Classification of cattle farms in the tropical foothills of the Cotopaxi and Los Ríos provinces, Ecuador

Abstract

The practice of cattle ranching in the western Andean foothills in the Pacific region of Ecuador has caused serious damage to natural ecosystems, associated with deforestation, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity. The characterization of ranch type is an investigative tool that can help find solutions in order to transform the 4 Typification de fincas ganaderas cattle ranches in the region from the present unsustainable practices to sustainable ones. This study carried out the characterization of 60 cattle ranches, a sample of the total of 200 ranches in the foothills region of the provinces of Cotopaxi and Los Rios. We used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) layers of terrain, soil, moisture, temperature and slopes to create additional layers of animal comfort index and index of climatic conditions. To group the ranches, we used a hierarchical cluster analysis, and determined the Euclidean distance to calculate the distance matrix. At 50% of the Euclidean distance, we identified three groups of properties that differ by productive purpose, slope of the land, size of the area grazed, herd size and level of technological sophistication at each ranch. Ranching practices in the region are very similar in all environmental conditions and do not take into account the differences in ecosystem conditions for livestock production. Excessive stocking rates and overgrazing in the area lead to soil erosion, deforestation, water pollution and biodiversity loss.