instance, two-thirds of animal feed requirements in [[Iran]] come from its rangelands, which cover around 52% of its land area, yet only 10% have forage quality above "medium" or "poor". Consequently, Iranian [[rangelands]] support over twice their sustainable capacity, and this leads to mass mortality in poor years, such as when around 800,000 goats and sheep in Iran perished due to the severe 1999 − 2001 drought. This was then exceeded by millions of animal deaths during the 2007–2008 drought.

Translations:Effects of climate change on livestock/15/en - Revision history

FuzzyBot: Importing a new version from external source