Cattle production systems are being questioned for different reasons; simplifying this, the intensive system, from the optic of animal wellbeing, due to the high concentration of heads in reduced spaces, with all its implications, and because by seeking a higher amount of product in the shortest time possible, hormones, anabolic and inputs are used to feed the cattle which can harm the health of the consumer, generally because of their inadequate use and by not respecting the time in which they should be withdrawn prior to the animal’s sacrifice, in addition to the stress generated in the animals and the contamination of soil, air and water in the sites where they are settled; in turn, the main criticism made to extensive production is the ecological damage that it causes in the places where it is implemented, basically the destruction of rainforests and forests for the establishment of grasslands and, when settled in fragile ecosystems, taking advantage of native grasses, the ecocide that originates with the disappearance of animal and plant species.

Consequence of this, it is important that from academia the different systems of livestock production are studied, considering at least three objectives of the highest relevance: i) obtaining sufficient products of livestock origin and of good quality, in the broadest sense of the term, to satisfy human needs; ii) reducing substantially the ecological impact of the production process, seeking to decrease to the maximum the ecological print of the activity and promoting the conservation of the landscape; and iii) establishing programs of animal wellbeing that impact the quality of life of the animals destined to production and supply.

Thus, taking this into consideration, suggestions can be generated for a livestock production close to sustainability and, desirable, profitable for the producers, vector of local development, supplier of safe foods for the population, and that avoids unnecessary suffering of the animals, from their birth and until their sacrifice. In this context, the book, Management of Grasslands in Extensive Livestock Production can make significant contributions.

The book is made up of five chapters: i) ecology of the grassland; ii) evaluation of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the grasslands; iii) grassland-cattle interaction; iv) grassland management; and v) grazing systems. However, despite this being an interesting material and having multiple qualities, such as the clarity in the themes treated, the book does not show explicitly in its introduction, objectives, reaches and limitations, and lacks a section of conclusions that condenses, analyzes, and interconnects the different topics treated and makes recommendations for future research.

The book is directed towards a varied public; without a doubt it is valuable material for the livestock producer. Many of its parts can be understood if there is basic schooling, in addition to being written with a simple language, without losing the rigor of an academic work, defining the concepts related to all that is relative to the grazing system and explaining the methodologies that allow evaluating the management of the pastureland and the quality of the grassland, for example. It can also be constituted into a reference at the basic level for students of agronomy, animal husbandry, and veterinary medicine, in addition to being quite useful for undergraduate and graduate students, and for researchers that have an interest in the extensive production systems, primarily cattle, although some parts can be applied to the management of small ruminants in grazing.

Thus, we find a book that defines exhaustively the technical concepts used and for whose writing the author consulted a broad amount of literature, from the classic works devoted to the theme and, seen in retrospective, citing them allows understanding the evolution that the objectives of this type of livestock production have had, until some of the more recent publications. This, without forgetting the compilation of formulas in the different sections, which constitute an important methodological contribution and which eases substantially the work of those livestock producers, students and researchers interested in evaluating the quality of the resources, natural or anthropogenic, and the results from the different activities necessary for the functioning of extensive livestock production.

The author considers that livestock production is relevant, economically and ecologically, because it is the activity that uses the most amount of the terrestrial surface, through grazing and due to the area sown for fodder and grains destined to animal feeding. As a relevant piece of data, at the world level, 75 % of the foods for livestock are provided by grasslands, which doubtless justifies its study in the interest of sustainable management and which, in areas that are susceptible to doing it, the livestock coexists with the wild fauna establishing protection programs, seeking the conservation of biodiversity.

In this sense, for the study of grassland management it should be considered that physical and social factors are interconnected; about the first there are: soil, climate, precipitation, evaporation, livestock, native or induced vegetation, etc.; on the other hand, among the social factors, the knowhow and the atavistic knowledge of the environment and its variation stand out; of the flora, beneficial and toxic, and its preservation or eradication, appropriate type of livestock, all of these themes related to traditional knowledge and of transgenerational transmission, some of them shared by social groups that have allowed them to adapt to the environment and which, currently, are part of their culture but, without ignoring this, the book focuses primarily on livestock production of commercial type.

An appropriate management of the grassland is necessary because its deterioration can take place with relative ease, primarily from overgrazing, which is why determining the appropriate animal load is essential, in addition to the consideration that an ill management motivates the disappearance of plant species preferred by animals and the proliferation of the undesirable species. Thus, according to the author, a considerable surface of the pasturelands in the arid and semi-arid zones of the country, characteristic for their fragility, show various degrees of deterioration.

Based on the literature, and resulting from an analysis by the author, he points out the positive and negative aspects of the extensive exploitations; among the first, he mentions: i) the exploitation of natural resources that would otherwise be idle; ii) the possibility of exploiting native breeds, which find their strongholds in this type of systems, allowing their preservation, theme of great importance in face of the alarming reduction of breeds product of hyperspecialization of the intensive systems; iii) they are extensive systems in workforce with requirements of minimum capital; and, finally, iv) high profitability in relation with the capital invested, which can have their explanation in that there are, generally, extraction costs and not of production, avoiding as much as possible to incur in the latter. Regarding the negative part of these systems, there is: i) seasonality of production, explained by its high dependence of nature and of climate changes; ii) lack of categorization of the products; iii) hygienic-sanitary problems; iv) excessive duration of productive cycles; v) difficulty to find workforce; and vi) heterogeneity in the structure of herds. As can be seen, each one of the points mentioned represents, for researchers, an important avenue for their analysis and discussion and, without a doubt, some of them are decisive themes that originate diverse positions, and even ideologies.

To end, it cannot go without saying that, in addition to the land surface devoted to livestock production, its socioeconomic importance lies in that it constitutes the livelihood of around 500 million shepherds in the world and that most of the extension on which they carry out their activities endures some degree of degradation, situation that manifests in many of the Mexican pasturelands, representing an ecological problem of first order, which is why the regeneration of the soil and of the plant cover is one of the pending issues of greatest importance and a challenge for producers, extension workers, academics and governments. In this sense, among the contributions of this book there is that it allows us to understand the problematic of the extensive production systems, to quantify the variables relative to their resources and functioning, which are measurable, and to elaborate strategies that allow an efficient livestock activity.