Representing Cattle Farming around the World: A Conceptual and Holistic Framework for Environmental and Economic Impact Assessment

Around the world, cattle farming systems are diverse and lead to diverse environmental and socio-economic consequences. To assess these consequences, the diversity of cattle farming needs to be represented. A conceptual framework based on three inter-linked concepts (management types, animal profiles and lineage groups) is proposed resulting in two typologies, and tested on cattle systems in Kenya. The management type typology provides an understanding of the cattle farming practices across the world. Animal profiles, defined by the animal's age and sex, and used together with management types, serve as a convenient unit for the analysis of feed use, environmental impacts, animal functions, and costs. Lineage groups bring together cattle and their progeny, making it possible to account for movements across management types and for all co-productions in impact assessments. The illustration on Kenya showed the completeness of the framework, the availability of management-type characteristics, and also the lack of precise data on shares of lineage groups and management types. The conceptual framework developed here should render it possible to capture and compare the multiple characteristics and functions of cattle farming around the world, including their environmental impact, which currently is a major issue for the global livestock sector.