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Pasture Intensification
Pasture intensification is the improvement of pasture soils and grasses with the goal of increasing the production potential of livestock systems. It is especially important in reversing the loss of forage and animal carrying capacity associated with pasture degradation, a process resulting from overgrazing, poor nutrient management, and lack of soil conservation. This degradation leads to negative consequences for the land, including decreased fertility, decreased water availability, and soil erosion, compaction, and acidification. Such characteristics result in pastures with significantly lower productivity and higher carbon footprints compared to improved pastures.

Intensification of pasture grasses can be achieved through enhancing the existing grasses or by replacing the grasses with an improved species, depending on the conditions and productivity goals of the target site. Management practices to increase grass productivity include irrigation, soil scarification, and the application of lime, nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers, and pesticides, while invasive and under-productive grasses can be eradicated and replaced with productive species more suited to the soil and climate conditions of the region. These intensified grass systems allow higher stocking rates with faster weight gain and reduced time to slaughter, resulting in more productive, carbon-efficient livestock systems.

Another technique to optimize yield while maintaining the carbon balance is the use of integrated crop-livestock (ICL) and crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) systems, which incorporate and synergize several agricultural practices in a combined spatial and temporal framework. These systems provide many benefits to pastures through plant optimization, improved feed and fattening rates, increased soil fertility and quality, intensified nutrient cycling, pest control, and improved biodiversity. The introduction of certain legume crops to pastures increases carbon accumulation and nitrogen fixation in soils, while their digestibility contributes to increasing animal fattening and reduced methane emissions from enteric fermentation. ICLF systems are characterized by beef cattle productivity up to ten times that of degraded pastures, supplemented production from maize, sorghum, and soybean crop yields, and greatly reduced greenhouse gas balances due to forest carbon sequestration.