Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica

In the dry regions of Central America, forests in cattle ranches are used as a refuge for cattle during the dry season, and there is no much information about this practice. To determine the frequency of this practice and how it fits in farm management. We conducted semi-structured interviews with...

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Autores principales:	Godinot, Florent, Somarriba, Eduardo, Finegan, Bryan, Delgado-Rodríguez, Diego
Formato:	Artículo
Lenguaje:	Inglés
Publicado:	2020
Materias:	BOSQUE SECUNDARIO BOSQUE TROPICAL CORREDOR SECO MESOAMERICANO EXPLOTACIONES GANADERAS RAMONEO ESTACION SECA MANEJO DE FINCAS ADAPTACION ECOSISTEMA COSTOS DE PRODUCCION LIBERIA GUANACASTE COSTA RICA MANEJO DEL GANADO
Acceso en línea:	https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/9475

id	RepoCATIE9475
record_format	dspace
spelling	RepoCATIE94752022-08-05T19:01:21Z Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica Bosques tropicales estacionalmente secos son importantes para ganaderos en el noroeste costarricense Godinot, Florent Somarriba, Eduardo Finegan, Bryan Delgado-Rodríguez, Diego BOSQUE SECUNDARIO BOSQUE TROPICAL CORREDOR SECO MESOAMERICANO EXPLOTACIONES GANADERAS RAMONEO ESTACION SECA MANEJO DE FINCAS ADAPTACION ECOSISTEMA COSTOS DE PRODUCCION LIBERIA GUANACASTE COSTA RICA MANEJO DEL GANADO In the dry regions of Central America, forests in cattle ranches are used as a refuge for cattle during the dry season, and there is no much information about this practice. To determine the frequency of this practice and how it fits in farm management. We conducted semi-structured interviews with cattle ranchers in 43 farms in Liberia County, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Cattle farmers suffered from the loss of profitability due to droughts, fire, and cattle theft. Cattle browsing in the forest was used by 70 % of farms, mostly between March and May. No type of farm or feeding strategy was associated with forest browsing. The high variability in farm management did not provide a distinct classification of feeding strategies. We found a difference in farm structure and feed types between ranches in the plains and mountain slopes. The decision to use forests for browsing seemed to rely on a trade-off between animal welfare and ease of management. Traditional knowledge about cattle behavior in forests was variable and often limited to forest edges and pastures. This research shows that forests should be taken into consideration when analyzing cattle ranching in dry regions of Central America. We recommend a further study on feeding strategies and the impact of cattle on forest integrity to determine if agricultural policymakers should foster these low-costs alternatives. 2020-07-30T17:11:21Z 2020-07-30T17:11:21Z 2020-07 Artículo e-ISSN: 2215-3896 https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/9475 en Revista de Ciencias Ambientales, 54(2): p.20-50 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess application/pdf
institution	Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza
collection	Repositorio CATIE
language	Inglés
topic	BOSQUE SECUNDARIO BOSQUE TROPICAL CORREDOR SECO MESOAMERICANO EXPLOTACIONES GANADERAS RAMONEO ESTACION SECA MANEJO DE FINCAS ADAPTACION ECOSISTEMA COSTOS DE PRODUCCION LIBERIA GUANACASTE COSTA RICA MANEJO DEL GANADO
spellingShingle	BOSQUE SECUNDARIO BOSQUE TROPICAL CORREDOR SECO MESOAMERICANO EXPLOTACIONES GANADERAS RAMONEO ESTACION SECA MANEJO DE FINCAS ADAPTACION ECOSISTEMA COSTOS DE PRODUCCION LIBERIA GUANACASTE COSTA RICA MANEJO DEL GANADO Godinot, Florent Somarriba, Eduardo Finegan, Bryan Delgado-Rodríguez, Diego Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica
description	In the dry regions of Central America, forests in cattle ranches are used as a refuge for cattle during the dry season, and there is no much information about this practice. To determine the frequency of this practice and how it fits in farm management. We conducted semi-structured interviews with cattle ranchers in 43 farms in Liberia County, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Cattle farmers suffered from the loss of profitability due to droughts, fire, and cattle theft. Cattle browsing in the forest was used by 70 % of farms, mostly between March and May. No type of farm or feeding strategy was associated with forest browsing. The high variability in farm management did not provide a distinct classification of feeding strategies. We found a difference in farm structure and feed types between ranches in the plains and mountain slopes. The decision to use forests for browsing seemed to rely on a trade-off between animal welfare and ease of management. Traditional knowledge about cattle behavior in forests was variable and often limited to forest edges and pastures. This research shows that forests should be taken into consideration when analyzing cattle ranching in dry regions of Central America. We recommend a further study on feeding strategies and the impact of cattle on forest integrity to determine if agricultural policymakers should foster these low-costs alternatives.
format	Artículo
author	Godinot, Florent Somarriba, Eduardo Finegan, Bryan Delgado-Rodríguez, Diego
author_facet	Godinot, Florent Somarriba, Eduardo Finegan, Bryan Delgado-Rodríguez, Diego
author_sort	Godinot, Florent
title	Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica
title_short	Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica
title_full	Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica
title_fullStr	Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica
title_full_unstemmed	Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica
title_sort	secondary tropical dry forests are important to cattle ranchers in northwestern costa rica
publishDate	2020
url	https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/9475
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Secondary Tropical Dry Forests Are Important to Cattle Ranchers in Northwestern Costa Rica

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