Abstract for: Sustainability of Colombian Livestock Systems: the Stocking Rate Submodel

This study is included in a broader PhD project of the National University of Colombia on socio-economic sustainability of rural areas in Colombia. The area of study included the Departmento of the Valle del Cauca - Colombia. The project aim to focus cattle farms and land use, their relationships with rural development (socio-economic aspects) and with environmental impacts (effects on water and ecological footprint). In this paper the casual loop diagram of the general project was shown and presented. In addition the stoking rate submodel was described as developed stock and flow diagram of animal categories and biomas availability from land. The developed submodel model was able to describe the equilibrium of the herd consistency when costant precpitations lead to constant biomass production from the owned land. When drop in rainfall were simulated on a given farm, the management strategy implemented in the model acts on animal selling in order to adjust the stocking rate of the farm to the stocking rate capacity of the land. A strong structure of balancing loops regulated herd dynamic explaining the maintenance of stocking rate equlibrium in the modeled farm depending on pasture biomass availability.