Environmental Indicators in Livestock Production Systems

Detailed sets of indicators will be developed as a follow-up (and in parallel) with this study. Some examples, categorized by environmental factor (soil, water, etc.) and whether the indicator is a measurement taken from the natural resource base, the livestock present, or the human component. They are in general response indicators, because these can be most easily defined.

Grazing systems
Category	Natural resource base	Livestock	Socio-economic
Soil/land	Erosion - Universal Soil Loss Equation Presence and use of legumesManure collection & application practices	Arid: Herd mobility Sub-humid, and humid: Stocking rate and productivity trends	Arid: Human carrying capacity of the land Land tenure and recent trends in fencing and crop-encroachment in key areas: Vulnerability to drought (reliance on food aid)
Vegetation	Proportion of ground cover Plant species composition and mosaics, rate between, rate of fire wood collections Presence and use of leguminous plants Utilization of crop aftermath, tame pastures and native rangelands Rate of deforestation	Forage demand Diet preferences Animal productivity & species composition	Infrastructure Cohesion of users groups Diversity of land use
Water	Water turbidity Number of boreholes Number of new surface watering points Water quality (nitrate, pesticide content)	Use requirements
Air	Greenhouse gas balance	Greenhouse gas balance

Mixed farm indicators
Category	Natural resource base	Livestock	Socio-economic
Soil	Erosion - Universal Soil Loss Equation Nutrient Levels - Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Copper, Zinc Organic Matter - Cation Exchange Capacity Farmgate and regional nutrient balances Presence and use of legumes	Access to animal traction, Manure storage and utilization, Quantity of concentrates brought into the system	Rate of integration and degree ofreliance on outside inputs; Community cohesion in watershed and regional landscape
Vegetation	Proportion of ground cover Plant species composition and mosaics Presence and use of leguminous plants	Forage demand Diet preferences	Farm income
Water	Water turbidity N, P in runoff and ground water Insecticide levels	Use requirements
Air	Manure application techniques	Quality of animal diets Number of animals

Indicators for industrial livestock production systems
Input-related	Production-related	Output-related
Land use changes and land requirements for feed production	Conversion efficiencies for N and P by animal species	Manure discharge Nutrient balances
Percentage of grains in concentrates and diet	Farmgate N and P balance	Fertilizing value of manure
Rangeland requirements for young stock	Ammonia emissions	Methane emissions
Livestock breeds used	Methane emissions	Tons of liveweight slaughtered
Inputs to feed production (fuel, fertilizer)	Fossil energy consumption	Tons raw milk
	Animal welfare index	Tons of raw hides processed
	Chemical use	Manure storage

Processing industry
Direct Indicators	Indirect indicators
amount of solid waste	portion of industrial and traditional processing
BOD output in wastewater (total, and not as a percentage of effluent r, as this would provide incentives to just increase water use)	portion of by-product utilization
CO2, CO and Nitrous Oxide Emissions