Grazing management: knowledge and practices of fodder species management in transhumant livestock farming in Iruya (Salta, Argentina).

Abstract

Background and aims: In the NW of Argentina, there are systems of subsistence with cattle extensive management of grazing by family units. They have peasant characteristics, traditional management guidelines, community agreements and a strategy of transhumance in the use of different environmental units. This article identifies the main forage ethnospecies involved, the vernacular categories used for their classification, the livestock management practices implemented and the perceptions related to the landscape and its resources by the transhumant farmers of Iruya (Salta, Argentina).

M&M: Ethnobiological methodology was used to record the manifestations of the biocultural system addressed from the actors' own perspective. The analysis is qualitative with quantitative contributions in the interpretation of the data, this work was carried out between the years 2011-2018.

Results: Eighty-one ethnospecies were identified between wild and cultivated, two vernacular classification systems (one for cattle management and others for forage resource management). A scheme of the availability of fodder in the annual cycle was constructed, based on the supplementation strategies of the domestic units. A livestock management system was observed with two levels of management, one private by the families and the other by the community organization.

Conclusions: Livestock farming, as a productive subsistence practice, offers this society the possibility of building a deep knowledge of the natural environment that influences the interaction between plants, animals and people, which is made operational through a system of environmental management.