Description

Practice abstract

Herdade do Gamito, in Alvito, has almost 400 hectares, with 90 cows, 11 calves, and 13 horses. The farm has been converted to organic for four years now. All the crops are rainfed. Most of the farm is a Montado system with cork and holm oaks and livestock grazing the undercover pastures. There are also permanent hay crops that are used when the pasture is scarce, with the aim of reducing supplementation with purchased fodder. One of the farm’s current investments is to make smaller grazing paddocks to reduce the grazing time on each plot and to speed up the rotation between plots. In this way, while the livestock is in a paddock, pastures on the rest of the farm are growing. The quality of the grass is higher and the management of the pasture is more efficient. The farm will also plant irrigated barbary fig (Opuntia ficus-indica) in order to increase the soil’s water availability and create a green discontinuity as a fire prevention and livestock watering area. 

Context profil