Current livestock practices do not meet current real-world social and environmental requirements, pushing farmers away from rural areas and only sustaining high productivity through the overuse of fossil fuels, causing numerous environmental side effects. In this narrative review, we explore how the Voisin Rational Grazing (VRG) system responds to this problem. VRG is an agroecological system based on four principles that maximise pasture growth and ruminant intake, while, at the same time, maintaining system sustainability. It applies a wide range of regenerative agricultural practices, such as the use of multispecies swards combined with agroforestry. Planning allows grazing to take place when pastures reach their optimal resting period, thus promoting vigorous pasture regrowth. Moreover, paddocks are designed in a way that allow animals to have free access to water and shade, improving overall animal welfare. In combination, these practices result in increased soil C uptake and soil health, boost water retention, and protect water quality. VRG may be used to provide ecosystem services that mitigate some of the current global challenges and create opportunities for farmers to apply greener practices and become more resilient. It can be said that VRG practitioners are part of the initiatives that are rethinking modern livestock agriculture. Its main challenges, however, arise from social constraints. More specifically, local incentives and initiatives that encourage farmers to take an interest in the ecological processes involved in livestock farming are still lacking. Little research has been conducted to validate the empirical evidence of VRG benefits on animal performance or to overcome VRG limitations.

Silage has been widely used in dairy production. However, little is known about its use at production level. The goal of this study was to characterize production and usage of silage for the dairy farming in Western Santa Catarina state. Thirty farms were selected randomly by their geographical location, in 11 municipalities of the West of Santa Catarina state, and they were invited to participate in the research. Out of these 30 farms, 6 did not have any dairy activity, and 2 preferred not to participate in the research, thus were not included. Semi-structured interviews and on-site visits were then performed. All data were analyzed with the software R version 3.2.2. 95% of the farmers produced and fed silage to animals. Out of the 22 farmers participating in the study, 82% provided silage for dairy cows during the whole year; in 86% of these farms, the silage was fed right after milking, in an average amount of 6.06 ± 0.63 kg DM (dry matter) AU-1 (animal unit, 500 kg) day-1. The average area used for maize production was 8.46 ha, representing 59% of the area destined to dairy farming. The average silage production was 8.8 and 7.6 t ha-1 year-1 in the season and off-season crop respectively, without significant differences. In most silage production areas, the no-tillage system is adopted, with the use of pesticides, chemical fertilization and transgenic seeds, without soil covering or crop rotation. Farms that fertilized maize based on soil analysis had the greatest silage yield, compared to the ones that fertilized without relying on soil analysis. The use of different types of pesticides and fertilizer quantities was not correlated to the silage production volume. Overall the production systems and the quantity of silage produced and fed to the cows do not follow technical criteria; thus silage yield and use could be improved if following strategies to better allocate crop inputs.

O efeito da consorciação de Canavalia ensiformis ou Crotalaria juncea com pastagens de Cynodon nlemfuensis e Panicum maximum, foi comparado à testemunha sem leguminosas. A C. ensiformis proporcionou maior produtividade e a C. juncea maior concentração de N na fitomassa das gramíneas, indicando maior eficiência de uso de N que a testemunha. A densidade da macrofauna do solo diminuiu ao longo do experimento nos três tratamentos, provavelmente devido ao aumento do déficit hídrico.