title: Brazilian beef produced on pastures: sustainable and healthy.
abstract: With a herd of 209 million cattle, Brazilian beef production estimate for 2023 is 10,935 million tons, representing an increase of 28.9% and accounting for 20% of the world trade. Beef cattle production is constantly evolving; however, there are extremes, ranging from simple existing farm ranges to intensive forage systems, strategic supplementation, updated health and genetic improvement programs for the production of quality beef. This modern production is based on scientific research carried out at universities and other research institutions. A new generation of professionals with multidisciplinary knowledge and a holistic vision of the productive chain-proposed management practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the production of grass-fed beef cattle, whose meat has high omega-3 and CLA contents. Age at slaughter of steers and of heifers at first mating, significant increases in the ratio calves/100 cows, adequate traceability for pastoral systems with hundreds or thousands of animals per farm and a more intense transference of technology are required.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, Faculdade de Agronomia, Departamento de Zootecnia, Av. Bento Gonçalves 7712, CEP 91540-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: jose.fernando.lobato@ufrgs.br.
authors.forename: J F P
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lobato
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, Faculdade de Agronomia, Departamento de Zootecnia, Av. Bento Gonçalves 7712, CEP 91540-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, Faculdade de Agronomia, Departamento de Zootecnia, Av. Bento Gonçalves 7712, CEP 91540-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Devincenzi
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, Faculdade de Agronomia, Departamento de Zootecnia, Av. Bento Gonçalves 7712, CEP 91540-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, Faculdade de Agronomia, Departamento de Zootecnia, Av. Bento Gonçalves 7712, CEP 91540-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: J U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Tarouco
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Cardiologia do Rio Grande do Sul, IC, Av. Princesa Isabel 395, CEP 90620-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Cardiologia do Rio Grande do Sul, IC, Av. Princesa Isabel 395, CEP 90620-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Dillenburg
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Cardiologia do Rio Grande do Sul, IC, Av. Princesa Isabel 395, CEP 90620-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Castro
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D002417:Cattle; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004032:Diet; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D019649:Food Industry; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat; D009753:Nutritive Value; D006109:Poaceae
chemical_list: D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated
keywords: Beef quality; Free grazing; Grass fed; Greenhouse gases; Lipid profile; Production system