ABSTRACT.- Understanding how thinning strategies impact wood quality and quantity for different purposes is of interest, given that plantation management is often based on parameters that require validation under varying growth conditions. Planted forests for solid purposes in the northern region of Urugay, western Argentina and South of Brazil are usually managed in initial stockings ranging from 800 to 1200 trees·ha-1 depending on the use of clones or seeds. Subsequent thinnings are applied (at plantation ages varying from 3 to 11 years) up to final stockings of around 200 trees·ha-1.

ABSTRACT.- The increasing global demand for food and the strong effect of climate change have forced animal science to advance regarding new methods of selection in search of more efficient animals in production systems. Feed consumption represents more than 70% of the costs of sheep farms, and more efficient animals can increase the farmers? profitability. One of the main measures of feed efficiency is estimated residual feed intake (RFI), created in 1963 by Robert Koch for estimation in cattle and later adapted for sheep.

ABSTRACT.- Livestock production in southern South America heavily relies on extensive native grasslands, characterized by high plant species diversity, which makes estimating forage digestibility and intake by ruminants in this pastoral ecosystem challenging. Therefore, the aim of this study was to generate regression models to establish the relationship between total faecal nitrogen excretion (FNe) and intake, and faecal nitrogen content (FNc) and digestibility in sheep fed multispecies native forage.

ABSTRACT.- In this article we make comments on some methodological issues and on the general approach of the paper "Back to the future? Conservative grassland management can preserve soil health in the changing landscapes of Uruguay" by Ina Säumel, Leonardo R. Ramírez, Sarah Tietjen, Marcos Barra, and Erick Zagal, Soil 9, 425-442, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-9-425-2023. We identified various design and methodological problems that may induce potential misinterpretations. Our concerns are of three different types.

ABSTRACT.- Astylus atromaculatus Blanchard is a native beetle of South America that feeds on pollen. During the summer of 2022-2023 in Argentina and Uruguay, an explosive infestation of these insects occurred in pastures in which ruminants were grazing. This was believed to be associated with a severe drought, which had significantly reduced the flowering of crops. Three farms in Uruguay and one in Argentina were visited to examine the flocks and perform autopsies. Affected sheep had watery diarrhea, anorexia, depression, and ruminal atony.

ABSTRACT.- Assimilating external observations of crop state in cropping system models is essential for making spatially explicit predictions of crop variables relevant in precision agriculture. Satellite-based leaf area index (LAI) estimates have been the most frequent variable used as a proxy of actual crop growth. However, additional information beyond LAI, like canopy N content, water content, and structure, can be retrieved from satellite observations.

ABSTRACT.- The Río de la Plata Grasslands (RPG) are one of the largest areas of open ecosystems (grasslands, shrublands and savannas) in the world. Historically, these systems have experienced, and continue to experience, an enormous loss of natural habitats. Moreover, their importance has been largely invisible in comparison to forested systems. The remaining area of open ecosystems in the RPG region varies according to the source from 38 to 58% of the original area.

ABSTRACT.- CONTEXT:The Latin America-Caribbean (LAC) region has the potential to pursue a sustainable expansion of livestock production and capitalise on the growing global demand for dairy and beef products. However, it is necessary to understand the predominant production systems and their biophysical, economic, social, and environmental performances. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to compare the milk production systems of nine countries of the region according to their major biophysical, socio-economic, and environmental performance indicators.

ABSTRACT.- Management practices during the rearing of dairy heifers should allow an adequate body growth and reproductive development to attain puberty several months before the first conception. Proposed target age and body weight (BW) at first calving for Holstein heifers are between 22-24 months and 82% of mature BW, respectively, for which heifers must conceive at around 15 months of age with 60% of their mature BW.

ABSTRACT.- The process of intensification of the dairy sector has been characterized in recent decades by the increase in milk production per hectare, the increase in livestock density, the inclusion of more concentrates in the diet, and the improvement of the genetic merit of dairy cows. The use of models has productive, environmental, and economic advantages. The objectives of the study were to describe a new model, "OLE!