In Uruguay, during the last decades the number of farms has decreased significantly being the family farms the most affected ones. Between 2000 and 2011, 21% of the farms disappeared.

INTRODUCTION. Animal production system based on rangeland are very complex being its management closely related to the functioning of the ecosystem in which it is supoorted. For assessing the environmental impact of livestock management many variables need to be considered, making difficult and expensive to obtain a comprehensive overview of the ecosystem state and evolution. Therefore a qualitative and quantitative assessment tool was developed in order to evaluate the integrity of the ecosystem under productive use that may be applied in a simple and practical process.

ABSTRACT. Chlamydial abortion in small ruminants is usually associated with Chlamydia abortus infection. Although Chlamydia pecorum has been detected in aborted ruminants and epidemiological data suggests that C. pecorum is abortigenic in these species, published descriptions of lesions in fetuses are lacking. This work describes fetoplacental lesions in a caprine abortion with C. pecorum infection, and further supports the abortigenic role of C. pecorum in ruminants. A 16-month-old Boer goat aborted twin fetuses at ~130 days of gestation.