The paper presents the simulator SEPATOU that can reproduce the day-to-day dynamics of two interactive systems: the decision system representing the dairy farmer's management behavior and the biophysical system that encompasses the herbage production, consumption and transformation into milk. The activities to be managed concern the type and amount of conserved feed, where to fertilize and how ...

Adoption of rotational grazing or multi-species herbal leys, planting trees and integrating livestock into arable rotations can increase agricultural productivity carbon storage on temperate ruminant farms. However, farmers frequently have rational reasons for not adopting seemingly beneficial management practices. Here, we conduct semi-structured interviews with sheep beef cattle industry repr...

Advocates for pasture-based dairying argue that this dairy production system requires less capital and labor resources than conventional, confinement-based, dairy systems. These reduced resource needs are supposed to translate into higher profits because lower use of capital and labor means lower production costs. Data for Wisconsin dairies obtained in 2000 as a part of the Agricultural Resourc...

—We conducted a 4-year experiment to assess the impacts of rotational cattle grazing on rodents and raptors in a mesic coastal grassland in northwestern California. Live-trapping indicated that rodent abundance declined by 69% on the grazed area and increased by 14% on the ungrazed area. Raptor use of the grazed area declined by 15% and increased on the ungrazed area by 63%. Measures of giving-...

Crop diversification and integration of livestock into cropping systems may improve the economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems. However, few studies have examined the integration of these practices in the semiarid areas of the Northern Great Plains (NGP). A 3-yr experiment was conducted near Bozeman, MT, to compare the effects of crop rotation diversity and weed manag...